Ranji Trophy final stat attack: MP script history with maiden title; Mumbai's Sarfaraz Khan finishes top run-scorer

Madhya Pradesh finished the 2021-22 Ranji Trophy season as the winner on Sunday when they defeated 41-time champions Mumbai by six wickets on Day 5 of the final at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

The lack of stars didn’t stop coach Chandrakant Pant-coached side from becoming the champions as they defeated Prithvi Shaw-led Mumbai convincingly in the title showdown. And while MP revel in the glory, we take a look at some interesting facts and figure from the game.

— This was Madhya Pradesh’s maiden Ranji title since the side started competing in the tournament since 1950, which was also the year when the team was founded. Prior to that, a central India team competed in Ranji Trophy by the name Holkar cricket team and won the Ranji Trophy four times between 1944 and 1955. They also were six-time runners-up during the period.

— This was also Madhya Pradesh’s first major domestic title as they have never won any of BCCI’s other tournaments — the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy. They are now also eligible to play Irani Cup against Rest of India. However the tournament hasn’t taken place since 2019 due to pandemic

— MP also became the 19th side to win a Ranji Trophy with Mumbai most title at 41, followed by Karnataka at 8 titles.

— This was MP’s second Ranji Trophy final since 1999 when they lost in the final to Karnataka. Interestingly, Madhya Pradesh have played both their finals at the same venue in M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

— MP’s coach Chandrakant Pandit won his sixth Ranji title as three of them came with Mumbai while remaining two was with Vidarbha.

— As many as three players scored centuries for MP during the first innings with Yash Dubey (133), Rajat Patidar (122), and Shubham Sharma (116) piled on Mumbai misery by posting 536 all out in response to Mumbai’s first innings total of 374.

— Mumbai batter Sarfaraz Khan finished the sesaon as the leading run scorer with 982 runs over nine innings; averaging 122.72, including four centuries. MP’s Rajat Patidar was second in the list with 658 runs.

— Mumbai’s ever-reliant spinner Shams Mulani finished the season with most wickets at 45 ahead of MP’s Kumar Kartikeya’s season haul of 32 wickets. MP’s Gaurav Yadav finished fourth in the list with 23 wickets.

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