Ranji Trophy Semi-Finals: Mumbai Take Opening Day Honours vs Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh Dominate Vidarbha

Tushar Deshpande (3/24) and Shardul Thakur (2/48) starred to put Mumbai on top following a meek display from Tamil Nadu on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy semifinal in Mumbai on Saturday. Tamil Nadu skipper B Sai Kishore's decision to bat first backfired as the visitors were shot out for a mere 146 in the first innings, with Deshpande and Thakur making life miserable for the batters at the BKC Ground. If it was any consolation, Tamil Nadu struck twice with the ball but Mumbai shaved off a significant chunk of the first-innings deficit, reaching 45/2 at stumps to trail by 101 runs.

Musheer Khan (24 not out) and nightwatchman Mohit Avasthi (1) were at the crease with Mumbai losing openers Prithvi Shaw (5) and Bhupen Lalwani (15).

Shaw fell early against Kuldeep Sen while Sai Kishore trapped Lalwani for the second wicket, but Mumbai remained on top.

On a track which had movement off the surface as well as turn for spinners, Mumbai proved to be the superior side as their bowlers extracted more support and their batters did not find getting runs as tough as the visitors.

Tamil Nadu, shellshocked by a disastrous start to their first semifinal in seven years, could not muster the courage to stage a fightback and folded shortly after tea despite Vijay Shankar (44) and Washington Sundar's (43) rearguard act.

The horror began when B Sai Sudharsan (0) was trapped leg-before on the fourth ball of the match by Thakur.

It did not take long for the Mumbai bowlers to get all over the Tamil Nadu side in the first hour.

Mumbai bowlers exploited the early moisture with the new ball to perfection as Avasthi had TN's leading run-maker N Jagadeesan (4) caught at short leg by Musheer.

Coming in as first change, Deshpande remained