Deshpande and Thakur outplayed Tamil Nadu

Mumbai dominated the first day of their semi-final clash with Tamil Nadu.

Tamil Nadu batted first on a grassy, red-soil pitch at the Bandra Kurla Complex but were bowled out for 146 in their semi-final against Mumbai. Fast bowler Tushar Deshpande caused trouble for the top half of the TN line-up with his seam movement and extra bounce. Spinners Tanush Kotian and Musheer Khan finished off the tail in the post-tea session. In reply, Mumbai lost Prithvi Shaw (5) and Bhupen Lalwani (15), but Musheer and nightwatcher Mohit Avasthi guided their team to stumps without further trouble.

Avasthi had set the tone for Mumbai's opening-day dominance by combining with Shardul Thakur. Avasthi went wide of the crease and beat N Jagadeesan's inside edge. He then hit the inside edge, causing the opening batter to pop a catch to short leg for 4. Thakur took a wicket in the first over, dismissing B Sai Sudharsan lbw with an inswinger for a duck. Sudharsan, who was returning to action after recovering from a back injury, also wasted a review.

Deshpande then removed Pradosh Ranjan Paul (8), R Sai Kishore (1) and B Indrajith (11), leaving TN at 42 for 5. Captain Sai Kishore promoted himself to No.4 as a pinch-blocker to protect the middle order. However, the move backfired as Deshpande knocked him over for 1. Sai Kishore had been promoted to No 3 and scored a crucial half-century to lead TN in their home quarter-final against Saurashtra.

Washington Sundar, who has been dropped from India's Test squad, and Vijay Shankar put on a 48-run partnership for the sixth wicket off 191 balls to briefly withstand Mumbai's onslaught. Vijay began with a flicked four off Avasthi and a punchy straight drive off Deshpande. But he was dismissed by Thakur on 44 after the lunch break. He had angled one in from the other side of the wicket and got the seam to turn away just enough to kiss the outside edge.

Washington's innings could have ended on 11 if Shreyas Iyer had caught a tough chance in the slips off Thakur. He also survived an lbw appeal on 19 off left-arm fingerspinner Shams Mulani after a review showed that the ball would have bounced over the stumps on the red-soil surface.

After the moisture had dried up, Washington took more risks with the lower order, but they were unable to take TN to 150. M Mohammed, who scored a career-best 85 off 99 balls in the first round, hit Thakur for four successive fours in the 51st over. But Musheer ended Mohammed's cameo in the next over, his first of the innings, when he edged him to slip. Musheer also finished with figures of 2 for 18, trapping Sandeep Warrier with his left-arm fingerspin. Kotian, the offspinner, dismissed both left-handers Washington and S Ajith Ram, taking two wickets.

Kuldeep Sen, TN's visiting pacer who had missed the last three games, then marked his return by dismissing Shaw in his first over. Sai Kishore had Lalwani, Mumbai's highest run-getter this season, lbw. However, the hosts reduced the deficit to 101 by stumps. Mumbai will look to eliminate TN from the semi-finals on Sunday with Iyer and captain Ajinkya Rahane in the shed.