Ranji Trophy 2015 has seen some excellent performances after 4 rounds. The teams are well matched and it has been a great season so far.
Here we look at the top performances:
Best Innings
There have been several double-centuries so far, but for its impact and role in shaping victory, Shreyas Iyer’s 176-ball 200 against Punjab gets the nod. Mumbai had the match in their grasp after bowling out Punjab for 154, but at 41 for 2 were wobbly. Then Iyer smashed 25 fours and five sixes in what is the third-fastest double-century in Ranji Trophy history, from just 175 balls. Mumbai won by an innings, and a rare talent had produced a very special innings.
Best Spell
Keeping aside the fact that Group C comprises the weaker teams, rookie pace bowler Diwesh Pathania’s 6/19 on debut to bowl out Jharkhand for a record 45 was an excellent performance. To produce such a figures in your first bowl at first-class level was remarkable; to follow it up with 7/64 in the second innings was something else.
Upset of the tournament
Not an upset in terms of an outright result, but for Assam, making their return to the top tier after many seasons, to take three points off defending champions Karnataka in their tournament opener was special. This was a fine start for Assam, bowling out Karnataka for 187 and then scraping to 194, in the process claiming first-innings lead points. Set an improbable 388, Assam ended the draw on 259/5 with Arun Karthik scoring 115 not out.
Match of the tournament
Mumbai’s one-wicket win over Tamil Nadu in round three was the match of the competition, and also highly improbable after TN made 434 and took a 140-run lead. But left-arm spinner Vishal Dabholkar, who took 5/122 in TN’s first innings, turned the context of the game on its head with 7/53 as the visiting team subsided for 95. Chasing 236, Mumbai were boosted from a wicket in the opening over by Iyer’s 71-ball 83. When Iyer was dismissed by Rahil Shah, Mumbai needed 95 runs with six wickets left, with Suryakumar Yadav well set. But TN didn’t let their grasp slip, instead dismissing Lad (29), Yadav (58) and Dhawal Kulkarni (0) in a hurry to leave Mumbai at 208/7. That became 215/8 before Abhishek Raut (22) took the home team to within four runs of victory. Despite Rahil Shah’s four and three to Malolan Rangarajan, Mumbai’s last pair of Balwinder Sandhu and Dabholkar held on for a nerve-shredding win.
The leading wicket taker of the tournament has been R Jadeja with 37 wickets while Sheryas Iyer has most runs with 496, Robin Bist has the highest individual score in the tournament with 220 for HP.