Published: Jan 10, 2017, 07:30 AM (IST)
Edited: Jan 10, 2017, 05:26 PM (IST)
Good Morning, शुभ प्रभात! Hello and welcome to CricketCountry’s live cricket blog session of Day One of the summit clash of the 83rd edition Ranji Trophy 2016-17. The tournament has boiled down to the finale with the best two teams competing for the title. Mumbai and Gujarat play each other in the all-important final match of India’s premier domestic tournament at the Holkar Stadium in Indore. Mumbai will be eyeing their 42nd triumph in the history of the tournament whereas Gujarat have their goals set to lift the trophy for the first time. Both the teams are coming on the back of victories in the semi-finals against Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand respectively.
Gujarat’s previous appearance in the final of Ranji Trophy was in 1950-51, when they lost to erstwhile Holkar side. It is after 66 years that they have made it to the tournament’s final for the first time. The main architects of their dream campaign thus far have been openers Priyank Panchal and Samit Gohel. While Panchal has scored 1,270 runs in the season so far, thus being away from VVS Laxman’s all-time record for most-runs in a Ranji Trophy season by only 146 runs, Gohel too has notched 889 runs, putting him seventh on the list of leading run-getters this season which is topped by his partner.
Apart from them, the team also boasts of Manpreet Juneja, team’s third-most run-scorer this season and captain Parthiv Patel. In the bowling department, Gujarat have been weakened a bit after their star bowler Jasprit Bumrah left the team ahead of the final clash to serve the national team for limited-overs leg of the England tour of India. In Bumrah’s absence, Gujarat’s pace department will be lead by a rejuvenated RP Singh and Rush Kalaria. The aforementioned players have the onus of taking Gujarat across the line for the first time and handing them their first-ever Ranji title.
But they have a monumental task ahead of them, for their opponents have been there and done that on number of occasions. Mumbai, the current title holders, have entered the final stage of Ranji Trophy for a record 46th time. In their 45 final appearances so far, they have won 41, making them the most successful and consistent team in the tournament’s history. The defending champions have all their bases covered ahead of the final. In young Prithvi Shaw and back-to-full-fitness Akhil Herwadkar, they have a solid opening pair; in Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Aditya Tare, Siddhesh Lad and Abhishek Nayar, they have a strong batting line-up and in Shardul Thakur and Vijay Gohil, they have bowlers who can run through any batting line-up.
All-in-all, it promises to be a cracker of a game. The last time these two teams played this season, in the group stage, Gujarat’s batting prevailed over their opponents’, thus gaining them the vital first-innings lead. Panchal hammered 232 and 56* in the game while Iyer scored 194 for Mumbai. When the two teams clash at Holkar Stadium in the final starting January 10, all eyes shall once again be on these two batsmen.
Squads:
Mumbai: Aditya Tare (c & wk), Praful Waghela, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Siddhesh Lad, Abhishek Nayar, Shardul Thakur, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Tushar Deshpande, Royston Dias, Sufiyan Shaikh (wk), Vijay Gohil, Akshay Girap, Eknath Kerkar, Prithvi Shaw, Akhil Herwadkar and Vishal Dabholkar.
Gujarat: Parthiv Patel (c & wk), Samit Gohel, Priyank Panchal, Bharghav Merai, Manprit Juneja, Rujul Bhatt, Chirag Gandhi, Rush Kalaria, RP Singh, Mehul Patel, Chintan Gaja, Hardik Patel, Dhruv Raval, Karan Patel.
