Vidarbha, Mar 3: Vidarbha won their third Ranji Trophy title, courtesy their first innings lead in the final against Kerala as the summit clash ended in a draw on the fifth and final day, here Sunday.The match ended in a draw after Vidarbha reached 375 for 9 in their second innings. Vidarbha had made 379 in their first innings and took a crucial 37-run leasd by bowling out Kerala for 342.
Vidarbha had earlier won the competition in 2017-18 and 2018-19.
Akshay Wadkar said, The boys are very happy, we have worked very hard for this. We lost the final last year, so we started preparing from the monsoon. Everyone worked on their skills and fitness for this season. We have our batters and bowlers in the top four or five. Yash Rathod and Malewar are capable of playing crucial knocks, they stepped up for us at crucial times. They showed their mental toughness when the team was in trouble. Proves their mettle. As a player and as a captain when you are playing a Ranji trophy, it’s always a dream to lift the Ranji title. That dream has come true for me and my team today.
Harsh Dubey, Player of the Tournament, said, Want to thank VCA for this opportunity. It’s a big moment of our captain – Akshay Wadkar who is going to retire after this season. I worked on my skills and fitness coming into this season. Got the result throughout the tournament due to those efforts during off-season. I took one game at a time, wanted to bowl in the right areas. Tried to be patient. I am a batting all-rounder, I started as an opener. I like batting. I want to represent India in future, but I don’t want to complicate too much.
Sachin Baby, Kerala captain, said, Very proud to be in the final of the season. Big congratulation to the Vidarbha team. Very proud to lead this team, a lot of good performances by all players. We committed more mistakes than Vidarbha. My wicket changed the momentum of the game, I take the blame. I wanted to be there for the team, wanted to be there till the end to get the lead. Wanted to have a lead of 100-plus if at all we got a lead. That would have made a difference. I was playing my normal game, suddenly bad luck came for us. The Kerala Cricket Association have put in a lot of effort It’s our first final in all three formats.