Heroic Shardul Thakur experiences his Ranji Groundhog Day

Shardul Thakur would have been forgiven if he thought he was living in a simulation and the semi-final between Mumbai and Tamil Nadu was being played all over again. Because when he walked out to bat in the final against Vidarbha, Mumbai found themselves in a similar position they were in against Tamil Nadu.

In that game, Mumbai were 106 for 7 before Shardul's blazing hundred changed their fortunes. On Sunday, the scoreboard displayed 111 for 6 when Shardul came to the crease.

There was a key difference in the match situations, though. In the semi-final, Mumbai were batting second, after having bundled out Tamil Nadu for 146. They knew another 40 runs would put the pressure back on the opposition.

That was not the case here. They were batting first, and Vidarbha were dictating the terms without any worry of conceding a first-innings lead.

After winning the toss, Vidarbha had no hesitation in opting to bowl - the thought process being to take advantage of the early moisture in a grass-covered pitch. But Prithvi Shaw and Bhupen Lalwani not only survived the first hour but also put on 81 in just 20 overs.

Vidarbha persevered, which seems to have become a part of their DNA now. Left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey got the ball to turn and bounce, and the seamers induced edges, and in the next 30 runs Mumbai lost six wickets. Suddenly, the run-scoring was not as easy; by the time Shardul walked in, it had been 77 balls since the last boundary.

But Shardul did what he does best: counterattack. Facing his third ball, he jumped out of his crease and hit Dubey wide of long-off for four.

That shot was as much a reminder of what had happened in the semi-final as it was a harbinger of what was to follow.

Shardul had attacked the Tamil Nadu spinners in a similar manner, smashing them for 99 runs off 80 balls. And he continued meting out the same treatment to Vidarbha's spinners.

In Dubey's next over, he slog-swept him to the square-leg boundary before taking two more boundaries off seamer Yash Thakur.

Vidarbha knew how quickly Shardul could change the complexion of the game. So Akshay Wadkar turned to veteran spinner Sarwate to try to control the proceedings.

Shardul did not let him settle down. On the spinner's second ball, he went down the pitch and launched him into the sightscreen. He and Shams Mulani added 43 for the seventh wicket, in which the latter's contribution was only 13.

Yash got rid of Mulani and Tanush Kotian to leave Mumbai on 176 for 8, but Shardul kept steering Mumbai singlehandedly. Another straight six off Sarwate took him to 49, and a single immediately after that brought up his fifty off 37 balls. In the company of Tushar Deshpande, he guided Mumbai past 200 at the stroke of tea.

Vidarbha tried a different tactic after the break. Until then, Dubey had bowled all his 19 overs from around the wicket. Now he changed the angle, probably to attack Shardul's pads. It made no difference. Shardul once again used his feet and sent the ball over the long-on boundary.

That was the main feature of Shardul's innings: shots down the ground. He hit 32 runs in the V, including all three sixes. In fact, twice he was guilty of playing too straight, when the ball smashed the stumps at the non-striker's end. The first of those looked a certain four, while the second resulted in Deshpande being run out as the ball brushed Umesh Yadav's shoe on its way.

Deshpande might consider himself unlucky but Shardul can have no such complaint. He survived a run-out chance on 29. Soon after, Yash could have had him three times in the same over. On the first two occasions, the outside edge evaded the gully fielder. On the third, a leading edge fell just out of the reach of mid-off.

He was eventually dismissed for 75 off 69 balls but not before steering his side to 224.

And he was not done for the day yet.

In his second over with the ball, he got one to nip back just enough to beat Dhruv Shorey's inside edge and ping him above the knee roll. The on-field umpire ruled the lbw decision in the batter's favour but Mumbai got it overturned on review, as the Hawk-Eye showed the ball would have hit the top of leg stump.

Shardul could have had the other Vidarbha opener as well. Bowling around the stumps, he got Atharva Taide to chip one back at him but the ball did not stick in his outstretched right hand. Dhawal Kulkarni's two wickets, though, meant Vidarbha were 31 for 3 at stumps.

In a way, the final has so far lived up to its billing of being a contest of contrasts, between Vidarbha's workhorses and Mumbai's superstars. Vidarbha's bowlers put in a collective effort but Shardul's all-round performance has kept Mumbai afloat.