Shams Mulani and Shardul Thakur power Mumbai to 9-wicket victory over Chhattisgarh in VHT

Mumbai continued their winning streak in the Vijay Hazare Trophy by defeating Chhattisgarh comprehensively by 9 wickets. It proved to be yet another successful outing for the Shardul Thakur-led side as  they outclassed their opponents in both the batting and bowling departments. After bundling out Chhattisgarh for a modest total, Mumbai reached the target comfortably in just 24 overs.

Thakur decimates the top-order

After being invited to bat first, Chhattisgarh had an abysmal start as Thakur racked up two wickets in the opening over of the innings. The all-rounder was on absolute fire and racked up another wicket in the third over before completing his four-wicket haul in his next over and wrap  up a superb opening spell. Thanks to Thakur's phenomenal bowling, the opposition was down to 10/4 at one stage.

Chhattisgarh were in dire need of a strong partnership and they got it through skipper Amandeep Khare and Ajay Mandal. The duo did the damage control and provided some much-needed stability to the team. The 105-run stand saw Amandeep reach his fifty and Mandal also contributed well to the total. However, once Shams Mulani broke the partnership by dismissing the latter for 46, the floodgates opened once again.

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Chhattisgarh lost their five remaining wickets in the space of just 27 runs and Mulani clinched four of them as the side got bowled out for just 142 runs. Mulani (5/31) and Thakur (4/13) were Mumbai's top performers with the ball and now the team had a big chance to make it three wins on a trot.

Raghuvanshi and Lad help Mumbai reach the target

In reply, Mumbai's innings got off to a good start with the opening duo of Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Ishan Mulchandani forming a decent 42-run stand. Though the latter lost his wicket for 19 runs in the ninth over, Mumbai didn't have any problem in chasing down the target of 143. Raghuvanshi (68*) and Siddhesh Lad (48*) formed a robust partnership of 102 runs as Mumbai cruised to the modest target. They are currently on top of Group C with 12 points while Chhattisgarh are yet to record a win in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and have now lost three  games in a row.