Rajasthan’s Ranji Trophy win

Rajasthan won their second consecutive Ranji Trophy title this week, defeating Tamil Nadu in a one-sided final in Chennai. They became only the fifth team to win the title in successive years. Finally, Rajasthan cricket has some peace after losing seven finals in the 1960s to Bombay, the heavyweights of domestic cricket back then.

Rajasthan’s opening batsman, Vineet Saxena, was named ‘Man of the Match’ for his 257 in the first innings. He batted 907 minutes on a dead wicket at MA Chidambaram stadium, and, in the process, achieved the rare distinction, if it can be called that, of batting all five days in a Ranji final.

Tamil Nadu player Dinesh Karthik criticised the pitch. “There should be a pitch for both batsmen and bowlers. That is the key to sport, a contest.”

Rajasthan posted 621 and Tamil Nadu managed only 295. Rajasthan’s 326-run lead made the result quite obvious. Once that happened, the match became a battle for statistical honours between Rajasthan’s two prolific batsmen—Saxena and middle-order bat Robin Bist. When Bist joined Saxena at the crease in the second innings, both were gunning to become the first player from the state to score 1,000 runs in a season. Bist won that race, finishing with 1,034 runs and four centuries.

Among the bowlers, Pankaj Singh was the state’s most successful for the season, taking 34 wickets. Rituraj Singh also did well—26 wickets.

Rajasthan received the winner’s prize money of Rs 2 crore. In addition, their home association announced a victory bonus of Rs 1.31 crore. Their cautious approach, however, did not thrill fans. The team was panned by all media for playing boring cricket. But captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar was not concerned. “It never bothered me that we played boring cricket,” he said. “Batting big and batting for long hours is our strength.”