Ranji Trophy 2016-17 final, Day 4 Review: Mumbai sets lofty target for Gujarat

After what has been an impressive four days, the 2016-17 edition of the Ranji Trophy final rests on a knife-edge as Gujarat now has to fight for their win. However, the way Mumbai played on the day was quite impressive as well as they went ahead and racked up the runs, something that they simply couldn’t do in the first innings. In addition, all the Gujarat side needs to do is to not be bowled out on the final day, and they clinch the Ranji Trophy after a seemingly long hiatus.

The impressive thing about the Mumbai batsmen was that they put a price on their wickets, something they have not done in the first innings. The wickets began to fall as Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav were both denuded a century and a half-century respectively before the wickets began to fall. Siddesh Lad, who has had a decent outing thus far with the bat also capitulated to the swing.

While Abhishek Nayar went ahead and began to brandish his bat, and went on to amass the highest score in the match thus far at least. Balwinder Sandhu stuck around and returned to the nightwatchman role that he had played previously.

Even Vishal Dhabolkar and Vijay Gohil stayed with Nayar as he coasted towards a century. This unprecedented surge in form has also seen his stock go up and despite his 34 years of age, it seems quite clear that he is one of the most important players in the country. His 91 and dismissal was something that ensured that the Mumbai side had set a target of 312 for their opponents.

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Chintan Gaja concluded with six wickets in the innings and huffed and puffed for 39 overs as well. However, it was Priyank Panchal who concluded at the end of the day on 34 of the 47 runs Gujarat amassed towards the close of play.

Brief Scores:

Mumbai, 1st innings: 228 all out

Gujarat, 2nd innings: 328 all out

Mumbai, 2nd innings: 411 all out (A Nayar 91; 6/121)

Gujarat, 2nd innings: 47/0 (P Panchal 34*)

Mumbai lead by 265 runs.