Shams Mulani too starred with the bat and then emerged as the pick of the bowlers against Tamil Nadu.
ttmum
Photo: BCCI/Hotstar
After recent woes in batting, it was captain Aditya Tare who stepped up and led from the front for Mumbai to score a solid century against Tamil Nadu in their Ranji Trophy match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Batting at No. 7, Aditya Tare scored 154 in just 253 balls, with 19 fours and two sixes, to bail his side out after a top-order collapse, which saw them tottering at 95/4.
Now that was some knock when the team needed it ... a captaian knock to take the team to good position @adu97 #RanjiTrophy 🔥
— Akhil  Rajput (@AkhilR88) January 12, 2020
Opting to bat first in the Elite Group B match, Mumbai made a brisk start to the innings thanks to Jay Bista's brisk 48-ball 41 but debutants Bhupen Lalwani and Hardik Tamore were unable to hit the ground running.
Sarfaraz Khan tried to turn things around after he hit two massive sixes but eventually fell for a quickfire 36 off just 39 balls with the score reading 129/5, which brought Aditya Tare to the crease.
Along with Shams Mulani, Aditya Tare put on 155 for the sixth wicket that not only steadied the innings but gave Mumbai the momentum.
View this post on Instagram
Shams Mulani carved 87 runs in 154 balls, his second fifty in first-class cricket, before he returned to the pavilion and soon the visitors were at 297/7 after the third Mumbai debutant, Vinayak Bhoir was sent back.
"I was a little patient. Just tried to play to my strengths," Shams Mulani said of his knock, two shy of his highest score.
With Shashank Attarde, Aditya Tare then forged a 123-run partnership for the eighth wicket with the wicket-keeper doing the bulk of the scoring between the two.
"I have been given the responsibility of leading the side and I had to lead from the front," said Aditya Tare, who was adjudged Best Batsman in the second season of the T20 Mumbai league last year. "I felt I needed to be calm at the crease.
"When you are not doing well, you tend to get tight at the crease," he added. "I just wanted to keep myself calm and take it one ball at a time."
During the course of the innings, Aditya Tare brought up his ninth first-class hundred and eventually went on to make it 150, after which he was soon dismissed.
Shashank Attarde then stepped up as he completed his maiden fifty after which Tushar Deshpande hit off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for three sixes en route to an unbeaten 39.
Mumbai eventually folded for 488, their last five wickets adding 359 to put them in a commanding position.
Shams Mulani in the wickets
In response, Tamil Nadu scored only 324, handing Mumbai a lead of 164. Mumbai, however, had the home side on the mat as they reduced the opposition to 195/7 before the tail wagged to rescue them out.
Shams Mulani grabbed the final two wickets of the innings to end up with 4/72 taken in 47.4 overs and was the pick of the bowlers.
The match was eventually drawn after Tamil Nadu were made to follow on, batting out 22 overs to end the game.
View this post on Instagram
