"My Father always believed..." - Tushar Deshpande dedicates stunning Ranji Trophy ton to his father

Mumbai-born right-arm pacer Tushar Deshpande, who made headlines with his performances during the IPL 2023 edition for the Chennai Super Kings, has made the headlines once again. And the reason for that is not because of his bowling but for his batting as he smacked a wonderful century in Ranji Trophy 2024. He dedicated his century to his father and thanked him for always believing in his abilities.

While speaking in a recent interview, Tushar Deshpande gave all the credit to his father who always believed that he could do special things with the bat as well. He made the admission while speaking to PTI following the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals between Mumbai and Baroda which ended earlier today at the MCA cricket ground.

Musheer Khan walks away with Man of the Match award

The quarter-final between Mumbai and Baroda was special about two things. First is of course Tushar Deshpande’s maiden first-class hundred and the second is the way his teammate Musheer Khan batted in the 1st innings. The younger brother of now India international Sarfaraz Khan smacked an outstanding and commendable double hundred.

After Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and elected to bat first, Mumbai got off to a mixed start, having lost half of the batting order for 142 within 45 overs. Following the cheap dismissals of Prithvi Shaw, Bhupen Lalwani, Ajinkya Rahane, Shams Mulani, and Suryansh Shegde, it was up to the shoulders of Musheer Khan and middle-order batsman Hardik Tamore.

The duo stood for the task and took Mumbai from 142/5 to 323/6 with Tamore departing for 57 off 248. But it was the lion’s heart of Musheer Khan that stood on and smacked an unbelievable 203 off 357 as Mumbai closed at 384. In response, Baroda went all out for 348 as Shams Mulani starred with 4 wickets, Musheer and Shardul Thakur took a wicket each while Tushar Deshpande and Tanush Kotian collected a brace of wickets each.

Then in Mumbai’s 2nd innings, the team management tweaked the batting order and it wonders. Hardik Tamore after a hard-fought half-century in the 1st, scored 114 while Prithvi Shaw scored 87 from number 5, Rahane went for 0 and Shams Mulani scored a well-deserved half-century.

And then came the climax. Tailenders – Tanush Kotian and Tushar Deshpande took Mumbai’s total from 337/9 to 569 with a 232-run partnership. Both of the bowlers faced an equal amount of balls – 129 with Kotian scoring 120 and Deshpande amassing 123 before the latter fell prey to Ninad Rathva.

Tushar Deshpande expresses satisfaction

Baroda were asked to chase 570 to win but the match remained draw as day 5 ended with the visitors scoring 116/3. After the match, Tushar Deshpande took some time out, spoke through about his knock, and gave all the credit to his father who made it possible for him.

“Feeling very satisfied with the knock because I was batting at No 11 and I was able to do this. I always wanted to prove that I can bat, my father always believed that I can be a very good all-rounder and this innings is for him. I can hit big, I have played a lot of rubber-ball cricket and I used to hit big from the U-14 days,” Tushar Deshpande told PTI.