Ranji Trophy 2016-17 Finals Round-Up: Mumbai bowled out at the end of the first day
What’s the Story?
The final of the Ranji Trophy is well underway at the Holkar Cricket stadium in Indore between the defending champions Mumbai and this year’s surprise package Gujarat, who are playing in the finals of the prestigious tournament after a gap of 67 years.
At the end of the day, Mumbai were bowled out with 228 runs on the board and Gujarat ended the day with 2 runs on the board after one over.
In case you didn’t know...
Mumbai, who are playing to achieve their 42nd Ranji Trophy title got through to the final after defeating Tamil Nadu in the semifinals by 6 wickets at Rajkot. On the other hand, in an incredible turnaround, Gujarat defeated Jharkhand by 123 runs in their semifinal encounter at Nagpur.
The heart of the matter
After being put into bat, the Mumbai batsmen were not allowed to settle down by the opposition bowlers, which was led by former Indian pacer Rudra Pratap Singh. He picked up two important wickets of Akhil Herwadkar and Siddhesh Lad and was well complimented by the other bowlers who chipped in with wickets ar regular intervals.
17-year-old Prithvi Shaw once again proved his worth with the bat as he turned out to be the highest scorer for the Mumbai side as he scored 71 off 93 deliveries with 11 fours to his name. Unfortunately, he was not able to reach his second century in two innings as he was run-out. Surya Kumar Yadav chipped in with a useful half-century as well, while Abhishek Nayar scored 35.
What’s next?
The limited-overs competition- Vijay Hazare Trophy and the newly-proposed inter-zonal T20 tournament for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy will be played after the conclusion of the Ranji Trophy.
Extra Cover: Follow the live score and updates of Dhoni’s last match as captain of the Indian side
Sporstkeeda’s take
Despite not performing particularly well, Mumbai, who are absolutely relentless when it comes to the knockout stages of the Ranji Trophy will surely have a lot in the bag when their bowlers come up against the Parthiv Patel led Gujarat side and it will be extremely interesting to see how Gujarat fare against them in the final four days of the final. Fans could expect a mouth-watering clash between the two sides.