Legacy continues: Mumbai crush Saurashtra to become Ranji Trophy champions for the 41st time

For the second time in four seasons, Mumbai crushed Saurashtra by an innings in a Ranji Trophy final. For the second time in four seasons, the Jaydev Shah-led team had to be content with the runners-up tag in their second Ranji Trophy final. And, for the second time in a Mumbai-Saurashtra Ranji Trophy final, the former completed the hammering after tea on the third day.

Such was Mumbai's dominating performance at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium here on Friday that they brushed aside Saurashtra by an innings and 21 runs to lift their 41st title in 82 seasons in the history of the premier domestic championship. Mumbai have lost only four of the 45 finals they have played in.

If it was big-match player Dhawal Kulkarni who took five wickets in the first innings, the honour in the second went to Shardul Thakur when he castled a clueless No. 11 Hardik Rathod 29 minutes into the day's final session. Thakur finished with 5/26, taking his wickets tally to 41 in the season.

Mumbai did not have to rely on a particular player for their triumph this season. It was a perfect example of team effort where every player chipped in, not to forget some smart slip catching and fine wicket-keeping by captain Aditya Tare. However, Shreyas Iyer emerged as the highest run-getter for the season with 1,321 runs, the only player to score over 1,000 runs this season.

Mumbai's support cast was equally strong. Lower middle-order batsman Siddhesh Lad, one of the five to have played in all 11 matches for the champions this season, proved to be Mumbai's crisis man and accumulated 691 runs.

Eighty eight of those runs came in Mumbai's first innings that took the team's total to 371 in reply to Saurashtra's 235, a lead that swelled from 27 overnight to 136.

Lad, who slammed eight fours and five sixes, was brilliantly supported by No. 11 Balwinder Singh Sandhu (34*). The pair added 103 for the last wicket, the highest for Mumbai for the 10th wicket in Ranji Trophy, erasing the previous best of unbeaten 87 between Ashok Mankad and Sushil Sanghvi against Gujarat in 1967-68.

Lad dominated the Saurashtra medium-pacers after Iqbal Abdulla fell to Jaydev Unadkat to the last ball of the day's first over. Just when Saurashtra sensed that they could restrict Mumbai's lead to under 50, Lad went on the offensive, dealing with sixes against Unadkat and Rathod. Lad was dropped on 24 by Cheteshwar Pujara at first slip when Mumbai's lead was only 36. That drop proved way too costly as Mumbai added 100 more from that stage.

Lad's striking of the ball was admirable. It was not wayward batting but clean cricketing shots that were timed to a nicety. When Lad was finally dismissed by Unadkat, Saurashtra fancied their chances of making Mumbai bat again.

But in a batting collapse that was perhaps their worst this season, Saurashtra were bundled out for 115 in their second innings. It was a shame for Saurashtra – relegated to Group C last season and working their way up to the final this time – to end the season in the same manner in which they began: not taking the game into the fourth day.

In a strategy that was wily coach Chandrakant Pandit's, Mumbai operated with Dhawal Kulkarni and Sandhu rather than with the regular combination of Kulkarni and Thakur. The logic was to have variety at the start with the pace of Kulkarni and swing of Sandhu.

Much to the disbelief of the handful present at the stadium, wickets fell at regular intervals. Even Pujara struggled against the Mumbai medium-pacers, looking for survival rather than runs. Perhaps Saurashtra's batsmen should have been on the offensive, like Iyer was on Thursday and Lad on Friday for Mumbai.

Pujara stayed at the crease for two-and-a-quarter hours for his 27 that came off 98 balls. He tried the tactic of standing a foot outside the crease to negate the short stuff better. It was to his luck that he perished to a short-pitched delivery from Thakur, the ball popping up to gully when he defended off the back foot.

None of the partnerships stayed too long for Saurashtra. Their batsmen including first innings half-centurions Arpit Vasavada and Prerak Mankad took a procession of going in and walking out.

The Saurashtra innings lasted only 15 minutes less than four hours, thanks to some sharp slip catching and Tare's brilliance behind the wickets. Not to forget his shrewd captaincy, which has been one of the highlights of Mumbai's success story this season.

SCOREBOARD

Saurashtra (1st innings): 235
Mumbai (1st innings, o/n 262/8): Siddhesh Lad c Jackson b Unadkat 88, Iqbal Abdulla b Unadkat 15, Balwinder Singh Sandhu not out 34; Extras (B4, LB3, W4, NB13) 24
Total (all out, 82.2 overs) 371
Fall of wickets: 8-250 (63.4 ov, Thakur), 9-268 (66.6 ov, Abdulla)
Bowling: J Unadkat 25.2-3-118-4 (W2), H Rathod 15-2-73-3, P Mankad 3-0-18-0 (NB1), D Punia 24-4-107-1 (W1, NB9), C Jani 15-2-48-2 (W2, NB3)
Saurashtra (2nd innings): Avi Barot lbw b Sandhu 4, Sagar Jogiyani c Thakkar b Kulkarni 9, C Pujara c Herwadkar b Thakur 27, Arpit Vasavada c Herwadkar b Sandhu 3, Sheldon Jackson c Tare b Nayar 13, Jaydev Shah c Tare b Thakur 17, Chirag Jani c Tare b Thakur 11, Prerak Mankad c Abdulla b Kulkarni 1, Dipak Punia c Tare b Thakur 3, Jaydev Unadkat not out 16, Hardik Rathod b Thakur 2; Extras (B2, LB6, W1) 9
Total (all out, 48.2 overs) 115
Fall of wickets: 1-13 (3.4 ov, Barot), 2-15 (6.2 ov, Jogiyani), 3-24 (13.4 ov, Vasavada), 4-48 (25.6 ov, Jackson), 5-67 (34.1 ov, Pujara), 6-86 (38.6 ov, Shah), 7-91 (41.6 ov, Mankad), 8-91 (42.1 ov, Jani), 9-102 (44.4 ov, Punia)
Bowling: D Kulkarni 16-4-34-2, BS Sandhu 11-3-21-2, S Thakur 13.2-1-26-5 (W1), A Nayar 8-1-26-1

Most national cricket titles
46: New South Wales
41: Bombay/Mumbai
33: Yorkshire
29: Victoria
29: Transvaal/Gauteng

N ZONE
41
No. of titles the rest of Ranji Trophy teams put together in India have

91
Mumbai's win percentage in Ranji Trophy finals (41 out of 45 finals)

DID YOU KNOW?
Mumbai's innings and 21-run win against Saurashtra is their 10th victory by an innings in Ranji Trophy finals