Deshpande hat-trick routs Chandigarh as Mumbai seize control in Ranji Trophy opener
Tushar Deshpande’s hat-trick and five-wicket spell ripped through Chandigarh’s batting at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday as Mumbai took charge of their Ranji Trophy 2026-27 opener on October 12, 2026. Chandigarh were dismissed for 78, and by stumps Mumbai needed nine wickets to complete a comprehensive victory.
Mumbai posted 429 in their first innings, with contributions from Ayush Mhatre (48), Musheer Khan (65), Siddhesh Lad (86) and lower-order stands that included Tanush Kotian (58), Tushar Deshpande (44) and Mohit Avasthi (56 not out); the total came off 136.5 overs with nine extras. Deshpande had earlier bolstered the hosts with a brisk 44 off 47 balls, providing impetus in the lower order.
After tea Deshpande produced an opening burst of 7-1-17-5 that included a hat-trick, Mumbai’s sixth in First Class cricket, to demolish Chandigarh’s chase. It took him four overs to register a wicket, but his sixth over of the spell proved decisive: a short ball induced an errant pull from Arjun Azad caught by Sylvester D’Souza at long leg, the next delivery bowled Shivam Bhambri, and Dipender Kush edged to Yashasvi Jaiswal at first slip to complete the treble.
Deshpande then took a fifth wicket in the following over to finish with figures recorded in the match summary as 7-1-17-5, completing his sixth First Class five-wicket haul. Mumbai’s seamers dominated the brief Chandigarh innings, which lasted 19.1 overs in total and yielded just three extras.
Chandigarh’s resistance was limited largely to Nishunk Birla’s 33; other top-order batsmen fell cheaply, including Raj Bawa lbw to Deshpande for 0. The visitors’ innings collapsed through a series of early dismissals, with fall of wickets recorded as 1-16, 2-25, 3-25, 4-25, 5-25, 6-29, 7-37, 8-59, 9-76.
Mumbai’s batting innings had earlier been dented when Raj Bawa removed captain Siddhesh Lad (86) and Shams Mulani (39) in the opening hour, reducing the hosts to 271 for seven, but the last three wickets added 158 runs. Tanush Kotian’s 58 and Mohit Avasthi’s unbeaten 56, alongside Deshpande’s 44, pushed Mumbai to 429 and forced Chandigarh to face two sessions in the heat.
The full bowling returns show Chandigarh deployed Jagjit (27-5-88-1), Rohit Dhanda (26-7-78-4), Raj Bawa (21.5-6-73-4), Birla (37-1-118-1), Vishu Kashyap (23-0-63-0) and Arjun Azad (2-0-6-0); Mumbai’s other bowlers finished with Mohit Avasthi 6-3-9-3 and Sylvester D’Souza 6.1-0-51-2 alongside Deshpande’s 7-1-17-5.
At stumps Chandigarh were 0 for 1 in their second innings — Vishu Kashyap had been dismissed by Deshpande — with Arjun Azad and Arslan Khan at the crease, leaving Mumbai requiring nine wickets to wrap up the season-opening victory.
