Parthiv Patel’s 143 led Gujarat to their maiden Ranji Trophy title win against 41-time champions Mumbai in the final on Saturday. Gujarat chased down a challenging 312-run target to beat their formidable rivals at Indore.
Second time finalists Gujarat were in trouble at 89-3 but a 116-run stand between Parthiv and Manprit Juneja (54) helped them stay in a strong position on the fifth day of the 83rd Ranji Trophy final.
Left-hander Parthiv, who recorded his 25th century in first-class cricket, stitched a 94-run stand for the fifth wicket with Rujul Bhat (27 not out) to help Gujarat overhaul the target set by Mumbai.
With this victory, Gujarat became the first team to have clinched all three major domestic titles, which include the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Resuming the day at 47-0, Gujarat had a disastrous start as medium pacer Balwinder Singh Sandhu struck early. He dismissed opener Priyank Kirit Panchal (34) and Bhargav Merai (2) to leave Gujarat at 51-2.
Left-hander Parthiv then joined overnight opener Samit Gohel (21) in the middle. However, his partnership with Gohel didn't last long, with the latter edging it to wicket-keeper Aditya Tare off a medium pacer Abhishek Nayar delivery. Gujarat were now tottering at 89-3.
Then Juneja joined Patel and the duo approached the chase with intent. The duo had troubled Mumbai in the first innings as well with scores of 90 and 77 respectively and continued to flay the bowlers.
When Juneja was caught behind by Tare off a delivery from Akhil Herwadkar, he had posted his 15th fifty in first-class cricket and Gujarat were 205-4, still 107 runs behind the target.
Parthiv, who was at 85, was then joined by Rujul Bhatt. Picking three fours off Sandhu in the over after Juneja’s wicket, the Gujarat skipper scored his 100 off just 148 balls.
Patel and Bhatt’s 94-run stand was broken by Thakur who took a catch off his own bowling to dismiss Parthiv for 143. But Parthiv had done his job, leaving Gujarat barely 13 runs short of the target.
As Bhatt and Chirag Gandhi (11*) scored the last few runs, Gujarat won by five wickets, triggering wild celebrations in the Gujarat camp.
Brief scores: Mumbai: 228 and 411. Gujarat: 328 all out and 313-5 (Parthiv Patel 143, Manprit Juneja 54, Rujul Bhat 27 not out; Balwinder Singh Sandhu 2-101, Abhishek Nayar 1-31) on Day 5.
(With inputs from IANS.)
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