Maharashtra dealt defending champion Mumbai the knock-out punch with an eight-wicket win in the Ranji trophy quarterfinals at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday. The chase of 252 runs was achieved with a measure of ease, with Vijay Zol (91 not out, 280b, 13x4) and Kedar Jadhav (120 not out, 144b, 14x4, 3x6) taking the visitors home by tea-time on the fourth day.
It was Jadhav who struck the winning hit to take the match-winning third-wicket stand to 215 off 315 balls.
“What a superbly constructed partnership, and what a turnaround!” said a beaming Maharashtra coach Surendhra Bhave.
Maharashtra’s hopes for a steady start on the fourth day suffered a setback with the fall of Harshad Khadiwale. An experienced opening batsmen and the highest run-getter in the league phase of the tournament, Khadiwale was sent back by Zaheer Khan coming round-the-wicket.
Early in his innings, Zol was dropped by Kaustubh Pawar in front of point. He was on three then and Maharashtra was 43 for two.
Thereafter, Jadhav took control, holding his nerve and guiding his young partner, who went on to exact a heavy penalty for the reprieve.
Mumbai seemed to rely on Zaheer’s guile and Shardul Thakur’s pace to obtain breakthroughs. However, runs, which began in a trickle, started to flow once the ball lost its shine. The pitch too, covered for four days, flattened out to offer little assistance to the seamers.
“The need of the hour when we resumed this morning was solidity and stability, and not shot-making,” said Jadhav, whose fifth century of the season too his aggregate from nine matches to 1,034 runs. “I am a natural stroke-player, but I had to be disciplined. It was challenging.”
“Vijay and I knew that the bowlers would get tired, and then we could capitalise.”
Bhave chose to savour the moment before looking ahead.
“We don’t want to talk about Bengal or Railways as a likely rival in the semifinal; my team was simply outstanding winning the last five sessions of the match on a seamer-friendly track.”
“We were down by 122 runs. It required guts, a lion-hearted display by the bowlers and a show of great character by the batsmen to beat Mumbai in Mumbai. What the team has done here is unbelievable!”
Mumbai — 1st innings: 402
Maharashtra — 1st innings: 280
Mumbai — 2nd innings: 129
Maharashtra — 2nd innings: Harshad Khadiwale c Pawar b Zaheer Khan 10, Chirag Khurana c Jaffer b Zaheer Khan 17, Vijay Zol (not out) 91, Kedar Jadhav (not out) 120, Extras (b-5, lb-6, nb-2, w-1) 14; Total (for two wkts. in 65. 1 overs) 252.
Fall of wkts: 1-28, 2-37
Mumbai bowling: Zaheer Khan 17-3-51-2, Shardul Thakur 15.1-4-58-0, Abishek Nayar 13-2-41-0, Javed Khan 9-3-22-0, Vishal Dabholkar 9-1-52-0, Iqbal Abdullah 2-0-17-0.
