Mumbai wins 40th Ranji Trophy title

Sachin Tendulkar plays a shot for Mumbai in Ranji Trophy (FILE PHOTO)

Mumbai - Mumbai thrashed Saurashtra by an innings and 125 runs here on Monday for their 40th Ranji Trophy title.

Mumbai gained a 207-run lead on day three and ended with a first innings total of 355. Saurashtra in reply, folded up for 82. The visitors had made 148 in the first innings.

The Saurashtra batsmen meekly surrendered before the Mumbai bowlers, their innings lasting a mere 36.3 overs on a pitch that did not appear to have any demons. Medium pacer Dhawal Kulkarni picked up five wickets to end the game with a nine-wicket haul.

Earlier in the morning, the hosts went on to make 355 in their first innings that saw Wasim Jaffer breaking the record for most centuries in Ranji Trophy by an individual when he hammered his 32nd Ranji ton.

Mumbai had a firm grip on the game after they bowled Saurashtra out for 148 on the opening day.

With their resounding victory, Mumbai extended their domination in the tournament. They have now competed in 44 Ranji finals and lost only four times – the losses coming against Karnataka, Holkar, Delhi and Haryana.

“It is a great feeling to get a hundred in the finals,” said Man of the Match Wasim Jaffer, whose century helped him surpass the tally of Delhi’s Ajay Sharma of 31.

On how the season went by, Jaffer said: “We have been playing touch cricket, but once we qualified for the knockouts we did really well. We got them (Saurashtra) out for 148, it was important to bat well, and that’s what we did.”

Mumbai added 68 runs to their overnight score to close innings at 355 before their bowlers ran through Saurashtra’s batting.

With Saurashtra reeling at 34 for seven, it seemed the match would end earlier than it did. Saurya Sanandiya (16) and Dharmendrasinh Shandilya (22) hung on for a while but the inevitable happened 40 minutes after the tea break.

Besdies Kulkarni’s sterling effort, Mumbai captain Ajit Agarkar took four wickets.