Ranji Trophy 2016-17 Final, Mumbai vs Gujarat, preview: Indore gears up to host its 6th Ranji final; 1st at Holkar Stadium

In a different era, on a different ground and different wicket, the Parthiv Patel-led side will hope for some luck riding their way this time around. The task, however, will not be easy as they are up against the dominant force of current era — Mumbai.

The stage is set. After just over three month-long intensive journey, we have the two finalists of Ranji Trophy 2016-17 —Mumbai and Gujarat —who will battle it out for the title in the final starting Tuesday, January 10 here at the Holkar Stadium in Indore. While the title holders Mumbai will be aiming for their 42nd title, Gujarat will be hoping for some luck in their second-ever entry to a Ranji final. The only time they have played a final before in the history of the tournament was in 1950-51 season — interestingly, in the same city of Indore — where they lost to the hosts Holkar side by 189 runs.

It has taken them almost 66 years to make themselves eligible for another shot at glory. Back then, the Gujarat side was up against the then dominant force of Indian domestic circuit — The Holkar team — in their own backyard. The matches in Indore in that era were played on the Yeshwant Club Ground, which used to be Holkar side’s home ground. Moreover, there were no turf wickets in the city back then, which meant the games were played on matting wickets. Gujarat came well prepared to play on the matting wickets, but faltered when their chief weapon could do little in the match.

“In the 1950-51 final, one of the major reasons why Gujarat lost was an off-colour Jasu Patel. He was considered to be a matting-wicket specialist and was thus expected to do well in the final.  But in the 84 overs he bowled in the match, he could manage just a solitary wicket as the Holkar team cruised to a 189-run win,” says veteran cricket writer from the city, Surya Prakash Chaturvedi.

But in a different era, on a different ground and different wicket, the Parthiv Patel-led side will hope for some luck riding their way this time around. The task, however, will not be easy as they are up against the dominant force of current era — Mumbai.

Mumbai: Mumbai and Ranji titles have an affair as sweet as romance. The domestic heavyweights have played 45 finals in the history of this premier tournament and won 41 of them. It speaks a lot about the character of the team, which has over the years not just preserved the legacy, but also taken it forward. They beat Tamil Nadu, a side which had a dream season and appeared to be the team-to-beat, by 6 wickets in the semi-finals. Before that, the team had a close-shave in the quarter-finals, but they still managed to beat Hyderabad by 30 runs.

With no defeats, Mumbai have had a near-perfect season.

Key players: Mumbai’s players have not quite set the tournament on fire this season. Forget top-10, their best bowler and batsman this season does not find a mention even in top-30. This suggests the side has not relied on individual brilliance but on a collective effort. Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, skipper Aditya Tare and experienced all-rounder Abhishek Nayar will be crucial to team’s success. On the bowling front, left-arm spinner Vijay Gohil and pacer Shardul Thakur will be expected to lead the attack. 17-year-old Prithvi Shaw, who struck a fine ton on his First-Class debut in the last game, could be the X-factor.

Gujarat: Unlike Mumbai, Gujarat’s season has been dominated by standout individual performances. The leading run-scorer this season — Priyank Panchal (1,270 runs) — comes from Gujarat. He is just 146 runs short of surpassing VVS Laxman’s all-time record of most runs in a Ranji season. Panchal and his opening partner Samit Gohel (889 runs) are the reasons why Gujarat have come this far in the tournament. Though they have won lesser number of games (3 as against Mumbai’s 5), their players have consistently punched above their weight this season.

Key players: Apart from the obvious picks Panchal and Gohel, Gujarat will look up to captain Parthiv Patel and Manpreet Juneja in the batting department and Rush Kalaria and a rejuvenated RP Singh in the bowling department. The team will miss services of Jasprit Bumrah dearly, who will miss the final to fulfil national duties. Bumrah was the Man-of-the-Match in the semi-final against Jharkhand, where he picked 6 for 29 in the second innings.

Conditions: Weather in Indore has remained cold in last few days. The forecast for next few days suggests temperature will continue to drop. However, it shall remain bright and sunny. The Andhra versus Services match played at this ground earlier this season ended in a draw with both the sides getting runs on the board in their first innings. Going by the track record, we can expect a decent batting track for the final, though there has not been any official word on its nature as yet.

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.

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