Chhattisgarh slip on grassy Wankhede pitch

MUMBAI: Even before they stepped onto the field for the last league game of their Ranji Trophy campaign against Chhattisgarh at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday, Mumbai were hit by a fresh crisis.
A dodgy back forced skipper Siddhesh Lad out of the contest, leaving Dhawal Kulkarni, who was ironically left out of the squad for the last game despite being fit, to lead the team again. Lad was replaced in the XI at the last minute by Suryakumar Yadav, who had been dropped for the previous three matches due to poor form.
However, once Kulkarni won the toss and inserted Chhattisgarh in on a grassy track, Mumbai showed what their Ranji campaign could've been about had their frontline pace attack been fit and available.Buoyed by the presence of all three of their main fast bowlers for the first time this season, the ousted Ranji giants came out all guns blazing to shoot out Chhattisgarh for only 129 in 42.1 overs - the wreckers-in-chief being Tushar Deshpande (5-46) and Shardul Thakur (4-32). All-rounder Shivam Dube took the remaining wicket.
After enjoying their best two sessions with the ball this season, Mumbai finished proceedings at 118-3. Though they lost the wickets of Jay Bista, debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal (20 each), and opener Vikrant Auti (43 off 78 balls), the hosts trail by just 11runs, with Yadav, batting on 31 (74b, 5x4), looking good.
Playing Mumbai at the Wankhede for the first time, Chhattisgarh seemed to be struck by stage fright. On a seamer-friendly wicket, where the Mumbai pacers were breathing fire, the bottomplaced team in the competition this season looked intimidated by the 'chin music' they were made to 'listen' to. To make matters worse for them, their skipper Harpreet Singh Bhatia endured a miserable day - scoring just five off 24 balls, before grassing an easy catch Auti offered when he was yet to get off the mark.
Employing three slips and two gullies, Mumbai increased the pressure on the Chhattisgarh batsmen, who seemed to be like deer caught in the headlights while batting on a seaming track. For a while Amandeep Khare counter-attacked with a brisk 48 (48b, 8x4, 1x6), in a knock which included three fours off a Dhumil Matkar over, and a six over cover off Deshpande. However, Khare's stint was cut short by a beautiful outswinger from Deshpande, the resultant edge which was pouched brilliantly by a diving Eknath Kerkar - Mumbai's new wicketkeeper.
Mumbai started with Kulkarni and Thakur, but it was the introduction of Deshpande, who missed four games due to a hamstring injury, which provided the spark. The 23-year-old has decent pace, but has been bogged down by injuries which forced him to miss out an entire season's cricket, in his career so far.
The pacer struck first blood when he castled opener Abhimanyu Chauhan with a superb inswinger off just his second ball of the match. It was in his second spell, though, where Deshpande did most of the damage, picking up four wickets for 23 runs in just six overs. It was his third five-wicket haul in his 12th First-Class game.