Brilliant performances from Himanshu Mantri (165 and 21) and Kumar Karthikeya (3/61 and 5/67) helped Madhya Pradesh reach their first Ranji Trophy final since 1998-99. The team defeated Bengal by 174 runs in the semi-finals. They will face Mumbai, who are 41-time champions, in the final. This is Mumbai’s 47th overall final and the team will play the title match for the first time since 2016-17.
Batting first, Madhya Pradesh made a score of 341/10. Mantri 165 and Akshat Raghuvanshi scored 63 runs. Medium pacer Mukesh Kumar (4/66) and all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed (3/86) shone with the ball for Bengal. Bengal were bundled out for 273 in the first innings. The batting performance was not good except for Manoj Tiwary (102) and Shahbaz Ahmed (116).
Spinners Kumar Karthikeya (3/61) and Sarshan Jain (3/63) and fast bowler Puneet Date (3/48) bowled brilliantly. In the second innings, MP started with a lead of 68 runs. With the innings of Rajat Patidar (79) and captain Aditya Srivastava (82), the team scored 281/10 and set Bengal a target of 350 runs.
Shahbaz Ahmed (5/79) performed brilliantly for Bengal. Only Bengal captain Abhimanyu Easwaran (78) could face the Madhya Pradesh bowlers to some extent. Superb bowling from Karthikeya (5/67), Gaurav Yadav (3/19) and Sarshan Jain (2/69) helped MP win by 174 runs. Mantri was adjudged ‘Man of the Match’ for his innings of 165 and 21.
Mumbai on Saturday completed the formalities to qualify for the Ranji Trophy final on the basis of a first innings lead on the final day of their semi-final match against Uttar Pradesh here. At the Just Cricket Academy ground here, the 41-time champion team did not give any chance to Uttar Pradesh, dominating it with the first ball of this match. The match ended in a draw.
After making 393 runs in their first innings, Mumbai took a big lead by bundling Uttar Pradesh’s innings for 180 runs. When the game ended on the fourth day on Friday, Mumbai scored 449 for four on the back of centuries from Yashasvi Jaiswal (181) and Armaan Jaffer (127). By this time, Mumbai’s total lead had increased to 662 runs, which almost sealed Mumbai’s reach in the final.
Play resumed after the lunch session on Saturday as the ground was wet. Sarfaraz Khan (59 not out) and Shams Mulani (51 not out) continued to take advantage of Uttar Pradesh’s weak bowling. After the completion of half-centuries of both the batsmen, the captains of both the teams agreed to draw the match.
Mumbai scored 533 for four in the second innings, taking their overall lead to 746 runs. Sarfaraz hit one four and three sixes in his unbeaten knock of 100 balls while Mulani hit six fours in his unbeaten knock of 89 balls. Jaiswal, who scored centuries in both the innings, was adjudged the man of the match.