The loss of three quick wickets in the final session of Day 2 had pegged Mumbai back, but the defending champions fought back with captain Aditya Tare leading from the front on Day 3. He found an able ally in the experienced campaigner, Abhishek Nayar to tip the balance back in the team’s favour. As has been Mumbai’s history, the lower-order helped build on the advantage. Shardul Thakur’s half-century along with useful contributions from the lower-half of the line-up helped the team to a 101-run lead.
In Nagpur, after centurion Ishank Jaggi helped Jharkhand claim a first innings lead, left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem claimed three of the top four Gujarat batsmen to put his team in a commanding position.
Day 3 – recap:
SF 1 - Mumbai vs Tamil Nadu in Rajkot: Tamil Nadu 1st inn 305/10 in 115.2 overs (V Shankar 50, A Nayar 4/66, S Thakur 4/75); Mumbai 1st inn 406/10 in 150.3 overs (A Tare 83, A Nayar 58, S Thakur 52, V Shankar 4/59) Lead by 101 runs
With a determined batting performance, Mumbai seized the momentum back on the third day. After Aditya Tare (83 off 181 balls) and Abhishek Nayar (58 off 143 balls) took the team to a first innings lead, Shardul Thakur (52 off 126 balls) helped extend it to 101 before being the last wicket to fall at the stroke of stumps.
Earlier, after adding 19 runs to the overnight score, the Tare – Shreyas Iyer partnership ended for 62. The young middle-order bat, who had steadied the innings with his captain, edged Vijay Shankar to the wicket-keeper to depart for 36. At 190 for five, with the innings precariously poised, Mumbai’s go-to man – Nayar - joined the skipper in an effort to rescue Mumbai. With a compelling display of patience and diligence, the duo helped Mumbai surpass TN’s first innings total. However, the stand ended for 121 afterr Naywar was trapped lbw by Baba Aparajith.
10 runs later, Tare was caught in the covers off T Natarajan reducing Mumbai to 321 for seven. Shardul Thakur then joined Balwinder Sandhu and the duo took the team to Tea at 347 for seven. In the tenth over of the last session, V Shankar forced an edge from Sandhu through to the wicket-keeper to end the partnership for 44. And Akshay Girap too edged the pacer to Dinesh Karthik with Mumbai on 379 for nine.
Thakur then farmed the strike as he worked to extend the innings with Vijay Gohil. The pair had added 27 runs until Thakur was bowled at the stroke of stumps by Aparajith.
SF 2 - Gujarat vs Jharkhand in Nagpur: Gujarat 1st inn 390/10 in 126.2 overs (P Panchal 149, RP Singh 40, Ajay 3/67, R Shukla 3/71); Jharkhand 1st inn 408/10 in 102 overs (I Jaggi 129, K Singh 53, RP Singh 6/90); Gujarat 2nd inn 100/4 in 37 overs (S Gohil 49, B Merai 44, S Nadeem 3/36) Lead by 82 runs
Ishank Jaggi helped Jharkhand to a first innings lead in a keenly fought contest in Nagpur before returning to the dressing room. The middle-order batsman who was batting on the overnight total of 40, scored fourth century of the season as he took the team to 393 until he was sent back by RP Singh.
Batting with the lower-order, he stitched a 69-run stand with Shukla, followed by a 98-run partnership with Kaushal Singh that helped them close in on the total. Then with Shahbaz Nadeem he led the side past Gujarat total of 390 runs.
After taking the team past 400, Nadeem too was sent back RP Singh. And six runs later, the pacer castled Ajay to bowl Jharkhand out for 408 in the second session. Before tea, Gujarat then lost Priyank Panchal. While the opener was run out for 1, Samit Gohil and Bhargav Merai then took Gujarat to Tea at 23 for one. Nadeem then led the attack to keep the formidable Gujarat line-up in check. After ending the second-wicket partnership for 69 with the wicket of Merai, the spinner accounted for Parthiv Patel six runs later. In his next over, he claimed Gohil to reduce Gujarat to 98 for four.
Manprit Juneja (2*) and H Patel (0*) then took Gujarat to stumps at 100 for four with a lead of 82 runs.
