Creating a moment in history and breaking a 92-year old world record, Mumbai’s domestic cricket team emerged victorious over Uttarakhand by 725 runs in a Ranji Trophy match. The record for the highest margin of victory in the history of world cricket until now was held by New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield record when they defeated Queensland by 685 runs.
As far as the Ranji Trophy is concerned, the highest margin victory was logged-in during the 1953-54 edition, when Bengal defeated Odisha by 540 runs.
Finest match of first-class cricket
On the fourth day of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals, the Mumbai domestic cricket teams delivered the finest performance in first-class cricket against Uttarakhand. Presenting a fierce first innings, the 41-times Ranji Trophy champions, Mumbai dominated the match first day and declared their first inning total at 647/8 before Uttrakhand tumbled down for 114 in their first inning.
The second inning for Mumbai was again a fine example of stellar performance as they declared their inning at 261/3 setting a near-impossible target of 794 runs. Uttrakhand’s second half again went on to be a big disappointment as the Mumbai bowlers dominated and bowled out Uttarakhand at just 69 runs.
The whooping score was built up on the maiden double century from debutant Suved Parkar (252) and Sarfaraz Khan’s aggressve knock of 152 runs in the first innings. Debutant Parker was named man of the match for his stunning performance.
Mumbai’s deadly defence brings victory
Uttarakhand, on ther other hand, fell as dominoes with tumbling wickets and score that could not go beyond 114 in the first and 69 in the second innings.
The win, as such, was an exceptional showcase of defence by Mumbai bowlers led by pacer Dhawal Kulkarni, in-form left-arm spinner Shams Mulani and off-spinner Tanush Kotian who claimed three wickets each. A dry spell for the Uttarakhand bowlers further limited any fight that could have brought a win.
Mumbai will be seen on the frontfoot, playing against the Uttar Pradesh team in the Ranji Trophy semifinals 2021-22, which will be played from June 14-18.
