For a brief while in the opening session of Day Four, Mumbai threatened to come storming back into the final of the Ranji Trophy, but Rajat Patidar and Saransh Jain had other ideas. Once they doused the imminent fire, Madhya Pradesh took a giant step towards their maiden title, opening up a potentially decisive 162-run lead in the first innings at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on a stop-start Saturday.

Patidar’s second hundred this year and Jain’s attractive 57 helped Madhya Pradesh translate their overnight 368 for three to an imposing 536 when Shams Mulani struck for the fifth time in the innings to bring an end to their essay. It was the left-arm spinner’s sixth five-for this season, though he would have wished for better figures than 5-173. From that point, it was Madhya Pradesh’s game to lose, given how far ahead in the game they were.