Mumbai’s team pose for a photograph along with the trophy after winning the Mumbai Vs Vidarbha Ranji Trophy Final match at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on March 14, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Emmanual Yogini

Domestic heavyweights Mumbai ended their eight-year barren run to lift a record-extending 42nd Ranji Trophy title on March 14, beating a resolute Vidarbha by 169 runs on the fifth and final day of a thoroughly engrossing summit clash.

The fate of the final — Mumbai’s 48th in the 90 years of the tournament’s history — in Mumbai at the iconic Wankhede Stadium was sealed when the hosts set a 538-run target for the visiting team.

Vidarbha captain Akshay Wadkar (102) and the unheralded Harsh Dubey (65) kept Mumbai at bay for the entire first session after Vidarbha resumed on 248 for five, needing another 290 runs to win. The team was eventually bowled out for 368.

In a contest that ebbed and flowed, Mumbai came out as the winners after Vidarbha frustrated them for long periods of play in the last two days.

Wadkar not only led the fight for his side with his first century of the year while also crossing the 600-run mark this season. Dubey brought up only his second fifty of the first-class career.

Together, they forged the longest stand of the innings, consuming 255 balls in 194 minutes from day four until a little after the resumption of the second session on the final day.

Wadkar fell shortly after play resumed — leg before off Tanush Kotian (4/95) — and once the pair was broken, it all ended in a jiffy for the visitors who have now lost the Ranji Trophy final on the third instance after winning two titles.

Tushar Deshpande continued employ the short ball to dismiss Dubey (65 off 128 balls, 5 x4s, 2x6s) and Aditya Sarwate, who missed the majority of the game owing to a back spasm.

While Kotian cleaned up Yash Thakur (6) for his fourth wicket, Dhawal Kulkarni signed off from all forms of cricket with the final wicket of the game in the form of Umesh Yadav for a fairytale ending.

Brief scores: Mumbai: 224 & 418 Vidarbha: 105 & 368 in 134.4 overs (Atharva Taide 32, Aman Mokhade 32, Karun Nair 74, Akshay Wadkar 102; Tanush Kotian 4/95) by 169 runs.

Vidarbha’s Karun Nair. File
| Photo Credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam

Karun Nair on Saturday backed Vidarbha to come good against Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy final owing to their ability to fight back from tough situations, an attribute that the two-time winners displayed against Madhya Pradesh in the semifinal.

Vidarbha bounced back strongly in the second innings after being bowled out for a mere 170 in the first to win by 62 runs, setting up the final against Mumbai which starts here on Sunday.

“The thrilling and close win against Madhya Pradesh really showed the character in the team, a lot of fighting ability,” Nair told PTI Video in an exclusive interview here at the Wankhede Stadium.

“We have always come back from difficult situations, that was another difficult situation (first innings against Madhya Pradesh) where we didn’t play quite well to our potential in the first innings, but we came back really hard and won that game,” he said.

However, Nair hoped that there is no such situation for the team to deal with in the final.

“But we need to start well in this game and try to be on top, right from the beginning,” he said.

Having parted ways with his home state Karnataka ahead of this season, Nair emerged as Vidarbha’s leading run-scorer this season in the Ranji Trophy with 616 runs in nine matches at 41.06 with two centuries and as many fifties.

The right-handed Nair, who is only the second Indian after Virender Sehwag to have scored a triple hundred in Test cricket, credited his adaptability for the success.

“It’s been an amazing season for me, I have played really well, and playing for a new team is always tough, I think I have adapted really well,” he said.

“I have done well in all formats of the game, (be it) in Mushtaq Ali (Trophy), Vijay Hazare (Trophy) and (now) in the Ranji Trophy.

“We have qualified for the knockouts in all formats, and making it to the final in the Ranji Trophy, it cannot get bigger than this, really looking forward to an exciting game,” Nair said.

Nair has special memories with the venue for the final, Wankhede Stadium, for having struck a gigantic 328 in the Ranji Trophy 2014-15 final between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu which set up a massive win by an innings and 217 runs.

The 32-year-old, however, wanted to keep his focus on the impending contest and not brood too much on the past.

“If you think of dreams, you will want to repeat that again but you don’t think that. You just hope to contribute as much as you can to the team winning,” he said.

“To win that game would be my first objective but if the opportunity comes and I am set then scoring a big hundred would always mean special to me,” Nair added.

With the Ranji final featuring several International players, Nair said the Vidarbha side wants to keep the focus on their processes and not any other factor.

“It’s about playing as a unit and as a team. Obviously, they have individuals that can change the course of a game but we are not thinking about that, we want to do our processes and our routine as well as we can and after that whatever is the result, we will take that,” he added.