Mumbai, the perennial domestic cricket powerhouse, ended their eight-year title drought by clinching the Ranji Trophy for a record 42nd time after recording a resounding 169-run victory over Vidarbha on the fifth and final day of the summit clash at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday.
This was Mumbai’s first title since 2015-16, and a befitting farewell to old warhorse Dhawal Kulkarni in his final First-Class appearance. The 35-year-old Kulkarni, who made his first-class debut back in 2008, rang in the celebrations for the home side by cleaning up his former India teammate Umesh Yadav to wrap up the game. Kulkarni had picked up three wickets in the first innings, and Umesh was his solitary wicket in the second.
Kulkarni, who had picked up a fourth-innings five-for in his first Ranji final, against Uttar Pradesh, back in 2009, have won the Ranji Trophy final on five of his six appearances, to sign off as one of the domestic stalwarts for Mumbai.
“It is a cricketer’s dream to start and finish on a high. This is my 6th final, 5th time we’ve won and this will be dear for me,” Kulkarni said.
India skipper and a long-time state teammate of Kulkarni, Rohit Sharma, who was spotted in the Mumbai dressing room on Thursday, has dubbed the right-arm pacer as Mumbai’s warrior. “Mumbai cha yodha (Mumbai’s warrior). Well done on a fantastic career,” said Rohit on his social media handle.
Kulkarni, who played 12 ODIs and two T20Is for India between 2014 and 2016, walked into the sunset of his FC career with 281 wickets from 95 matches. He also picked up five-wicket hauls in the 2008/09, 2012/13 and 2015/16 Ranji Trophy finals.
On Thursday, Mumbai skipper Ajinkya Rahane made the occasion memorable as he handed over the ball to Kulkarni to take the final Vidarbha wicket just when fellow pacer Tushar Deshpande was about to continue a fiery spell on the final day in their pursuit of a mammoth 538.
Appreciating Rahane’s gesture, an emotional Kulkarni said, “It was an excellent gesture, I didn’t expect Rahane to give the ball to me. Hats off for Tushar who gave the ball to me despite taking two wickets in his last two overs. Hats off to him, he told me ‘you have led our bowling attack for so many years, so lead us in this over also,’”
Kulkarni will be pleased to pass on the baton to Tushar Deshpande, who along with spin-bowling allrounder Tanush Kotian crushed Vidarbha’s dream by dismissing them for 368, after captain Akshay Wadkar and rookie Harsh Dubey (62) had played out a wicket-less morning session.
Deshpande bullied Vidarbha with around-the-wicket bouncers on the fifth day after Kotian opened the floodgates for Mumbai when he got one to straighten from around the wicket and pinned Wadkar lbw for 102 after lunch. Soon after, Kotian knocked Yash Thakur over to hasten Mumbai’s victory.
Kotian, who finished the season with 502 runs and 29 wickets, was adjudged the Player-of-the-tournament.
Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer didn’t take the field for the second day in a row because of a back complaint. But his absence hardly mattered to Mumbai on the final day of the summit clash.
Earlier in the morning, Wadkar and Dubey put up a solid resistance, putting on 130 runs for the sixth wicket partnership, leaving Mumbai to toil for the wickets. While Wadkar ensured to present a dead-bat to Mumbai’s spinners, Dubey, who survived as many as three chances on 13, 17 and 18, was more adventurous at the other end, unleashing slog sweeps against left-arm fingerspinner Shams Mulani.
Dubey eventually reached his second FC half-century in his eighth outing with one such slog sweep over wide long-on, off Mulani, and in no time, Wadkar brought up his eighth century, and first of the season by tapping Kotian through extra-cover for a single. The celebrations, however, were short-lived for them as Wadkar and Dubey fell in successive overs, leaving Mumbai three wickets away from a victory.
Deshpande ended Aditya Sarwate’s brief stint with a bouncer and continued to pepper the lower-order batters with short balls before Kulkarni took the final wicket to lead Mumbai off the field for one final time in his illustrious career.