Mumbai broke Vidarbha’s resistance on the fifth afternoon and secured their 42nd Ranji Trophy title and first since 2015-16. Spin-bowling allrounder Tanush Kotian and fast bowler Tushar Deshpande crushed Vidarbha’s dream and dismissed them for 368, in an unprecedented chase of 538, after captain Akshay Wadkar and rookie Harsh Dubey had played out a wicket-less morning session.
Fittingly, it was veteran Dhawal Kulkarni who sealed victory for Mumbai in what was his last game for them. With his captain Ajinkya Rahane and the Wankhede crowd warmly cheering him on, Kulkarni bowled Umesh Yadav to give himself a winning send-off. Having picked up a fourth-innings five-for in his first Ranji final, against Uttar Pradesh, back in 2009, Kulkarni signed off as a bona fide domestic stalwart for Mumbai.
He leaves Mumbai’s seam attack in the safe hands of Deshpande, who bullied Vidarbha with around-the-wicket bouncers on the fifth day and Mohit Avasthi, who was Mumbai’s joint-highest wicket-taker this season with 35 strikes in eight games. Avasthi wasn’t available for the final be-cause of injury, with Kulkarni taking his place.
Shreyas Iyer didn’t take the field for the second day in a row because of a back complaint. But that didn’t stop Mumbai from re-establishing their domestic dominance.
Kotian, who finished the season with 502 runs and 29 wickets, earned the Player-of-the-tournament award. It was Kotian who cracked the game open for Mumbai on the final day when he got one to straighten from around the wicket and pinned Wadkar lbw for 102 after lunch. Soon after, he knocked Yash Thakur over to hasten Mumbai’s victory.
Earlier in the morning, Wadkar and Dubey had made Mumbai stretch every sinew for a breakthrough. Wadkar, in particular, was either right forward or right back to dead-bat Mumbai’s spinners.—Agencies
