All the talk prior to the much-anticipated Ranji Trophy semifinal between Mumbai and Tamil Nadu was about the visitors' bowling prowess, but come D-Day and it was the host who turned the tables and wrest the initiative at the BKC-MCA Ground.
The Mumbai pace bowling troika of Tushar Deshpande, Shardul Thakur and Mohit Avasthi led the way in dismantling the Tamil Nadu batting line-up early on while the spinners Musheer Khan and Shams Mulani did the rest using their wiles as TN were bowled out for 146 in 64.1 overs.
In reply, Mumbai lost their openers Prithvi Shaw and Bhupen Lalwani to Kuldeep Sen and Sai Kishore respectively, as TN ensured they kept the game wide open at stumps on day one reducing the host to 45/2 in 17 overs.
Earlier, the Sai Kishore-led side won the toss and elected to bat first surprisingly on a track that had a fair bit for the pacers with moisture helped by the morning nip.
Kunal Patil
The all-rounders Vijay Shankar (44) and Washington Sundar (43) were the only two batters who were able to put up some stiff resistance as they stitched together a 48-run partnership for the sixth-wicket that got TN closer to 100 before they ultimately folded up for 146.
The visitors were rattled with some fantastic new-ball bowling by the experienced Thakur and the fast emerging Deshpande, who was the lynchpin of the attack on the day.
They lost their first five wickets for just 42 runs as Deshpande, Thakur and Avasthi ran riot and were all over the place.
TN received the opening jolt in the very first over as Thakur sent back Sai Sudharsan off the fourth ball without opening his account.
Next to go was Narayan Jagadeesan holing out to Musheer Khan off Avasthi before Deshpande came into play with further damage.
The 28-year-old pacer plucked out the wickets of Pradosh Ranjan Paul and TN skipper Sai Kishore, the former caught and bowled while the latter saw his timber rattled off a peach of a delivery.
Just when Baba Indrajith and Vijay Shankar showed signs of building a stand together, Deshpande thwarted their plans as he snuffed out Indrajith for just 11.
TN were in all sorts of trouble at 42/5 and it took some stubborn batting and a measured approach from Shankar and Washington Sundar to help them forge ahead.
After Shankar's departure for 44, handy contributions from Mohammed Mohammed and Ajith Ram helped TN to reach 146.
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