A resolute Vidarbha reduced Mumbai to 83 for three in their second innings here at the close of Day Four on Thursday, and the defending champions now need a further 323 to win the semifinal match on the fifth and final day.
Mumbai are chasing a tall 406 for an improbable victory.
Yash Rathod's 151 (252 balls, 11 fours) and a dogged half-century from skipper Akshay Wadkar (52 off 202 balls, 5x4) took Vidarbha to 292 all out after resuming the day at 147 for four.
Having already amassed a huge lead of 113 runs in the first essay, Vidarbha were able to set a huge target of 406. But Mumbai's reply did not inspire much confidence.
Ayush Mhatre (18), Siddhesh Lad (2) and Mumbai captain Ajinkya Rahane (12) perished against spin bowling as Vidarbha tightened the screws on the visitors here at the VCA Stadium in Jamtha, setting themselves up to avenge their loss in the Ranji Trophy final last season.
Akash Anand, whose 106 was the only bright spot for Mumbai in the first innings, once again made a fine effort making 27 not out off 92 balls with one four.
At the other end, Shivam Dube was batting on 12. Mumbai are pinning their hopes on the likes of India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Tanush Kotian and Shams Mulani to produce a rearguard on the final day.
But the task would not be easy given the way spinners prised out three wickets to have fallen in the final session.
Mhatre was cleaned up by left-arm spinner Harsh Dube, who also had Lad stumped for a mere two when the No. 3 batter came dancing down the wicket.
Playing only his second First-Class game, the 25-year-old Parth Rekhade once again accounted for Rahane, trapping him leg-before for the third wicket for his side. The pair of Anand and Dube took charge to take Mumbai to stumps without any further damage.
But the day belonged to Vidarbha and two of its star players Rathod and Dube.
With his fifth century of the Ranji Trophy season, Rathod took his runs tally to 933 in nine matches at 58.31 which also includes three half-centuries.
With two more dismissals added to his tally on Thursday, the left-armer Dube's tally this season swelled to 63 wickets in nine matches with six five-wicket hauls.
Earlier at resumption, Rathod and Wadkar batted with determination as Mumbai did not find much success in the first session. The left-handed Rathod brought up his ton from 168 balls while putting on a stoic 158-run stand with Wadkar for the fifth wicket.
The pair was separated when Mulani cleaned up Wadkar for 52 in the 82nd over, and the Mumbai spinner added three more wickets to his column to return 44-9-85-6.
Kotian took 3/81 while Thakur claimed one wicket.
Brief scores: Vidarbha 383 & 292 in 110.1 overs (Yash Rathod 151, Akshay Wadkar 52; Shams Mulani 6/85, Tanush Kotian 3/81) lead Mumbai 270 & 83/3 in 31 overs (Akash Anand 27 batting; Harsh Dubey 2/26, Parth Rekhade 1/16) by 323 runs.
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