Pacer Tushar Deshpande produced a fiery spell, claiming a devastating hat-trick en route to a five-wicket haul as Mumbai bowled out Chandigarh for 78 in their opening Ranji Trophy 2026-27 match at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday.
Deshpande finished with figures of 5/17, his sixth career five-wicket haul, in Chandigarh’s first innings. He took another wicket after the Mumbai cricket team enforced the follow-on.
The six wickets on Day 2 took Deshpande’s first-class tally to 140 in what is his 50th first-class match. His best bowling figures remain 6/70, recorded against Railways in the Ranji Trophy in 2018.
The right-arm pacer made the breakthrough in the seventh over, bowling Arslan Khan, before tearing through Chandigarh’s top order with a hat-trick in the 11th over.
Arjun Azad was caught off his bowling by Sylvester D’Souza before Deshpande bowled Shivam Bhambri for a first-ball duck. Dipender Kush then fell without scoring, caught by fellow Rajasthan Royals teammate Yashasvi Jaiswal, as Chandigarh slumped to 25/4.
Deshpande’s hat-trick made him the sixth Mumbai bowler to achieve the feat in the Ranji Trophy, joining Jehangir Khot, Umesh Kulkarni, Abdul Ismail, Royston Dias and Shardul Thakur.
He then continued to dismantle the Chandigarh batting line-up, dismissing Raj Bawa in the 13th over to reduce them to 29/6 before Mumbai bowled them out for 78.
After the follow-on was enforced, Deshpande struck again in the final over of the day, removing Vishu Kashyap for a duck to leave Chandigarh at 0/1 at stumps.
Earlier, Deshpande had also contributed with the bat in Mumbai’s first innings. Walking in at 271/7, he struck 44 off 47 balls, including four fours and two sixes, to help the hosts post 429.
The performance continues a strong run of form for the pacer. He claimed 4/57 in the first innings for West Zone against North Zone in their Duleep Trophy quarter-final and also took five wickets in the first of India A’s two unofficial Tests against Australia A to help secure a victory.
