Bhatt spells doom for Mumbai with a 10-wicket match haul

Bhatt spells doom for Mumbai with a 10-wicket haul

Bhargav Bhatt spun his web around the Mumbai batters in style as the left-arm spinner’s 18th five-wicket haul in First-Class cricket set up Baroda’s rare Ranji Trophy win against defending champion Mumba on Mondayi.

Having defeated Mumbai only four times in the 66 face-offs between the familiar west zone rivals, Baroda had last won in 1998-99. History was repeated at the Vadodara International Cricket Academy, with Bhatt (6/55) ensuring a facile 84-run win to begin the new season on an ideal note.

At the start of the final day’s proceedings, Mumbai required 220 runs with eight wickets in hand in quest of a target of 262. Considering that the track had started wearing off, it was always going to be an uphill task. If Mumbai had to be in with a chance to put Baroda under pressure, captain Ajinkya Rahane had to dig deep.

But in the fourth over of the day, Bhatt – who bowled unchanged from the south end right through the extended session – trapped Rahane in front of the wickets with an arm-ball. Four overs later, rookie opener Ayush Mhatre was bowled with a slider that crashed into the leg-stump.

At 62 for four, Shreyas Iyer had to resort to aggressive tactics to give Mumbai a chance. While he took calculated risks with effective use of reverse sweep, Bhatt finally got his man with one that rose on Shreyas and popped to gully off his glove.

The game was all but over and the famous Mumbai allrounder trio of Shams Mulani, Shardul Thakur and Tanush Kotian perished without any resistance. Only Siddhesh Lad put up a resistance, marking his return to Mumbai’s team after four and a half years with a solid fifty

It was fitting that Bhatt finished the game off by accepting a return catch off Lad’s blade in what should have been the last over of the 30-minute extension before lunch to celebrate not only the team win but also his second consecutive 10-wicket match haul against the domestic powerhouse Mumbai.