Photo: Hotstar/BCCI

In only his second first-class match, Shashank Attarde shone for Mumbai by taking nine wickets in his team's loss against Indian domestic giants Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai.

Shashank Attarde, a SoBo Supersonics player in the T20 Mumbai league, picked up his maiden five-wicket haul in the first innings and four in the second to be the stand-out performer with the ball, added to the critical knock he managed in the first essay.

Put in to bat in the Elite Group B fixture, Mumbai were restricted to just 194 in the first innings with the in-form captain Suryakumar Yadav breezing 77 in just 94 balls, with 10 fours and 2 sixes. It could have been considerably worse as Mumbai were 60/6 but along with the skipper Shashank Attarde put on 88 runs for the seventh wicket, of which he scored 35 (51b, 6x4s) offering Mumbai just enough runs to stay in the game.

Karnataka made a solid start to their innings only for Shams Mulani to end the 68-run opening stand. Two balls later he struck again after which Shashank Attarde and Royston Dias reduced the opposition to 79/4. A 78-run stand between Ravikumar Samarth, who eventually top-scored with 86, and Shreyas Gopal steadied the ship before they both fell to Shashank Attarde in successive overs.

Abhimanyu Mithun was the Jalgaon-born 28-year-old's next victim and Vasuki Koushik his fifth and the innings' final. While Shams Mulani ended with figures of 3/55, Shashank Attarde registered 5/58 in 18.5 overs as Karnataka were bowled out for 218, taking a lead of 24 runs.

Shashank Attarde (5/58) becomes the first Mumbai specialist off-spinner since Ramesh Powar to pick a fifer as Karnataka bowled out for 218. Jay Bista and Akhil Herwadkar have a five-for as part-timers in the last few years #MUMvKAR #RanjiTrophy

— Amol Karhadkar (@karhacter) January 4, 2020

During Karnataka's innings, Mumbai suffered a blow as Prithvi Shaw sustained an injury to his left shoulder while fielding and was sidelined for the rest of the match. He was flown to the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru for an assessment on request following an MRI scan that confirmed a labral tear.

"Mumbai Cricket Association got an email from the BCCI," confirmed Mumbai team manager Ajinkya Naik. "He couldn't even lift his hand. He was not in a position to bat."

Bereft of their opener who scored a double century in the Ranji Tropy last month, Mumbai went into the second innings and were shaken up early at 26/4. Sarfaraz Khan, playing first-class cricket after three years, then partnered Shams Mulani to produce 83 runs for the fifth wicket offering some resistance. However, from 109/4, Mumbai collapsed to 149 all out to take a lead of just 125 with Sarfaraz Khan left unbeaten on 71 (140b, 8x4s, 2x6s).

When Shashank Attarde snapped Devdutt Padikkal and Abhishek Reddy in successive overs to leave Karnataka at 84/2 in the chase, there was a faint glimmer of hope that Mumbai could pull off a miracle. That soon became 91/3 when Shams Mulani got rid of Ravikumar Samarth but with just another 35 needed, Karnataka cruised home with five wickets to spare

Shashank Attarde, who made his debut last month, got the remaining two wickets, including captain Karun Nair, indicating that he was on song as he picked up 4/52 to bring his match haul to 9/110, but the lack of runs meant that Mumbai succumbed to their second straight loss.

"Looking at history, we have always come back stronger and we will come back stronger," said Suryakumar Yadav. “We could have done better in all departments.

"I feel Mumbai versus Karnataka is always a tough encounter. We were short by 50-70 runs, otherwise it would have been a close game," he added.

Mumbai are now scheduled to play Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy starting next Saturday.