Mumbai: In a hurry to go home and take some rest perhaps, Mumbai took just 8.3 overs—less than an hour—to take the remaining four Pondicherry wickets, wrapping up an innings and 222-run rout on Day Four of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group D fixture at the Wankhede Stadium by 10.21 am on Wednesday. It was their second victory by an innings in a row, after they had thrashed Himachal by an innings and 120 runs at the MCA ground in BKC, and their third outright win of the season. The two bonus-point wins they have collected in their last two matches have taken their tally to 24 points in five matches, and they have now finished the first leg of the Ranji Trophy topping their group. The Ranji Trophy season now goes into a two-month break for the domestic white-ball tournaments, starting with the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy from Nov 26. Mumbai will play their league matches in Lucknow. Resuming at 231 for six, Pondicherry added just 45 more runs, finishing their second innings at 276. The visitors’ maiden outing against Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy turned out to be a reality check for them. Cleaning up the tail, pacer Tushar Deshpande, who finished with three for 32 in seven overs, began the last rites, while Sidhaant Aadhhathrao (54, 60, 9×4) was caught at first slip by Sarfaraz Khan, who took three catches in the morning. Striking again in his next over, Deshpande had Pondicherry captain Sagar Udeshi out for one, as the Mumbaikar was caught superbly by Sarfaraz, running backwards from second slip to third man. Skipper Shardul Thakur castled Sabhay Chadha (4). Old warhorse Jayant Yadav scored 32 (46b, 5×4) and put up some resistance, but was the last one to fall, caught at second slip off Ayush Mhatre.
