Mumbai have beaten Vidarbha by 169 runs in the final of the 2023/24 Ranji Trophy, winning the tournament for a record 42nd time.

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Vidarbha started day five at 248-5, chasing a huge total of 538. Captain Akshay Wadkar showed stoic resistance along with Harsh Dubey as the pair batted out the first session without losing a wicket.

However, soon after Wadkar reached his hundred in the second session, the Vidarbha lower order collapsed.

Tanush Kotian started the series of wickets with that of Wadkar, pinning him in front from around the wicket. It broke the back of the Vidarbha chase as Dubey was dismissed in the very next over by Tushar Deshpande.

At 355-7 and with more than 180 runs to go, the writing was on the wall. It didn’t take long for Mumbai to wrap up the tail as the next three wickets fell within four overs.

Fittingly, the final wicket belonged to Dhawal Kulkarni, the Mumbai veteran playing his last first-class game, as Umesh Yadav was bowled trying to slog him out of the ground.

Vidarbha were all out for 368, falling 169 short of the target.

Earlier in the game, Mumbai had put up 224 in the first innings thanks to Shardul Thakur’s counter-attacking 75 after being 111-6 at one stage.

In response, Vidarbha were bowled out for 105 before Mumbai piled on the agony in the second innings, scoring 418. Nineteen-year-old Musheer Khan broke a long-standing record when he became the youngest Mumbai batter to score a hundred in the Ranji Trophy final. Shreyas Iyer, meanwhile, narrowly missed out on his, getting out for 95.

Each of the Vidarbha top four scored at least 28 in the run-chase, but only one hundred-plus knock meant they were unable to get close to the target.

Previously, Vidarbha had won both Ranji Trophy finals they had played, making it their first loss at this stage of the tournament.

This game also marks the end of the 2023/24 Indian domestic season.

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