Sports

Ranji Trophy 2021-22 Final: MP Script History, Beat Mumbai by 6 Wickets to Clinch Maiden Title

June 26, 2022
Bharat Times

The Madhya Pradesh (MP) cricket team scripted history on Sunday. Under the leadership of Aditya Shrivastava, the team defeated 41-time champions Mumbai by 6 wickets at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, to clinch their first-ever Ranji Trophy title.

This was MP’s first Ranji Trophy final in 23 years. Back in the 1998-99 season, they squared off against Karnataka at the same venue but lost the game by 96 runs. Chandrakant Pandit, who had led Madhya Pradesh then, turned the fortunes of the team around as the head coach, leading it to a memorable victory.

MP vs MUM, Ranji Trophy 2021-22 Final Day 5 Highlights

Chasing a 108-run target, wicketkeeper-batter Himanshu Mantri scored top-scored with 37 while Shubham Sharma played a 30-run innings. Star batter Rajat Patidar contributed with an unbeaten knock of 30 runs, scoring the winning runs to take MP home.

Earlier on Sunday morning, Mumbai resumed their innings on 113/2 with Suved Parkar playing the anchor. But MP were quick enough to get a breakthrough as pacer Gaurav Yadav made a mess of Armaan Jaffer’s stumps with a slower delivery.

Meanwhile, the new man in – Sarfaraz Khan played the spinners well and kept the scoreboard ticking. Parkar, on the other hand, brought up a half-century with a boundary off Anubhav Agarwal.

But Parkar was out in the very next over, missing the flatter ball from Kartikeya and lost his off-stump. Three balls later, Kartikeya had another wicket when Yashasvi Jaiswal heaved an expansive slog to short third man.

Sarfaraz’s dismissal at 45 meant he finishes the season with 982 runs from nine innings at an average of 122.75. Kartikeya and Sahani wiped off the rest of the tail to give Madhya Pradesh a target of 108 for their first-ever Ranji Trophy triumph.

Parth Sahani (2/43) and Kumar Kartikeya (4/98) shared six wickets among each other to bowl out Mumbai for 269

If the bowlers fast-tracked MP’s win on Sunday, it were the batters who had laid the foundation with colossal knocks a day before. After Yash Dubey and Shubham Sharma made 133 and 116 respectively, Saturday saw Patidar hit the third century of Madhya Pradesh’s first innings, followed by Saransh contributing with his maiden first-class half-century.

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