Mumbai crushed Saurashtra by an innings and 21 runs in the final to win their 41st Ranji Trophy title, in Pune, on Friday.
- Scorecard
Pacer Shardul Thakur claimed five wickets as Saurashtra were bowled out for 115 in their second innings on Day 3 of the final. They had posted 235 in their first innings before Mumbai replied with 371.
It was a repeat of the 2012-13 final, when Mumbai beat Saurashtra by an innings and 125 runs.
Resuming the third day on their overnight score of 262 for eight, Siddhesh Lad hit an entertaining half-century to swell Mumbai's lead. The right-hander slammed 88 off 101 balls, putting on 103 runs for the last wicket with Balwinder Sandhu, who made a vital contribution of 34 not out.
Shreyas Iyer, who was later named man of the match, had top-scored for Mumbai with a sizzling innings of 117 as Mumbai took a handy first innings lead of 136 runs.
Iyer finished as the top run-getter this season, aggregating 1321 from 11 matches, at an average of 73. It included four hundreds and seven fifties.
His tally is the second-most in a single season of the Ranji Trophy, after VVS Laxman's 1415 runs for Hyderabad in the 1999-00 season.
Saurashtra had a horrible start in their second essay. Openers Avi Barot (4 ) and , Sagar Jogiyani (9) were dismissed with only 15 runs on the board.
Soon they were reduced to 48 for 4, as Arpit Vasavada (3), Sheldon Jackson (13) fell cheaply.
Cheteshwar Pujara offered stubborn resistance, facing 98 deliveries while scoring 27 runs, which included three fours, before he was caught by Akhil Herwadkar off the bowling of Thakur.
From then on, at 67 for 5, it was only a matter of time before the innings folded.
Jaydev Shah (17 off 39 balls) and Jaydev Undakat (16 off 21 balls) also put up a fight but it wasn't enough to take the match into the fourth day or deny Mumbai victory, in which Dhawal Kulkarni (2-34) and Balwinder Singh Sandhu (2-21) also played a vital hand.
Mumbai regained the crown after two unsuccessful seasons, having failed to make the final in 2013-14 and 2014-15.
Their 41st triumph in 45 final appearances in the tournament -- of which ten were by an innings -- put them way ahead of Karnataka, who are a distant second, having won it just eight times.
