Mumbai: Jammu and Kashmir stunned defending champions Mumbai as they won by 5 wickets after a long gap of 10 years in the Ranji Trophy league stage match at the MCA Sharad Pawar Indoor Cricket Academy Bandra Kurla Complex here on Saturday, January 25.
Shardul Thakur's fighting 119 in Mumbai's second innings went in vain as the visitors chased down the target of 205 with five wickets in hand on Day 3 of the clash.
J & K WIN! 👏👏
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) January 25, 2025
Abid Mushtaq finishes it off in style with a 6⃣ 💥
J & K beat Mumbai by 5 wickets, chasing down 205 👌
What a crucial & fantastic victory for them! 🔥#RanjiTrophy | @IDFCFIRSTBank
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/oYXDhqotjO pic.twitter.com/SG0Ni1n9ZO
J&K's top-order Shubham Khajuria (45), Yawer Hassan (24) and Vivrant Sharma (34) gave a strong start in a run chase off to a good start. Abid Mushtaq and wicketkeeper-batter Kanhaiya Wadhawan took their side to the victory.
Mumbai will now need to rely on other results if they wish to qualify for the quarterfinals. Mumbai now relying on Maharashtra in the ongoing match and then J&K to do them a favour in round seven by beating Baroda themselves.
Earlier, India Test and ODI captain Rohit Sharma made a return to the Ranji Trophy nearly after a decade. Rohit did not do well in the first innings and was dismissed for a single-digit score while his opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal was dismissed cheaply as well. Mumbai suffered a batting collapse. It was Shardul Thakur's fifty that took Mumbai's score past 100. For the visitors pacers Umar Nazir and Yudhvir Singh bagged four wickets each and rattled Mumbai's batting lineup.
In reply, opener Shubham Khajuria's half-century and Abid Mushtaq's 37-ball 44 helped J&K post 206 on the board and take a crucial 86-run lead. For Mumbai, Mohit Avasthi claimed a five-wicket haul.
In the second inning, Rohit walked out with the intent to attack. He entertained the crowd with a couple of fours and three sixes before getting dismissed for a 35-ball 28 by Yudhvir. Jaiswal failed to get a big score either and departed for 26. Once again, skipper Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, and Shivam Dube failed to make an impact in the match as Mumbai were reeling at 1007/7 until Thakur once again came to rescue with his dogged century.
Thakur received great support from off-spin all-rounder Tanush Kotian with his resilient half-century. Kotian scored 62 runs from 136 balls while Thakur amassed a 119-run knock from 135 balls including 18 fours. Mumbai were dismissed for 290 and set a 205-run target. The last Jammu Kashmir defeated Mumbai was back in 2014, at Wankhede Stadium where they beat the 42-time champions by four wickets.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, on Saturday, congratulated the senior men's cricket team for beating defending champions Mumbai by five wickets in a Ranji Trophy game.
"What a brilliant achievement by the J&K Ranji Trophy team. To defeat the defending champions & that too in their own backyard is a memorable achievement. I send my congratulations to the players, the management & support staff. We are all very proud of you," the CM said in a post on his official handle on X.
