Ranji Trophy 2016-17 Final Review: Parthiv slams ton as Gujarat clinches maiden title

There will certainly be bells and whistles in most parts of Gujarat tonight following the maiden Ranji Trophy title clinched by Parthiv Patel and his band of merry men. This comes following impressive batsmanship by the skipper himself who showed a lot of character with the bat and helped himself to an impressive 143 on the final day.

He was also joined by Manpreet Juneja in his crusade to set aside an impressive chase as the Gujaratis ensured that they would claim their maiden title. Medium pacer Balwinder Sandhu’s start in the first session of play gave Mumbai some hope on the day only for their efforts to be completely undone by Patel and Juneja.

The day began with Sandhu, Abhishek Nayar, and Shardul Thakur working in tandem to ensure that the wickets were indeed falling at regular intervals. This came when Sandhu’s feeble pace picked up the wicket of Priyank Panchal who was dismissed for the same score as he had made the previous evening of 34. Samit Gohel batted for quite a while and impressively as well as he ceased to lose his wicket.

Gohel had slammed a triple century in the previous round of matches, but today, the seaming wicket would ensure that the veteran allrounder Nayar would have his scalp. The latter has been at prime form both with the bat and ball and was a pivotal character in Mumbai making their way to the final.

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Bhargav Merai was dismissed for 2 by the pace of Balwinder Sandhu and it seemed as though the defending champions would eventually run away with the win. This also meant that they were getting complacent just as they had been in the previous edition of the Irani Trophy wherein they let a massive lead slip away and lose the match.

While Gujarat was 89/3, it was clear that this was going to be a contest of epic proportions. These proportions would see the likes of Parthiv Patel and Manpreet Juneja show extraordinary character. Parthiv had his share of luck as quite a few edges went to the boundary behind the wicket, the french cuts which more often deflect onto the stumps knew just one route today as the Gujarat skipper collected quick runs.

The duo batted right through lunch as the Mumbaikars simply did not know what hit them. With perhaps one eye on the gigantic trophy on the outset of the boundary ropes, perhaps the blows from Shardul Thakur and Abhishek Nayar simply ceased to matter for Parthiv. Of course, he would certainly be concerned and perhaps even hurt a lot more if Gujarat collapsed, but the fact of the matter was their character.

They would go on to add 116 runs for the fourth wicket, something that put them right back in contention. Mumbai were sloppy in the field and Shardul was unlucky as edges weren’t held and Gujarat with that got the additional push of luck. In the end, Rujul Bhatt and Chirag Gandhi formed a strong partnership to eventually close out the encounter. Gandhi crashed a boundary off Thakur and punched the air in joy and the party has just started.

Brief Scores:

Mumbai, 1st innings: 228 all out

Gujarat, 1st innings: 328 all out

Mumbai, 2nd innings: 411 all out

Gujarat, 2nd innings: 313/5 (Parthiv 143; B Sandhu 2/101)