Ranji Trophy | Gujarat step closer to dethroning Mumbai in final

01/13/2017

Abhishek Nayar's 91 helped Mumbai post a huge total of 411 in the second innings and give themselves a fighting chance going into the last day of the Ranji trophy final. Gujarat, who need to just ensure they are not all out on Day 5 to win the trophy, ended the day at 47 for no loss.

Brief Scores:Gujarat 328 and 47/0 (Priyank Panchal 34*) against Mumbai 228 and 411 (Abhishek Nayar 91, Shreyas Iyer 82; Gaja 121/6)

Resuming day 4 on 208/3, Mumbai's Surya Kumar Yadav and Aditya Tare batted carefully in the first hour of the play giving Gujarat bowlers plenty to ponder. Just 20 runs came from the first 14 overs of the day when finally Rush Kalaria broke the resistance by getting a nick off Yadav for a catch to keeper Parthiv Patel.

Siddhesh Lad assisted Aditya Tare in the middle in putting up another 32 runs for the fifth wicket, as Tare completed his fifty with a four off Kalaria's bowling. Gujarat then resorted to bowling wide to prevent Mumbai from scoring. This tactic finally worked in their favour when Lad went after RP Singh's wide delivery and was caught at deep square-leg just few overs before lunch with the score reading 294/5 at the time of the break.

Mumbai did not look like they would last long after Tare departed for 69 runs just after lunch in Hardik Patel's bowling. However, Abhishek Nayar forged partnerships with the tail-enders to put Mumbai in a good position in the Ranji final. The left-hander put up a 44-run stand for the ninth wicket with Vishal Dabholkar after Balwinder Sandhu and Shardul Thakur departed in quick succession to leave Mumbai at 326/8. Nayar made Gujarat wait for ten overs after tea break by when he suddenly upped the scoring rate and took Mumbai past the 400 mark. However, the 33-year old departed as the final wicket with the score at 411 and Mumbai's lead ballooning to 311 runs.

Gujarat's openers batted freely with Priyank Panchal dispatching Sandhu and Shardul Thakur for four boundaries at the start of the innings. They ended the day at 47/0 with Panchal at 34 not out and 256 more runs to score on the final day to win the title.

Gujarat just need to play out the entire day 5 to clinch the trophy courtesy of them taking the lead in the first innings.