Mumbai: Jan 28: Ajit Agarkar-led Mumbai claimed their 40th Ranji Trophy title as they ran over Saurashtra in three days of the Ranji Trophy final at Wankhede on Monday.
Medium-pacer Dhawal Kulkarni’s picked up nine wickets to setup Mumbai’s win after Wasim Jaffer scored a century and became the highest run-getter in Ranji Trophy, surpassing Amol Muzumdar.
Saurashtra failed to put up a good fight against a side that was playing its 44th Ranji Trophy final.
Agarkar had put the visitors in to bat after winning the toss on the first morning. He backed his bowlers and they repaid his faith as they bundled out Saurashtra for 148 on Day One. Kulkarni was the pick of the bowlers, picking up four wickets to peg back the visitors. He finished with figures of four for 24 in the first innings.
In reply, Mumbai managed to take a massive lead, courtesy a century from Jaffer and a half-century from Hiken Shah. The Mumbai batsmen played the whole of second day and were eventually bowled out for 355 in the morning session of Day Three, with Kamlesh Makvana picking up three wickets while Siddharth Trivedi, Saurya Sanandiya and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja got two wickets each.
When Saurashtra openers came out to bat on Day Three, the team was trailing by 207 runs and had an uphill task of turning the tables on the home side.
To make matters worse, they crumbled under the pressure and were reduced to 11 for five as captain Agarkar and Kulkarni ran riot on their batting line-up. None of the top six batsmen managed to reach double figures. They were eventually bowled out for 82, helping Mumbai win the title in an emphatic fashion.
Brief Scores: Saurashtra 148 and 82 (Saurya Sanandiya 16; Ajit Agarkar 4 for 15, Dhaval Kulkarni 5 for 32) lost to Mumbai 355 (Wasim Jaffer 132, Hiken Shah 55; Kamlesh Makvana 3 for 45) by an innings and 125 runs.
Man of the Match: Wasim Jaffer
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