Iqbal Abdulla,Vishal Dabholkar spin Mumbai into quarters

Mumbai registered a 27-run victory over Gujarat to sail into the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals.

The spin duo of Iqbal Abdulla and Vishal Dabholkar shared nine wickets between them as Mumbai registered a 27-run victory over Gujarat to sail into the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals in Valsad on Thursday.

Mumbai thus,with 29 points became the third team from Group A to join table toppers Karnataka (38) and Punjab (30) in the knockout round.

40-time champions Mumbai,who conceded a lead in the first innings,recovered amazingly to bowl out Gujarat for 147 in 56 overs on the final day at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium.

Left-arm spinner Vishal Dabholkar picked four for 33 besides Abdullah’s all-round performance.

Starting the day at 67 for three,overnight batsmen Askhar Patel and Bhargav Merai took Gujarat to 104 without any further loss.

But then Dabholkar got the breakthrough by claiming the wicket of Merai (36),and when Patel was bowled by Suryakumar Yadav for 65 Mumbai got the sniff of a victory.

Gujarat’s last six wickets fell for just 12 runs in 11.2 overs as Abdullah and Dabholkar polished off the tail.

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Abdullah ended the second innings with bowling figures of five for 44 in addition to his 6/42 in the first innings. He also scored 68 runs (30 in the first innings and 38 in the second) in the low-scoring match.

While Patel hit 10 fours in his 99-ball knock,Merai had four boundaries in their 76-run stand for the fourth wicket.

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