TN, Mumbai head for last day thriller

Tamil Nadu’s hopes of making it to the Ranji Trophy final have sprung back to life as brilliant hundreds from skipper Abhinav Mukund (122) and B. Indrajith (138) saw Tamil Nadu turning the heat on Mumbai here on Wednesday. After conceding a 101run lead in the first innings, a desperate Tamil Nadu stepped on the accelerator and made 356 for six declared in their second essay, to set a challenging target of 251 for Mumbai.

An absorbing final day is in the offing at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium as Mumbai, who weathered the storm in the final 15 minutes of play to go five for no loss at stumps, need to chase down the remaining 246 runs or see through the day, for around 90 overs, to set up a final showdown with Gujarat.

The pitch, which has been of no assistance to the bowlers for four days, still looks in favour of the batsmen, but Tamil Nadu are pinning the hopes on their spinners Aushik Srinivas and B. Aparajith to put pressure on Mumbai.

Mumbai coach Chandrakant Pandit was confident that Mumbai batsmen would pull through on a wicket that hasn’t changed alarmingly. “For the entire penultimate day, we can take credit for just one wicket and the remaining five TN dismissals were a result of them going for runs,” said Pandit. Mumbai’s approach in the crunch situation would be the key.

Gujarat in Ranji final

Nagpur: Pacer Jasprit Bumrah produced his career-best spell in first-class cricket as Gujarat staged a sensational comeback to beat Jharkhand by 123 runs and reach their second ever final of the Ranji Trophy cricket tournament, here on Wednesday.

Bumrah finished with 6 for 29 and alongside R.P. Singh plotted the downfall of Jharkhand. Brief scores: Gujarat 390 and 252 (Juneja 81; Nadeem 5/69) bt Jharkhand 408 and 111 in 41 overs (Kaushal Singh 24; Bumrah 6/29).