Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, June 26: In the final at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday, Madhya Pradesh defeated tournament giants Mumbai by six wickets to win their first Ranji Trophy championship.
In the 108-run chase, Rajat Patidar scored the winning runs for Madhya Pradesh, helping the team to a convincing victory. Aditya Shrivastava, the team’s captain, was the other unbeaten hitter (1*), while the MP batsman was still unbeaten after 30 of 37 pitches.
Day 5 saw Mumbai pick up where they left off from their overnight score of 113/2, but they were unable to put MP on the back foot as Gaurav Yadav made a breakthrough by getting rid of Armaan Jaffer on 37 in the first few overs of the first session. With the exception of Suved Parkar (51), none of the Mumbai batsmen could reach the half-century mark, much like in their first innings.
In the second innings, Yashasvi Jaiswal batted at position six and was out for just one run as he attempted to boost the ante. Yashasvi attempted a lofted sweep but mishandled Kumar Kartikeya’s ball and was caught at short third-man, which turned out to be a crucial moment in the game.
Sarfaraz Khan (45) was once more placed in a familiar situation when he was required to form a partnership with tailenders. Sarfaraz was caught at deep midwicket while attempting to hit a maximum, unable to replicate his first innings heroics under the strain of needing to score runs quickly.
The centurion of the previous inning, Yash Dubey, was dismissed for one run in the second over of the match, giving Madhya Pradesh an early blow in their attempt to reach their 108-run goal. However, before Shams Mulani provided another breakthrough for Mumbai, Himanshu Mantri (37) and Shubham Sharma (30) put up a 52-run stand. Parth Sahani (5) also left early, but Rajat Patidar kept things together for MP and eventually led them to their first championship in second session.
