Ajinkya Rahane slams ton; Mumbai on top

MUMBAI: The sheer class of Mumbai is turning out to be too much for minnows Vidarbha as the 40-time champions walked all over their opponents on Day 3 of their first-ever meeting in the Ranji Trophy at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.
Day four will be nothing more than a formality as Vidarbha, chasing an improbable 530 for victory, are 177 for 8.
It was a spineless batting effort from the visitors to say the least and the lone consolation for them is the fact that their second innings effort was better than their first innings score (113).Vidarbha started their second essay 40 minutes after lunch and in no time they were reduced to 33 for 3 in just 6.2 overs.
Mumbai skipper Zaheer Khan led the destruction as he castled left-handed Faiz Fazal with a beauty with his fifth ball. The tall Akbar Khan, who is on debut, soon showed how he was interning well under Zaheer as he sent Vidarbha's wicketkeeper-bat Amol Ubarhande's middle stump for a walk.
Two balls later, Shardul Thakur joined the act as Vishal Dabholkar picked a good catch off his bowling at point from Ranjit Paradkar. The road for Vidarbha's defeat was laid. Captain Shalabh Shrivastava (69; 152m, 91b, 15x4) and Hemang Badani (19; 43b, 2x4) then stitched together a 73-run stand for the fourth wicket.
It didn't last long though as Badani edged one to slip soon after tea and the procession resumed.