Deshpande, Thakur shine as Mumbai take opening day honours

Tushar Deshpande 324 and Shardul Thakur 248 starred with the ball to put Mumbai on top following a meek display from Tamil Nadu on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy semifinal on SaturdayTamil Nadu skipper B Sai Kishores decision to bat first backfired as the visitors were shot out for a mere 146 in the first innings with Deshpande and Thakur making life miserable for the visiting batters at the BKC GroundIf it was any consolation Tamil Nadu struck twice with the ball but Mumbai shaved off a significant chunk of firstinnings deficit reaching 452 at stumps to trail by another 101 runsMusheer Khan 24 not out and nightwatchman Mohit Avasthi 1 were at the crease with Mumbai losing openers Prithvi Shaw 5 and Bhupen Lalwani 15Shaw fell early against Kuldeep Sen while Sai Kishore trapped Lalwani for the second wicket but Mumbai remained on top in the Ranji Trophy semifinalOn a track which had movement off the surface as well as turn for spinners Mumbai proved to be the superior side given their bowlers extracted more support and their batters did not find getting runs as tough as the visitorsTamil Nadu shellshocked by a disastrous start to their first semifinal in seven years could not muster the courage to stage a fightback and folded shortly after tea despite Vijay Shankar 44 and Washington Sundars 43 rearguard actAlso ReadSteve Smith Is the best since Bradman on decline A look into numbersThe horror began when B Sai Sudharsan was trapped legbefore on the fourth ball of the match by Shardul Thakur and it did not take long for the Mumbai bowlers to get all over the Tamil Nadu side in the first hourMumbai bowlers exploited the early moisture with the new ball to perfection as Mohit Avasthi had TNs leading runmaker N Jagadeesan 4 caught at short leg by Musheer KhanComing in as first change Deshpande remained unplayable throughout the innings for the Tamil Nadu battersPradosh Ranjan Pauls bat curled in his hands as he hit one straight to Despande who took a fine return catch for the third wicketIt was a brave call for skipper R Sai Kishore to promote himself ahead of the dependable Baba Indrajith but one that did not workSai Kishores footwork was all over the place when Deshpande pitched one in line of the stumps to move the ball back in pegging back the middlestump as Tamil Nadu slumped to 174Tamil Nadus hopes of a revival took a body blow when Indrajith 11 was caught at short midwicket with Tanush Kotian 210 taking a sharp diving catch in front of him to leave the visitors reelingShankar and Sundar fought well on either side of the lunch break but the pitch did not relent in giving support to the Mumbai bowlersShankar who began well with a flurry of fours was tested consistently outside the offstump by Deshpande who kept moving the ball away from the righthanderDeshpandes hard work resulted in a breakthrough for Thakur who had Shankar caught at the second slip by Shams Mulani for a 109ball 44 which featured eight foursHaving shown a little interest in getting runs Shankars departure forced Sundar to get a move onWhile he was mostly resolute in defence Sundar also had luck favouring him twice An outside edge off Shardul had Shreyas Iyer spilling a tough chance on 11 and when he reached 37 Musheer spilled a catch at coverMohammed Mohammed smacked three fours in a row of Thakur towards the end to make it 22 runs from one over which gave a big push to the visitors totalWith agency inputs