Following Vidrabha’s collapse in the first innings, Mumbai looked like the clear winners and were almost certain to win the Ranji Trophy. things was surprising, though, that things would get so tough for the 41-time champs. With their tenacious fight, Vidarbha broke every sweat, leaving no stone untouched and no sinew unstrained. Mumbai were ultimately worthy winners, but Vidarbha were magnificent in their loss.
The captain himself led his team gallantly from the front on the fifth and final day. Wadkar led the visitors in their near-impossible target chase with a methodical and controlled inning. Ultimately, Vidarbha discovered that 538 was not simply a tough peak to scale, but also a cricket-specific version of Everest, complete with perilous crevasses throughout the journey.
The skipper himself led his team gallantly from the front on the fifth and final day. In the visitors’ quest for the nearly unachievable goal, Wadkar contributed a methodical and controlled inning. Ultimately, however, Vidarbha discovered that 538 was not just a tough peak to scale but a cricket-specific Everest, complete with perilous crevasses along the route.
“Given the fight they displayed the entire time, giving up would have been quite easy. The way they have been playing for the past seven or eight years has been fantastic to watch,” the winning captain, Ajinkya Rahane, praised the defeated team’s valiant spirit. Rahane made only 214 runs in eight games as a batsman, but his leadership had a significant influence.
The retiring Mumbai great, Dhawal Kulkarni, celebrated the team’s 42nd Trophy by taking out Vidarbha’s final wicket, setting off wild celebrations both on and off the pitch. It was as though it was written for him. Because you want to conclude your career on a positive note, it is highly memorable. I wasn’t really prepared (to put it mildly). However, I was urged to bowl that over by Ajinkya and Shardul Thakur. It was a really remarkable game, according to Kulkarni.
Kulkarani won his fifth Ranji Trophy championship while competing in his sixth final of a 16-year career. Although the victory must have been great, it did not come easily, just as his first one in the 2008 final in Mysore, where Karnataka put up a fierce fight against Mumbai. Mumbai had won by six runs in the match, with Kulkarni being instrumental in the closing stages. They won by 169 runs on Thursday, although the game was tighter than the result would indicate.
Mumbai’s resourcefulness made them impossible to stop. Wadkar acknowledged that Mumbai’s second-inning run-scoring was instructive, citing the batting of Rahane, Musheer, and Shreyas Iyer in particular. Iyer (95) and Rahane (73), both scored fifty, while Musheer (136) hit a century.
“Since it was the end, there was no room for giving up or thinking negatively. We were discussing winning exclusively. Mumbai, however, displayed a great deal of bravery and will in their batting in the second innings. They didn’t give us anything to help us win the game back when we tried to take wickets or generate opportunities,” Wadkar remarked.
Wadkar (102) and Harsh Dubey (65) batted with unwavering desire to make the match of the final as Vidarbha resumed at 248 for five. At the conclusion of the opening session on the last day, they had succeeded in frustrating the Mumbai bowlers and were undefeated. They were 333 for five during lunch, and once they resumed play, they added 20 more runs to reach 353.
The Vidarbha resistance crumbled when Wadkar was leg before wicket bowled by Tanush Kotian, despite their sixth wicket collaboration yielding 130 runs. Through Tushar Deshpande, Rahane used short ball tactics to go around lower order batsmen who were unable to stop it. They collapsed 45 minutes into the second session, giving Mumbai their much-needed championship—which they had last won in 2015—into their possession.
This is really important to us. It’s enormous,” Rahane remarked, acknowledging that it took eight years to win the 42nd title but promising that it won’t take as long for the 43rd.
Team makes ten crore rupees:
Following the victory, the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) stated that the Mumbai squad will get Rs 5 crore in prize money, matching the amount that the BCCI awards to Ranji champions. Thus, Rahane & Co. have gained Rs. 10 crores in wealth from the victory.
“The BCCI Ranji Trophy prize money has been matched by Apex Council and MCA President Amol Kale. The Mumbai Ranji Trophy winning team will also receive an additional payment of Rs 5 crore from the MCA. In all age groups, we have advanced to the knockout stage of BCCI tournaments, and the MCA has won seven titles this year,” MCA secretary Ajinkya Naik said.
