Shardul Thakur picks up hat-trick in Ranji Trophy as Mumbai skittle Meghalaya for 86

Shardul Thakur is making headlines with his performance in the Ranji Trophy. After smashing a fifty and a hundred against Jammu and Kashmir in the previous game, he picked up a hat-trick against Meghalaya on the opening day of the final round of the Ranji Trophy. On the back to his brilliant show, Mumbai skittled for Meghalaya for just 86 runs in the first innings.

Rather one can say that Meghalaya posted a decent score as they were six down for just two runs at one stage. Thakur opened the bowling for Mumbai at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy, BKC and only in his second over, he dismissed Meghalaya's best batters of the season - B Anirudh, Sumit Kumar and Jaskirat Singh. After these blows, Meghalaya were five down for just two runs and in the very next over, they lost another wicket to be six down for the same score.



It seemed that Nagaland's record of lowest total (25) in the Ranji Trophy was in danger but the lower-order batters saved the day for Meghalaya. Their number 10 batter Himan was the highest scorer with 28 runs while Pringsang and captain Akash Kumar added 38 runs for the seventh wicket to avoid the embarrassment earlier. Thakur finished with the figures of 4/43 in 11 overs as Meghalaya were bowled out in just 24.

3 overs in the first session. Mohit Avasthi scalped three wickets while Sylvester Dsouza and Shams Mulani picked two and one wicket respectively. Mumbai will be looking to bat big and take a huge lead in the first innings to seal a massive win later.

To make it to the next round, they must win this encounter and then hope that J&K beat Baroda..