Most wickets in a Ranji Trophy season, full list: Vidarbha spinner closes in on all-time top five

Dubey came into the Ranji Trophy semi-final against Mumbai with 59 wickets in the season. He had already broken Aditya Sarwate’s Vidarbha record of 55 wickets from the 2018-19 season.

After Vidarbha posted 383, Mumbai seemed comfortably placed at 113-2 before Parth Rekhade rocked them with three wickets in five balls. At the other end, Dubey trapped Shams Mulani leg-before. On the third morning, he bowled Mohit Avasthi to finish with 2-68 as Mumbai conceded a 113-run lead.

Dubey is now the sixth bowler to take 60 wickets in a season in Ranji Trophy history. The first to do this was Bishan Singh Bedi, whose record of 64 wickets stood from 1974-75 to 2018-19, until Ashutosh Aman claimed 68. That record still stands, though Jaydev Unadkat got one fewer than Aman in 2019-20.

Dubey’s 61 wickets are well clear of Aquib Nabi’s 44, the next name on the charts. Before the semi-final, Dubey had 8-121 against Andhra, 5-73 against Puducherry, 8-120 against Uttarakhand, 11-107 against Himachal Pradesh, 3-131 against Gujarat, 10-132 against Rajasthan, 8-114 against Hyderabad, and 4-91 in the quarter-final against Tamil Nadu.

He will still have the fourth innings of the ongoing match and, if Vidarbha qualify, the final to have a shot at Aman’s record.

Most wickets in a Ranji Trophy season

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