The second test match played between India and Bangladesh in Kanpur ended and the second important match of the domestic cricket season started. The Irani Cup match between Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai and the Rest of India started in Lucknow. The first two days of this match were in Mumbai's favor but on the third day, the Rest of India made a strong comeback and the reason for this was Abhimanyu Easwaran and Dhruv Jurel. On the fourth day too, all eyes were on both of them and both were on the verge of doing something big but one bowler broke the hearts of both of them one after the other. This bowler was Mumbai's spinner Shams Mulani, who first stopped Jurel from scoring a century and then dismissed Easwaran before he could score a double century.
Before the start of the new Ranji Trophy season, Mumbai scored 537 runs in the first innings of this match being played at Lucknow's Ekana Stadium on the basis of Sarfaraz Khan's excellent double century. In response, its vice-captain and Bengal's experienced opener Easwaran also performed well for Rest of India. On the third day of the match, Easwaran scored the 26th century of his first-class career. On the third day, he returned unbeaten after scoring 151 runs, and wicketkeeper Jurel returned unbeaten with him after scoring 30 runs. On the fourth day also, both of them took the score forward.
On Friday, October 4, the fourth day of the match, Jurel took charge and increased the pace of runs. He completed his half-century and brought the team close to 400 runs. He had crossed the 90 mark, while Ishwaran had also reached 190. Both had a chance to create their own record but then Shams Mulani's spinning balls wreaked havoc. Left-arm spinner Mulani first got Jurel caught by the wicketkeeper, who was trying to play the sweep. He was out after playing a brilliant innings of 93 runs in 121 balls. Then in his very next over, Mulani also shocked Ishwaran. Ishwaran also tried to sweep and he got caught in the hands of a short leg. Ishwaran played a memorable inning of 191 runs in 292 balls but could not score his double century. In this way, Mulani sent both the batsmen back to the pavilion within 7 balls.
After the dismissal of these two, the entire innings of the Rest of India was reduced to just 416 runs and the reason for this was Mulani, who took a total of 3 wickets. 27-year-old Mulani has been a part of the Mumbai team for the last several years and played an important role in making the team Ranji champion last season. Mulani not only took 4 wickets in the final but also scored a half-century in the second innings. Overall, in the last Ranji season, he took 35 wickets in 9 matches. Overall, Mulani has taken 190 wickets in 41 first-class matches so far.
