Ranji Trophy semifinal | Mumbai thrashes Tamil Nadu by an innings and 70 runs

Mumbai's lower-order dominance secures a Ranji Trophy final spot against Tamil Nadu in a crushing victory.

The writing was on the wall after Mumbai’s lower-order onslaught on day two. It turned out to be a manic Monday for Tamil Nadu as the hosts completed a thumping innings and 70-run win against their familiar foe to book a berth in the Ranji Trophy final for the 48th time.

Forty-nine minutes after tea on day three at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy ground, Shreyas Iyer — who had dropped a sitter off the first ball of Tamil Nadu’s second innings — caught a miscued heave off Sandeep Warrier’s blade to give Shams Mulani his fourth wicket to bring an end to the visitors’ innings.

Tamil Nadu was bundled out for 162 in a little over two sessions for the second time in three days.

At the start of the day, with a lead of 207 runs and Tanush Kotian and Tushar Deshpande having added more than 60 runs for the last wicket, Tamil Nadu hoped to wind up the Mumbai innings as quickly as possible.

While Deshpande flicked Sandeep Warrier for a four early on, Tanush’s wrist-work against Kuldeep Sen was a treat.

Just when Kotian was nearing a rare milestone of a No. 10 scoring two hundreds in succession, Sai Sudharshan lunged forward to pouch an excellent catch off Washington Sundar to dismiss Deshpande.

Kotian was stranded on 89 (126b, 12x4) as Mumbai ended its first essay at 378.