da wazamba： Baroda are the current Ranji Trophy champions after they beat Railwaysin a cliffhanger at Gujarat State Fertilizer Corporation Ground,Baroda
Santhosh S26-Apr-2001Baroda are the current Ranji Trophy champions after they beat Railwaysin a cliffhanger at Gujarat State Fertilizer Corporation Ground,Baroda. Last year it was Mumbai who took the glory, defeatingHyderabad by 297 runs at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, on the 23rdApril.Mumbai and Hyderabad were at full strength, given the fact that allthe leading batsmen had got amongst the runs in the semi-finals.Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman were in brilliant form and it seemedthat the final match would be a high scoring one.Mohd. Azharuddin won the toss for Hyderabad and asked Mumbai to batfirst. It is not a practice in Indian domestic cricket to put theopposition in, given the nature of the wickets and the fact that mostmatches are decided on the virtue of the first innings lead.Mumbai did not have an ideal start, losing their captain Sameer Dighe(3). Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli got together at 72/3 and added104 runs for the fourth wicket. Tendulkar made 53 runs striking sevenboundaries and a six. Kambli (108) went on to reach his century withthe help of 15 fours. And, in the meanwhile he added 82 runs for thesixth wicket with Paras Mhambhrey.Ajit Agarkar (30) gave good support to Mhambrey and added 60 runs forthe seventh wicket. Mhambrey (75) played a crucial innings for Mumbai,punctuating his knock with seven boundaries. Mumbai were bowled outfor 376, with Venkatapathy Raju claiming 4/110.Hyderabad were bowled out for 195 in 64.4 overs, Ajit Agarkar (3/26)and Rajesh Pawar (3/44) doing most of the damage. VVS Laxman (46)riding on a triple hundred he made in the semi-finals was run out in atragic mix-up with Azharuddin (76). The two batsmen added 89 valuableruns for the third wicket. P Satwalkar (30) gave good support toAzharuddin, but the rest of the batting just caved in.Mumbai had a cracking start, scoring 103 runs for the first wicket.Wasim Jaffer (55), Dighe (46) and Jatin Paranjpe (42) all got amongstruns. The pitch was taking a lot of turn as the two Mumbai championbatsmen got together. Tendulkar and Kambli went on a run riot. Sixesand fours flowed in a hurry amongst a deluge of runs. Kambli (56) hitfive boundaries and three sixes as he went on to add 105 runs in just18.1 overs with Tendulkar.Tendulkar was not going to miss out on a big score in the secondinnings. He had the measure of the Hyderabad attack and went on doingwhat he does best, annihilating the bowling. He scored 128 runs off124 balls with the help of 13 strokes past the ropes and three hugeones over the fence. Mhambrey (30) again made a good contribution withthe bat. Mumbai scored 409 all out in the second innings, VenkatapathyRaju (5/123) and Kanwaljit Singh (4/136) toiled hard with the ball forHyderabad.Set an impossible target of 591 runs for an outright win in the finalinnings, Hyderabad had a mountain to climb. They lost an early wicketof Nandakishore (9) when the score was just ten. VVS Laxman and DanielManohar added 188 runs for the second wicket, as Mumbai struggled tomake a breakthrough. Laxman (111) was looking good for yet anothermassive score, but fell to the guiles of the left-arm spinner Pawar.His innings was decorated with two sixes and 13 boundaries off 192balls. Four overs later, Pawar bowled Manohar (71). He had struck 11boundaries in his patient knock.The young Mumbai spinner Pawar, spun a web with his left-arm orthodoxspin to pick up 7/103 to take his match tally to ten wickets. Agarkarbowled well to finish with three wickets giving away 46 runs.Hyderabad were bowled out for 293 runs in 98.2 overs. Mumbaicelebrated their 34th Ranji Trophy victory, adding one more triumph totheir glorious history.