Mumbai humble Saurashtra in Ranji Trophy final

A terrifying display of fast bowling handed Mumbai their 40th Ranji Trophy in great haste as Saurashtra crumpled under pressure at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday. It was a premature end to a heavily lop-sided match. The visitors, beginning their second innings 207 behind, were shot out for 82 in just 36.3 overs, leaving Mumbai massive winners by an innings and 125 runs well within the third day itself.
 

Medium pacer Dhawal Kulkarni (5/32) and skipper Ajit Agarkar (4/15) and were the principal wreckers. Agarkar removed both the openers – Shitanshu Kotak and Sagar Jogiyani – and first innings half-centurion Aarpit Vasavada for a blob apiece. Kulkarni accounted for Rahul Dave (5), captain Jaydev Shah (6) and the dangerous Sheldon Jackson (9) to ensure there was no fightback whatsoever.
 

Even Mumbai would have been surprised at the degree of Saurashtra’s capitulation and for a while, at 20/6, it appeared that the lowest-ever total in the Ranji Trophy was in danger of being underwhelmed. That dishonor avoided, Saurashtra did little else to vindicate their presence in the final of India’s biggest domestic competition, their dependence on a flat home track at Rajkot surfacing fatally at the Wankhede.
Centurion opener Wasim Jaffer was named Man of the Match, beating Dhawal Kulkarni, who took nine wickets for 56 runs in the match.
"(It's) A great moment to get a hundred in the finals. Once we got them out for 148, it was important to bat well, and that's what we did. The bowlers did the job really well. Probably this wicket had much more help for the bowlers, so it was a good decision to bowl first. Kulkarni has been bowling well. He was unlucky in the league stages, but in this match he got the wickets too," he said once the victorious huddle in the middle had broken.