Vijay Hazare Trophy: Shardul Thakur, Shams Mulani dismantle Chhattisgarh; Mumbai make it three in a row

NEW DELHI: Mumbai completed a third straight group-stage win in the Vijay Hazare Trophy after beating Chhattisgarh by nine wickets on Monday, with skipper Shardul Thakur playing a key role with both decision-making and the ball.At the Jaipuria Vidyalaya ground in Jaipur, Thakur won the toss and made use of early movement to reduce Chhattisgarh to 10 for 4 inside the first five overs. The team was eventually bowled out for 142 in 38.1 overs.Thakur finished with figures of 4 for 13 from five overs. He struck with the second ball of the innings as opener Ayush Tiwary edged to Sarfaraz Khan at slip. Mayank Verma was then bowled off the final ball of the first over. Sarfaraz later took two more slip catches off Thakur as Chhattisgarh slipped further. Left-arm spinner Shams Mulani then took control of the middle and lower order, returning 5 for 31. After his introduction, the last six Chhattisgarh wickets fell for 27 runs. Amandeep Khare (63) and Ajay Mandal (46) put on 105 runs for the fifth wicket, but the stand ended when Mulani dismissed Mandal, triggering a collapse.Mumbai chased the target without trouble. Angkrish Raghuvanshi scored 68 not out from 66 balls, while Siddhesh Lad made 48 not out from 42 balls. The pair added an unbroken 102-run stand for the second wicket, finishing the chase in 24 overs. Mumbai now have 12 points and sit on top of Group C.Raghuvanshi, who batted with a bandage on his neck, thanked the support staff after the match.“All thanks to our physio Mr Suresh who helped me a lot, had a bad fall but I feel much better now,” he said, as cited by the news agency PTI.He also spoke about the pitch conditions.“On the match front, he felt that while his skipper exploited early help from the surface, it became a ‘batting paradise’ later on.”Brief scores:Chhattisgarh 142 in 38.1 overs (Amandeep Khare 63; Shardul Thakur 4/13, Shams Mulani 5/31)Mumbai 144/1 in 24 overs (Angkrish Raghuvanshi 68 not out, Siddhesh Lad 48 not out)