Vidarbha on Thursday (January 19) created a new record in Ranji Trophy history as they defeated Gujarat while defending only 73 runs in the fourth innings of the match. Left-arm off-spinner Aditya Sarwate, ran through Gujarat's batting order, picking six wickets, while the youngster Harsh Dubey dismissed three of Gujarat's batters.
Batting first, Vidharbha had a very poor start in the match. They were dismissed for only 74 runs and in return Gujarat posted 256 runs on the board after the end of the first innings. Gujarat's opener Aarya Desai (88) played some brilliant cricket and scored runs at a healthy rate but soon after his dismissal, the rest of the Gujarat batters failed to keep going.
In the second innings, Vidarbha showed their quality and posted 254 runs to set a target of 73 runs for Gujarat. Stumper-batter Jitesh Sharma was magnificent as he scored 69 off 53 deliveries and that helped the Akshay Wadkar-led side to set the tone of the match. Batting at number nine, Nachiket Bhute (42) was very impressive as well.
In the final innings, the Het Patel-led side was completely bamboozled by Vidarbha’s spin attack. Ten of their batters failed to reach the double digits and the one (Siddharth Desai) that did was eventually run out by Harsh Dubey at an individual score of 18.
They got bundled out for just 54 and lost the match by 18 runs. Following the defeat, Gujarat find themselves placed fourth on the points table while Vidarbha are currently second, with Madhya Pradesh at the top of the ladder.
Notably, the record for the lowest-ever score successfully defended by a side in Ranji Trophy previously belonged to Bihar. While defending 78 runs in the 1948-49 season, the team dismissed Delhi for only 48 runs at the Keenan Stadium in Jamshedpur. Shute Banerjee picked up six wickets while ‘Potla’ Bose dismissed four cricketers to create the unique record, which remained unbroken for 74 years.
Meanwhile, the lowest total defended successfully in all first-class cricket still stands at 41. In 1794, Oldfield bowled out the MCC for 34 runs at the Lord’s Old Ground.
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