2024-03-14 19:30:00
Mumbai: Dhawal Kulkarni’s eyes watered as that full-length swinger slid Umesh Yadav’s (six off nine balls) off-stump.
It was the last ball of 35-year-old Dhawal Kulkarni’s Ranji cricket career. After an eight-year hiatus, he returned to Mumbai with the Ranji title. Mumbai fans will long remember the star’s standing with both hands raised without bothering to wipe his eyes. Dhawal took three wickets in the first innings against Vidarbha and took the last wicket in the second innings. Dhawal Kulkarni played 12 ODIs and two Twenty20s for India. He took 19 wickets in ODIs and three wickets in Twenty20s. He took 281 wickets in 95 first-class matches.
Mumbai beat Vidarbha by 169 runs to win the Ranji Trophy. Score: Mumbai 1st innings 224, 2nd innings 418. Vidarbha 1st innings 105, 2nd innings 368. Tanush Kodian, who scored 502 runs and took 29 wickets in the entire Ranji Trophy, became the player of the series. Musheer Khan who took a century (136) and took two wickets was the star of the final.
Mumbai has won the title 42 times and has won the most times. Mumbai’s dominance in Ranji shows that eight-time winners Karnataka are in second place. Karnataka was the last winner in 2015. Seven-time winners Delhi is in the third position. Delhi became champions 16 years ago. Baroda, who have won the crown five times, is next.
Captain Akshay Wadkar (102 off 199 balls with one six and nine fours) and Harsh Dubey (65 off 128 balls with two sixes and five fours) put on a century partnership for the sixth wicket to give Vidarbha the title hope. There was even a feeling that they would beat the target of 538 runs. After lunch, Mumbai were in the thick of things until Tanush Kodiyan broke the partnership by trapping Akshay Wadkar in front of the wicket. Wadkar and Dubey put on a partnership of 130 runs for the sixth wicket.
Vidarbha’s title hopes were dashed when Tushar Deshpande bowled Harsh Dubey to Shams Mulani. Mumbai bowlers continued to dominate. Aditya Sarvathe (three), Yash Thakur (six) and Umesh Yadav (six) have come and gone in the invitational. Tanush Kodiyan took four wickets for Mumbai. Tusshar Deshpande and Musheer Khan took two wickets each while Shams Mulani and Dhawal Kulkarni took one wicket each. Vidarbha is the team that won the title consecutively in 2017-18 and 2018-19.
Malayalee Karun Nair (74 off 220 balls), Atharva Thaide (32), Dhruv Shore (28) and Aman Mokhade (32) fought hard to see the match reach the last day. Ajinkya Rahane became the 26th captain to win the Ranji Trophy for Mumbai. Vidarbha won the toss and allowed Mumbai to bat first. Vidarbha ended Mumbai’s first innings for 224 runs. Yash Thakur and Harsh Dubey took three wickets each for Mumbai. Indian player Umesh Yadav took two wickets.
Bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur’s innings (75 including three sixes and eight fours in 69 balls) took Mumbai past 200. Vidarbha, who were batting full of reply, could not shine. Yash Rathod was the top scorer with 27 runs. Dhawal Kulkarni, Shams Mulani and Tanush Kodian took three wickets each. With a first innings lead of 119 runs, Mumbai was assured of the title even if the match was a draw. Mumbai showed a strong batting performance in the second innings. Musheer Khan’s century (136) and half-centuries from Shreyas Iyer (95 off 111 balls), skipper Ajinkya Rahane (73 off 143 balls) and Shams Mulani (50 not out off 85 balls) took Mumbai past 400. Harsh Dubey took five wickets and Yash Thakur three wickets for Vidarbha. Despite winning the title, skipper Ajinkya Rahane’s performance is not promising. He scored a total of 214 runs in the season. His 73 runs in the final and his century partnership with Musheer Khan can be mentioned as the best performance.
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