Ranji Trophy Final | Musheer’s century and Shreyas’ 95 leave Vidarbha with a mountain to climb

Musheer Khan's marathon knock sets Mumbai up for a massive target against Vidarbha in the Ranji Trophy final.

 Musheer Khan’s marathon knock – his second hundred in the Ranji Trophy knockouts this season – and his contrasting partnerships with senior pros Ajinkya Rahane and Shreyas Iyer meant Mumbai set Vidarbha a gargantuan target of 538 in the final. Vidarbha’s Harsh Dubey registered his maiden five-wicket haul in First Class cricket.

Musheer effortlessly converted his three-hour overnight grind into a patient innings that lasted six minutes shy of eight hours. Even after he perished on the cusp of tea, Shams Mulani’s fifty meant Mumbai put on 418 before being bowled out 16 minutes into the extended half hour.

The Vidarbha openers scored 10 runs in two overs, meaning a distant dream of lifting the third Ranji title is still 528 runs away.

The highlight of the day was the entertaining association between a patient Musheer (136, 326b, 10x4) and the aggressive Shreyas Iyer (95, 111b, 10x4, 3x6) that virtually put an end to Vidarbha’s hope of coming back into the game with the ball. With Mumbai starting the day with an advantage of 260 runs, Vidarbha had to strike early.

But captain Rahane (73, 143b, 5x4, 1x6) was free flowing while Musheer was batting without any trouble. Dubey beat Rahane with one that turned slightly to kiss the outside edge en route Akshay Wadkar’s gloves. That brought Shreyas in and ever since he lofted Aditya Thakare over long-off for a six, Shreyas was in his element.

He negotiated the short-ball ploy employed by Yash Thakur and Umesh Yadav, and tore the spinners apart. While Shreyas was aggressive, Musheer was defiant – using all his tactics to unsettle bowlers. Musheer blocked any movement – turn for spinners and swing, if any, for pacers – by walking down the pitch and focusing on strike rotation.

Shreyas was starting to feel the pain in his 80s and on 95, committed hara-kiri to throw away his wicket, holing out to Thakare at long-off. But Musheer who got a reprieve on 114 – continued his sedate knock to bat Vidarbha out of the game.