Ranji Trophy | Gujarat restrict Mumbai to their lowest total in final in 44 years
© BCCI Media
After electing to field in the Ranji final, Gujarat bowled out defending champions Mumbai for 228 – their lowest total in the Ranji finals since 1973. RP Singh, Chintan Gaja, and Rujul Bhatt took a couple of wickets each as Gujarat ended day 1 on top at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore.
Brief Scores: Mumbai 228 all out (Prithvi Shaw 71, Suryakumar Yadav 57; Bhatt 2/5, Gaja 2/46, RP Singh 2/48) against Gujarat 2/0 in 1 over (Samit Gohel 2*)
Mumbai got off to a poor start as RP Singh trapped Akhil Herwadkar in front of the stumps with just 13 runs on the board. However, 17-year-old Prithvi Shaw, who scored a brilliant century against Tamil Nadu in the last game, continued from where he left off at Rajkot. The youngster kept finding the boundary at a regular interval but was also lucky to receive a new lease of life when he was dropped at the second slip off Gaja in the 14th over.
Eventually, the promising partnership between Shreyas Iyer and Shaw came to an end when the former chased a wide delivery from Gaja and gave a simple catch to Parthiv Patel behind the stumps. Suryakumar Yadav and Shaw built a 50-run stand for the third wicket and at 106/2, Mumbai looked on course for a good total. However, a terrible misunderstanding between the duo started the collapse of the Mumbai innings.
In the 35th over, Yadav played the ball to the off-side and took off for a single. Shaw was unsure though and was left stranded in the middle of the wicket when the throw came in and Patel took off the stumps. Aditya Tare did not last long as well, while Yadav threw his wicket away with a poor shot off Gaja.
Siddhesh Lad and Abhishek Nayar got off to decent starts but failed to convert them into big innings. Rujul Bhatt got a couple of wickets in the end as Mumbai were bowled out for 228.
Samit Gohel and Priyank Kirit Panchal came out to face the final over of the day for Gujarat, and Shaw dropped a sitter at first slip in the very first ball of the Gujarat innings - Shardul Thakur got the outside edge off Gohel's bat in his first ball, but Shaw failed to hold onto it. Gujarat, who are gunning for their first Ranji Trophy title, ended the day at 2/0 and should be happy with where they are in the final at the moment.
