Watch: Teenage sensation Bhuvneshwar Kumar got Sachin Tendulkar for a duck in the final of the 2008/09 Ranji Trophy, in Hyderabad.
Bhuvneshwar was only 17 when he had impressed with 3-25 on first-class debut, against Bengal. A season later, he began the Ranji Trophy with 5-58 against Andhra. He would finish the season with 31 wickets at 24.12.
Uttar Pradesh had embarked upon its finest phase in the Ranji Trophy, when they reached the final thrice in four editions, winning in 2005/06 and finishing runners-up in 2007/08 and now 2008/09.
However, they were up against Mumbai – not merely the strongest team in the Ranji Trophy but a side that had won nearly as many titles as the other teams between them.
The Mumbai XI boasted of a galaxy of international cricketers – Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Wasim Jaffer, Ajit Agarkar, Sairaj Bahutule, Rohit Sharma, and Ramesh Powar. Over time, Abhishek Nayar, Ajinkya Rahane, and Dhawal Kulkarni would also join their ranks.
To be fair, Uttar Pradesh, too, boasted of six international cricketers, past and present: Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, RP Singh, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar, and Bhuvneshwar.
Opened bowling with his idol and fellow Meerut seamer Praveen, Bhuvneshwar trapped Mumbai captain Jaffer and wicketkeeper Vinayak Samant leg-before. Tendulkar walked out, and lost Rahane, leg-before to RP, on 55.
The second ball of Bhuvneshwar’s next over moved in sharply to take Tendulkar’s inside edge, rap him on the pad, and balloon in the air. Shivakant Shukla, posted at short mid-wicket, dived forward to his left to take complete the catch.
Tendulkar’s half-an-hour stay at the crease ended in a 15-ball duck. It remained the only time he failed to score in the Ranji Trophy.
Rohit (141) and Nayar (99) then added 207 for the fifth wicket to help Mumbai post 402 as Bhuvneshwar finished with 5-78. Despite Shukla’s 99, Uttar Pradesh folded for 245 against Zaheer (7-54).
Rohit then piled on more agony on Uttar Pradesh with a second hundred (108) after Samant (113) and Jaffer (85) added 146. This time Chawla claimed 4-94 and Parvinder Singh 3-46. Chasing 525, Uttar Pradesh crashed to 281 against Kulkarni (5-76) – though Bhuvneshwar had his say, top-scoring with 80.
