Ranji Trophy 13-14: Jharkhand vs Mumbai

Match Summary: Jharkhand (351 & 278/7d) drew with Mumbai (278 & 115/5)

Points: Jharkhand 3, Mumbai 1

How happy does a fan feel, when his team, the perennial underdogs gives a bloody nose to the top dog in their backyard? Well, being a Jharkhand Ranji follower this was the almost fairy-tale like game of the season.

40 times Ranji champion Mumbai were playing without most of their stars. But they were up against a Jharkhand lineup which has been totally spineless with the exception of Saurabh Tiwary. And they lived true to form. The batting lineup collapsed around Saurabh Tiwary, and it seemed that we were headed for another defeat. But then No.10 SS Rao decided to hang around while Tiwary decided to launch into his “Dhoni” avatar. A score of 238 out of a total of 351 has to be one of the best Ranji knocks of all time. Well, statistically it was the highest first class score ever by a Jharkhand batsman breaking teammate Ishank Jaggi‘s record. The knock seemed to have a morale-boosting effect on the bowlers as well. Aaron’s pace was too hot to handle even for the likes of Wasim Jaffer while skipper Nadeem also rediscovered his mojo. Against all odds Jharkhand took the first innings lead.

Second time around Jharkhand threatened to collapse again, but this time Jaggi shored up the innings with a century. probably losing his record to Tiwary was the motivation. In my mind Jharkhand messed up a good winning chance by delaying the declaration. They had Mumbai on the mat but then ran out of time.

Quite a few takeaways from this “moral” victory. Saurabh Tiwary has been consistency personified in this season with 6 fifties from 8 innings but this was a truly sensational performance. He also became the top scorer in this Ranji season.

Aaron’s pace and form are being discussed all over again. A couple of more consistent performances for the the rest of the season and there is good chance, he might be back in the national team for the New Zealand tour early next year

Season Stats

Leading Scorer: Saurabh Tiwary – 761 runs @84.56

Top Wicket-taker: Varun Aarom – 17 wickets @18.06

Standings: 6 points from 6 games. Still at 9th place but equal on points with Haryana. Relegation still a very distinct possibility

Coming Up Next – Jharkhand sit out the next round of games before taking on Vidarbha at home. Good chance to score a win there given that Umesh Yadav will not be available.