JOIN USRanji Trophy: Madhya Pradesh boss Mumbai
The Ranji Trophy final, following four days of engrossing action, is minnows Madhya Pradesh’s to lose as their collective brilliance has put the onus on domestic giants Mumbai to make a match out of it with the game headed for a thrilling conclusion.
Starting the proceedings six runs adrift of 41-time champions Mumbai's first innings total, one-time runners-up Madhya Pradesh reached their first and main target of taking a substantial first innings lead on a stop-start day at the Chinnaswamy Stadium through good old-fashioned gritty first-class batting.
Leading the charge on the fourth day was their highest run-scorer of the season Rajat Patidar who cracked a superb 122 off 219 balls, while lower-order batter Saransh Jain hit a sparkling 57 off 97 balls as MP posted 536 all out to take a massive lead of 162 runs.
Mumbai, 41-time champions and heavy pre-final favourites, refused to throw in the towel and tried their best to inject fear into Madhya Pradesh. Openers Prithvi Shaw (44, 52b, 3x4, 2x6) and Hardik Tamore (25, 32b, 2x4, 1x6) went all guns blazing in the second innings before MP bowlers regained their composure and resorted to negative lines to slow down the tempo, restricting Mumbai to 113/2 at stumps on Saturday to still hold a lead of 49 runs.
Although Madhya Pradesh are well ahead in the contest with Bengaluru’s fickle weather also helping their cause, they still will be aware of the nightmare that happened in the 1998-99 final at the very same venue where Karnataka made a comeback from nowhere and stole the trophy right under their nose in the final session.
Mumbai, masters at pulling off such wins from improbable situations, in fact went in pursuit of it after bowling out MP with around two hours of play left and their openers went hammer and tongs that sent jitters in the MP dressing room.
Coach Chandrakant Pandit, who played in the nerve-racking final in April 1999 and was left in tears as MP imploded against the part-time spin of Vijay Bharadwaj (6/24), looked tense as Shaw and wicketkeeper Tamore, promoted to opening in a bid to get quick runs, smashed everything in their sight.
MP initially chose to keep attacking, hoping that would help prise out Shaw and Tamore who were given the complete licence to throw their bats at everything. But that ploy didn’t work as Shaw and Tamore picked the right balls to smack the boundaries and left alone the tough ones to gallop along at over 5 runs per over.
Soon the messages started to roll in from the dressing room and MP skipper Aditya Shrivastava asked left-arm spinner Kumar Kartikeya and pacer Gaurav Yadav to bowl wide of the off-stump. While Guarav stuck to the plan and rarely allowed Shaw a free hit, Kartikeya couldn’t maintain consistency but MP slowly began to wrest the initiative. The negative lines helped MP dismiss both Shaw and Tamore but Armaan Jaffer and Suved Parkar, Mumbai’s next generation, maintained a decent tempo to keep Mumbai’s faint holes flickering.
While a lot happened in the final session following two rain interruptions, the day belonged to Patidar whose wonderful batting has put MP one good day away from a momentous maiden Ranji Trophy triumph. Knowing a lot hinged on his innings after MP lost two wickets in the opening hour, the talented youngster batted with authority to thwart Mumbai’s ambitions.
He fed from the crowd’s “RCB RCB” chants and acknowledged their support by raising his bat towards them after reaching his second century of the season. His ton and Saransh’s fifty has put MP in the driver’s seat.