(Source TOI)
The final round of the league stage in the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy has kicked off, and it’s crunch time, with teams now vying for a spot in the knockouts. Among the frontrunners heading into the tournament is Mumbai, and one player who’s been stealing the spotlight is Shardul Thakur. The 33-year-old all-rounder recently struck an impressive century and a half-century against Jammu and Kashmir, although his efforts came in a losing cause during their last match.
Mumbai’s final match of the league stage is against Meghalaya, a side that’s yet to register a win in the tournament. In this game, Shardul Thakur once again took center stage, but this time with the ball. Opening the attack for Mumbai, he wasted no time in putting the Meghalaya batters on the back foot, claiming four wickets early in his spell and helping send half of their side back to the pavilion in no time.
In this spell, Shardul Thakur etched his name in the record books, claiming his first-ever hat-trick in first-class cricket. After striking in his opening over, he came back to deliver a stunning performance in the third over, where all the drama unfolded. On the last three balls of the over, Shardul dismissed Balchander Anirudh for a duck off just three balls, followed by middle-order batsmen Sumit Kumar and Jaskirat Singh with the next two deliveries. This remarkable feat made him only the fifth Mumbai bowler to register a hat-trick in the Ranji Trophy, with the last to do so being Royston Dias, who took one against Bihar in the 2023-24 season.
As for the match, at the time of writing, Meghalaya’s innings had not shown much improvement, and they were bowled out for just 86. The seam attack of Shardul, Mohit Avasthi, and Sylvester Dsouza proved too much for the Meghalaya batters, causing chaos and sealing their fate early.
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On the eve of the match, Thakur was candid about Mumbai’s inconsistent season in the red-ball format, admitting it had been a bit of a hot and cold campaign. He also shared the key message from the coaches and management—staying united as a team, no matter the ups and downs.
“Longer format is an emotional roller coaster ride, one session can take the game away. The player who has observed must have learned from it. Be humble and be respectful, I don’t take anything or anyone lightly. The message from the coach and captain is simple. We need to stick together and play together as a team,” Thakur said by The Indian Express.
