Ranji Trophy: Shardul Thakur stars in Mumbai win, keeps quarterfinal hopes alive

After a brief dry patch, Mumbai seamer Shardul Thakur returned to form with a five-wicket haul and guided his team to a convincing 169-run win over Baroda in a do-or-die Group A Ranji Trophy tie at the Motibagh Stadium, Vadodara, on Sunday.

With this win Mumbai, bagged six points and take themselves to the fourth position in the points table, keeping alive their chances of an entry in the knockout stage.

Chasing a mammoth 408 on the last day, Baroda, who were 67/2 overnight, were never in the hunt. And the result came along the expected lines as they folded up for 238 in 77.3 overs.

Thakur dominated the show with the ball as he was unplayable despite the track offering little to the seamers. None of the Baroda batsmen could stand long at the wicket except Kedar Devdhar, who took 169 minutes for his unbeaten 58*.

At No. 11, Munaf Patel showed his batting prowess by hammering a 35-ball 53 that included five sixes and four fours. Apart from these, two, only Deepak Hooda (32) and opener SP Wakaskar (48) put up a fight.

Thakur finished with impressive figures of 23-9-39-5 while the other medium-pacer, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, took 2/23 and off-spinner Akshay Girap, 2/90.

This win may have kept Mumbai's hopes of a quarterfinal berth alive, but their real test will be against the current powerhouses Karnataka at the Wankhede starting on February 6.

Brief scores: Mumbai 287 & 304/9d bt Baroda 184 & 238 all out in 77.3 overs (S Wakaskar 48, D Hooda 32, K Devdhar 58*, M Patel 53; S Thakur 5/39, BS Sandhu 2/23, A Girap 2/90) by 169 runs. Mumbai 6pts, Baroda 0