Vidarbha in command despite Dube's five-fer

Vidarbha continued to dominate proceedings on Day 2 of the Ranji Trophy semifinal against Mumbai in Nagpur. The hosts have picked up seven Mumbai wickets, led by Parth Rekhade's three-wicket haul, and still lead by 195 runs at Stumps.

Akash Anand (67*) has been the pillar with the bat for Mumbai but has had limited support from his teammates so far. In an inspirational bowling performance for Mumbai, Shivam Dube registered figures of 5 for 49.

Yash Rathod quickly brought up his 50, but Shardul Thakur broke the 63-run partnership between Rathod and Akshay Wadkar, dismissing the former by holding onto one of his own bowling. Wadkar punished Shardul in his next over with three boundaries for overpitching.

Royston Dias had the Vidarbha captain, Wadkar, caught behind as the door was left ajar for the Mumbai bowlers. It was then Dube's turn to clean up the tail with three wickets across his three-over spell to restrict Vidarbha below 400.

Mumbai picked up the last five wickets for just 75 runs in the first hour on Day 2. The pair of Siddhesh Lad and Anand stitched a 67-run partnership where the former unleashed a few exquisite backfoot punches to the boundary.

Ajinkya Rahane unleashed a flurry of boundaries off Yash as Mumbai quickly sailed past the 100-run mark. However, Rahane couldn't capitalise on his second chance. He defended one ball but it hit the deck and went back to knock down one bail from the off-stump.

Parth Rekhade had Suryakumar Yadav chop one on to his pads which lobbed up into the hands of silly point. Dube followed suit as he nicked behind to first-slip in a triple-wicket maiden for Rekhade. Harsh Dubey trapped Shams Mulani in front of the stumps as Mumbai lost five wickets for four runs.

Shardul and Anand began to play their shots as the opener also brought up his 50. They raised a 60-run stand before Yash scalped Shardul for 37 on the stroke of Stumps to put Vidarbha firmly in the ascendency.

Brief Scores: Vidarbha 383 (Danish Malewar 79, Dhruv Shorey 74; Shivam Dube 5-49, Royston Dias 2-48) lead Mumbai 188/7 (Akash Anand 67*, Shardul Thakur 37; Parth Rekhade 3-16, Yash Thakur 2-56) by 195 runs