Shardul Thakur shone brightly with his all-round performance as a clinical Mumbai thrashed Tamil Nadu by a massive innings and 70-run margin inside three days to enter the final of the Ranji Trophy, on Monday.

After his stunning 109 on the second day that handed Mumbai a big lead of 232 runs in the first innings, Thakur led Mumbai's bowling attack to bundle TN out for 162 in the second essay. Baba Indrajith (70) waged a lone battle for the visitors, who were determined to make it big in their first Ranji knockout game in seven years, but their batters failed to show up against the rampant Mumbai side.

Once again, TN lost their top-order without any contribution and the middle-order too crumbled against the pressure, though the pair of Indrajith and Pradosh Ranjan Paul put some resistance, stitching 73 runs for the fourth wicket. The catalyst of Mumbai's win was bowling all-rounder Thakur (109; 2/48 and 2/16), who dragged them back into the contest from a perilous state of 106/7 in the first innings to an overall lead of 232 runs with his maiden century across formats.

Thakur was all over TN with a two-wicket burst early on day three, helping Mumbai reduce the visitors to 10/3 in the second innings. B Sai Sudharsan was given a reprieve by Shreyas Iyer at midwicket, spilling a sitter in his first over, but