Cricket News: Madhya Pradesh win's their maiden Ranji title

On their road to victory, MP reached the Ranji Trophy finals after 23 years by defeating 2-time champion Bengal by 174 runs. In contrast, Mumbai reached the final, defeating UP after considering 1st innings scores in a drawn match. Before this, Madhya Pradesh reached the Ranji final in the 1998-99 season but failed to win against Karnataka.

The five-day Ranji final between MP and Mumbai kicked off on June 22nd at Chinnaswamy stadium, Bengaluru. Mumbai won the toss and elected to bat first. Mumbai scored 374 runs in the first innings, with Sarfaraz Khan scoring his fourth ton of the tournament. Mumbai looked like they were well ahead of the game as the pitch had some assistance for the pace bowlers. Along with Sarfaraz’s 134(243), Jaiswal played a vital knock of 78 in the 1st innings. Sarfaraz Khan went past the 900 mark for the second consecutive time with an average above 80. Gaurav Yadav and Anubhav Agarwal picked 4 and 3 wickets, respectively. 

MP’s tri-centurions in 1st innings

Pitch was providing some help for the pace bowlers, but the MP batsman made batting look very easy as they put on a massive total of 536 runs in their first innings. With this, MP gained a lead of 162 from the 1st innings. They ensured that if the match ended as a draw, they could win the game as their 1st innings total was more than Mumbai. The 3rd day of the test match was dominated by centurions Yash Dubey 133(336) and Shubham Sharma 116(215). The 4th day was dominated by RCB’s playoff star, Rajat Patidar. He held the innings together even as they lost wickets at the other end scoring 122(219). The crowd started chanting ‘RCB...RCB…RCB…’ after Rajat scored his hundred. Rajat played for RCB in the 2021 and 2022 seasons and scored 112* in the eliminator for RCB in 2022. His experience playing with Royal Challengers Banglore in a highly competitive league looks to have played a decisive role in delivering a memorable performance for the Madhya Pradesh cricket team in the final. 

On the other hand, Kumar Kartikeya is also part of Mumbai Indians in IPL 2022. He even picked five wickets in 4 matches taking key wickets of Samson, Rahane, and Venkatesh Iyer. Shams Mulani picked a 5-wicket haul, and Tushar Deshpande picked three wickets for Mumbai. They turned the flow of the game through their exceptional performances. 

Mumbai’s disappointing batting effort

In their 2nd innings, Mumbai needed to score quickly to give MP a defendable total and then bowl out MP to win the final. Mumbai’s batters scored quickly at 4.7 runs per over but lost their wickets as MP picked wickets at regular intervals. Kartikeya was the stand-out bowler picking four wickets and dismissing Mumbai earlier than expected in the 1st session. Mumbai posted 269 runs in their 2nd innings, setting a target of 108 runs to MP. Mumbai needs to pull off a miracle to stop MP from chasing the total.

Finishing the things off

Although MP lost four wickets while chasing the total, Rajat Patidar remained unbeaten and won the maiden Ranji title for Madhya Pradesh. Shams Mulani picked three doors out of the 4.

T20 cricket, whether fans like it or not, is crucial in preparing players for the longer game format. We have seen that in the England vs New Zealand test series and now in the Ranji Final. IPL players have performed and delivered exceptionally well.