Ranji Trophy 15-16: Quarter-Finals: Jharkhand vs Mumbai

Match Summary: Mumbai (416 & 245) beat Jharkhand (172 & 94) by 395 runs

Mumbai enter the semi-finals.

In the end, the task was too much for the Jharkhand team against the 40 times Ranji Champions Mumbai. Mumbai batted first after winning the toss. They put up a decent score although Nadeem did pull them back a bit. The Jharkhand opening partnership started aggressively. However after the initial flurry of boundaries, the Mumbai spinners reined them in and kept taking wickets regularly. They chose not to enforce the follow on. Although Mumbai couldn't get a big total in the second innings but the ask was very tough. Yet Jharkhand collapsed without even a semblance of a fight in the second innings and lost by a very big margin.

Stats

• Nadeem picked his 9th career 5-wicket haul and his 4th of the season.
• Samar Quadri picked his 6th career 5-wicket haul.

It was a slightly disappointing end to a good season overall for Jharkhand team. Jharkhand certainly missed the services of Varun Aaron (on account of his marriage) and Ishan Kishan (on National U-19 duty). Yet there were quite a few positives for the team.

• Along with Vidarbha they were the only teams to qualify to the second stage of each of the three premier tournaments. 
• Dhoni's presence in the Vijay Hazare Trophy brought the team into spotlight.
• Shahbaz Nadeem took 50 wickets in the Ranji season.
• Ishan Kishan is leading the India Under-19 team in the World Cup and has also been picked up in the IPL auctions to Gujarat Lions where he will be the under-study to Dinesh Karthik

Now the action shifts to IPL where the likes of Tiwary, Nadeem and Kishan would be hoping for the performance which shoots them into the limelight.

It was great following the team this year. Would certainly look forward to writing a few more blog posts on the Jharkhand team and its players next year when they are playing with the big boys in Group A.