Mumbai 45 for 2 (Musheer 24*, Sai Kishore 1-3) trail Tamil Nadu 146 (Vijay 44, Washington 43, Deshpande 3-24, Kotian 2-10) by 101 runs
Avasthi had combined with Shardul Thakur to set the tone for Mumbai’s opening-day dominance. After going wide of the crease and beating N Jagadeesan’s inside edge, Avasthi hit the inside edge and had the opening batter popping a catch to short leg for 4. Thakur had struck in the very first over when he pinned B Sai Sudharsan lbw with an inswinger for a duck. Sudharsan, who was returning to action after recovering from a back niggle, also burnt a review.
Washington Sundar, who was released from India’s Test squad, and Vijay Shankar forged a 48-run partnership for the sixth wicket to briefly resist Mumbai’s red-hot attack. Vijay got going with a flicked four off Avasthi and a punchy straight drive off Deshpande. But Thakur stopped him on 44 after lunch. Thakur had angled one in from over the wicket and got it to seam away just enough to kiss the outside edge.
Washington’s innings could have been cut short on 11 had Shreyas Iyer latched onto a tough chance in the slips off Thakur. Washington had another nervy moment on 19 when he was given out lbw off left-arm fingerspinner Shams Mulani. But a review saved him, with ball-tracking indicating that the ball would have bounced over the stumps on the red-soil surface.
Kuldeep Sen, TN’s guest pacer who had sat out of the last three games, then marked his return with the dismissal of Shaw in his first over. Sai Kishore had Lalwani, Mumbai’s highest run-getter this season, lbw but the hosts trimmed the deficit to 101 by stumps. With both Shreyas Iyer and captain Ajinkya Rahane in the shed, Mumbai will look to bat TN out of the semi-final on Sunday.