On this day in 2013 – Mumbai win their 40th Ranji Trophy by defeating Saurashtra

In 2013, Mumbai stamped their authority over India’s premier domestic tournament by winning their 40th Ranji Trophy title. They defeated Jaydev Shah led-Saurashtra in the final of the marquee tournament by a massive margin of an innings and 125 runs. It was a special victory for Ajit Agarkar & Co. and they had celebrated in a fizzy style with Sachin Tendulkar and the rest uncorking the champagne in the first-floor dressing room.

The five-day final against Saurashtra became a three-day affair at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai as the host team produced a clinical performance. The match commenced with Ajit Agarkar winning the toss and electing to bowl first. Put to bat first, Saurashtra were bundled out for a paltry total of 148 runs within 76 overs.

Arpit Vasavada had emerged as the highest run-getter for his team with a knock of 55 runs off 146 deliveries including 9 boundaries. For Mumbai, the seamer Dhawal Kulkarni had gone all guns blazing against the opponents feeble batting line-up as he scalped 4 wickets while maintaining an economy of 1.13. Abhishek Nayar and Vishal Dabholkar picked 2 wickets each while Ajit Agarkar had one to his name.

Mumbai have won the Ranji Trophy 2012-13 #Ranji

— BCCI (@BCCI) January 28, 2013

Batting in the second innings, Mumbai’s opening batsman Wasim Jaffer had launched an assault on the visitors as he hammered the ball like anything and played a sublime knock of 132 runs. Apart from Jaffer, Hiken Shah also made a notable contribution by adding 55 runs to the scoreboard. Thus, the hosts managed to rack up a humongous total of 355 on the board.

Kamlesh Makwana was the pick of the bowler for Saurashtra as he scalped three wickets while Siddharth Trivedi, Shaurya Sanandia and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja took two wickets each.

In the third innings, Jaydev Shah’s side produced a disaster class as they witnessed a horrible collapse of their batting order. The right-arm quicks Dhawal Kulkarni and Ajit Agarkar were highly impressive with the ball as they picked five and four wickets respectively to stop the opposition at the mere score of 82 runs.

As Saurashtra were bundled out for a total of 82 runs in the third innings within 37 overs, Mumbai easily won the final by an innings and 125 runs and lifted the coveted Ranji Trophy for an astonishing 40th time.