Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are not playing in the third round of the Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT 25-26). Rohit was available only for the first two matches, while Virat will play the third match against Railways on January 6. After this, both these players will join the national team before the ODI series against New Zealand.
Mumbai performed well in the first innings without the presence of Rohit Sharma
In Rohit’s absence, Mumbai team is playing a match against Chhattisgarh today on December 29, in which captain Shardul Thakur is on fire with the ball. He single-handedly took four wickets and pushed Chhattisgarh on the back foot. After this, Shams Mulani took a five-wicket haul and bundled out Chhattisgarh for just 142 runs in 38.1 overs.
Mumbai captain Shardul Thakur was in excellent form on Monday. He took four wickets in his opening spell in Jaipur, dismantling the Chhattisgarh top order and putting the opposition in trouble. Thakur took two wickets in the very first over of the innings, reducing Chhattisgarh to 4/2.
He returned in the third over and took another wicket, reducing the score to 9/3. He then added another wicket in his next over, leaving Chhattisgarh in trouble at 10/4 within the first five overs. Amandeep Khare (63) and Ajay Mandal (46) then added 105 runs for the fifth wicket to steady Chhattisgarh’s innings. However, Ajay was dismissed by Mushir Khan.
After Chhattisgarh lost five wickets for 115 runs, Shams Mulani came on to bowl and single-handedly dismissed the remaining half of the team. Mulani took five wickets for 31 runs in a spell of 9.1 overs. Thus, Chhattisgarh’s entire team could only manage 142 runs in 38.1 overs.
In the previous two matches of Mumbai, Rohit Sharma was central of the stage. With Rohit, Mumbai claimed back-to-back wins with full confidence. Now, they will have to perform without the former India captain.