Mumbais Tushar Deshpande Shines with Hat-Trick, Forces Chandigarh into Follow-On in Ranji Trophy

Mumbai, October 12 (Daily Kiran) : Mumbai’s Tushar Deshpande delivered an outstanding performance, securing a hat-trick and compelling Chandigarh to follow-on in their Ranji Trophy match. Mumbai’s first innings saw them post a formidable total of 429 runs. In stark contrast, Chandigarh crumbled for just 78 runs in their first innings.

Batting first after losing the toss at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai lost their opener Yashasvi Jaiswal for a duck, leaving them at 1 run. However, Mushir Khan stabilized the innings alongside Aayush Mhatre, adding 76 runs for the second wicket. Mhatre contributed 48 runs, striking eight boundaries, before departing. Mushir then teamed up with captain Siddhesh Lad to add another 65 runs, pushing the score to 142. Mushir returned to the pavilion after scoring 65 runs, while Siddhesh made a significant contribution of 86 runs.

Tanush Kotiyaan and Mohit Awasthi also chipped in with solid performances, scoring 58 and an unbeaten 56 runs, respectively. On the bowling side, Rohit and Raj Bawa each took four wickets for Chandigarh, while Jagjit Singh and Nishank Birla claimed one wicket each.

In response, Chandigarh’s batting lineup faltered, managing to last only 19.1 overs. They were bundled out for a mere 78 runs. Arslan Khan and Arjun Azad managed to add only 16 runs for the first wicket before Khan fell for just 2 runs. The team’s woes continued as Deshpande struck twice in quick succession, first dismissing Azad for 20 and then bowling Shivam Bhambri for a duck. Dipender Kush also fell on his first ball, handing a catch to Yashasvi Jaiswal, completing Deshpande’s hat-trick. Chandigarh faced further setbacks, losing their captain Manan Vohra for just 2 runs, leaving them reeling at 25 runs for five wickets.

Besides Arjun Azad, Nishank Birla was the only other batsman to reach double digits with a score of 33. Deshpande’s exceptional bowling figures stood at 5 wickets for just 17 runs in 7 overs, while Mohit Awasthi took 3 wickets. Sylvester D’Souza added 2 more to the tally.

With a significant lead of 351 runs, Mumbai forced Chandigarh to follow-on. By the end of the second day, Chandigarh had faced just one over in their second innings, where they lost Vishnu Kashyap to Deshpande, leaving them yet to open their account.