Ranji Trophy 2018-19; Final: Vidarbha vs Saurashtra – Statistical Highlights

Vidarbha were successful in defending their Ranji Trophy title as they defeated Saurashtra in the 2018/19 season final by a 78-run margin in Nagpur. After electing to bat first in their home venue, Vidarbha posted 312 in their first innings. Saurashtra’s gritty last wicket stand brought down the deficit to five runs. On a slow and turning track, the hosts made exactly 200 in the second essay. The target of 206 turned out to be too much for the visitors on a tough track and were bowled out for just 127.

All the major stats and numbers recorded during the thrilling Ranji Trophy final between Vidarbha and Saurashtra:

Back to back titles for Vidarbha:

6 – Vidarbha became only the 6th team to defend a Ranji Trophy final. Mumbai defended their titles on quite a few occasions while Karnataka were successful in defending their Ranji title twice. Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Delhi are the other three teams which defended their claim on the trophy in Ranji Trophy.

3 – Saurashtra now have lost in each of their three appearances in the Ranji Trophy finals. They lost to Mumbai in 2012/13 and 2015/16 season finals by innings margins. Saurashtra won a title each with the name Nawanagar in 1936/37 and Western India in 1943/44.

Yet another title for Jaffer:

10 – This was the 10th time that Wasim Jaffer was part of a Ranji Trophy final with his team winning in all the ten instances (8 for Mumbai and 2 for Vidarbha). Jaffer is only the 5th player in Ranji Trophy history to be a part of ten final wins. Ashok Mankad and Ajit Wadekar won 12 and 11 finals respectively while Manohar Hardikar and Dilip Sardesai also were part of ten Ranji final victories apiece.

Sarwate steps up:

4 – Aditya Sarwate is only the 4th player to score 300+ runs and bag 50+ wickets in the same Ranji Trophy season. Sarwate scored 354 runs and bagged 55 wickets in this season. Ashutosh Aman of Bihar and Gurinder Singh of Meghalaya achieved this double in this 2018/19 season. Prior to these three, only Sunil Joshi of Karnataka in 1995/96 season scored over 300 runs and bagged 50+ wickets.

11/157 – Sarwate became only the 9th bowler to bag 11 or more wickets in a Ranji Trophy final. Padmakar Shivalkar had figures of 13/34 in the 1972/73 final, the best by any bowler. Sarwate is also the first bowler with 11 or more wickets in a Ranji final since Maninder Singh’s 11/120 during in 1985/86 final.

6 – Sarwate is only the 6th player to claim 5-fers in both innings of a Ranji Trophy final. The last of the previous five players to achieve this feat was BS Chandrasekhar in 1977/78.

55 – With the 55 wickets in this season, Aditya Sarwate became the first player from Vidarbha to bag 50 wickets in a Ranji Trophy season. The previous highest was 49 wickets by Akshay Wakhare in the 2015/16 season.

Pujara’s lowest:

1 – Cheteshwar Pujara scored one run in the first innings and bagged a duck in the second innings. This is the 2nd lowest aggregate in a first-class match for Pujara where he batted in both innings. He had bagged a pair in the 2007/08 Duleep Trophy final for West Zone against North Zone.

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