Ranji Trophy | Mulani scalps memorable five in outing against Odisha

Rich haul: Mulani earned his second fifer in as many days.
| Photo Credit: PTI

 He had to wait for 21 innings for his 15th five-wicket haul in First Class cricket. But Shams Mulani earned his second fifer in as many days to make it a memorable match for himself and Mumbai to help the defending champion pocket a bonus point against Odisha in a Ranji Trophy Elite Group- A game.

Riding on Mulani’s (five for 71) star act, Mumbai picked the remaining five Odisha wickets in 119 minutes on Saturday morning at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy ground.

The bonus point – thanks to its margin of an innings and 103 runs – will come in handy for Mumbai after a topsy-turvy start to the season.

The writing was clear on the wall at the start of play on the fourth day but Odisha’s last five wickets added 88 runs before handing Mumbai the victory.

More than half of those came from Kartik Biswal’s (45 n.o., 77b, 5×4) blade.

Biswal took guard at the start of the day’s play and played both the spinners – Mulani and Himanshu Singh – on merit. While his footwork was impressive against spin, he drove Royston Dias during the left-arm pacer’s three-over spell.

Mulani, after replacing Shardul Thakur in the fifth over of the day, struck off his first ball, getting Aashirwad Swain (51, 115b, 3×4) – who had raised his bat an over earlier for a well-made fifty – lbw.

Patient

With the set batter dismissed early on, Mumbai’s spin duo – bowling 25.5 off the 30.5 overs in the morning – had to be patient to draw mistakes from the batters. Mulani’s double strike in four balls in the 19th over of the morning gave him his 10th scalp of the match in the form of Harshit Rathod (caught behind) and second fifer of the game (Suryakant Pradhan edging it to Shreyas Iyer at gully).

Frustration

With Biswal playing freely and last-man Sunil Roul hanging on, the duo frustrated the host for 49 minutes before Singh sneaked through Roul’s defence.

The scores:

Mumbai – 1st innings: 602/4 decl.

Odisha – 1st innings: 285.

Odisha – 2nd innings: Anurag Sarangi c & b Himanshu 6, Swastik Samal c (sub) b Dias 1, Aashirwad Swain lbw b Swain 51, Sandeep Pattanaik st (sub) b Mulani 39, Govinda Poddar c Rahane b Himanshu 1, Biplab Samantray c Rahane b Himanshu 26, Kartik Biswal (not out) 45, Debabrata Pradhan lbw b Mulani 18, Harshit Rathod c (sub) b Mulani 2, Suryakant Pradhan c Shreyas b Mulani 4, Sunil Kumar Roul b Himanshu 14; Extras (b-3, lb-3, nb-1): 7; Total (in 72.5 overs): 214.

Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-19, 3-75, 4-78, 5-126, 6-136, 7-160, 8-170, 9-174.

Mumbai bowling: Dias 10-3-28-1, Himanshu 29.5-2-77-4, Shedge 4-0-22-0, Mulani 23-3-71-5, Thakur 6-1-10-0.

Points: Mumbai 7; Odisha 0.

Player-of-the-Match: Shams Mulani.