Shardul Thakur Lights Up Ranji Trophy!

Shardul Thakur, not in action in the ongoing Test series against England, is giving his best shot for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy tournament played over multiple days. Thakur took the responsibility of bailing his team out against Tamil Nadu in the semi-final. Thakur’s enterprise with the bat and ball mirrored a Mumbai cricketer who wears the Lion crest with an immense sense of pride and dignity. Mumbai in pursuit of its 42nd Ranji Trophy triumph brushed aside the challenge posed by Baroda in the quarter final, but it was in dire straits against Tamil Nadu before Thakur’s brave heart knock of a century and superb effort with the ball put paid to the Southern India team’s aspirations. Thakur’s game-changing effort came on the heels of a record-breaking century from tail-enders Tanush Kotian and Tushar Deshpande against Baroda. Thus Mumbai demonstrated its wherewithal and ambition to reach the title match against Vidarbha which will be hoping to walk into serendipity and win the title for the third time. This season Mumbai has not once been able to field its full team (for all matches)   that in the absence of a home internationals, would have had the following big batters:   Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav (injured), Ajinkya Rahane, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shah, Sarfaraz Khan and Shivam Dube and all-rounder Thakur. Mumbai lost to Uttar Pradesh in a group match but showed its backup strength to reach the final to start at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. Vidarbha will fancy its chances after getting past Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh in the quarter-finals and semi-finals.