Bangalore: Domestic giants Mumbai broke Thursday the world record for highest margin of victory in the history of first-class cricket. Mumbai crushed minnows Uttarakhand by a staggering 725 runs on the fourth day of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal. The massive victory enabled them to seal their spot in the semifinals.
Mumbai broke New South Wales’ 92-year-old Sheffield Shield record when they beat Queensland by 685 runs. In the Ranji Trophy, the previous record for highest margin for victory was held by Bengal. They had defeated Odisha by 540 runs in 1953-54.
Mumbai’s world record comes a day after Bengal broke a 129-year-old one with all their nine batters scoring half century in a single innings against Jharkhand in another quarterfinal.
Mumbai will now meet Uttar Pradesh in the semifinal of the prestigious domestic competition.
Mumbai, the 41-time Ranji Trophy champions, dominated right from the first day. They declared their second innings at 261/3 and thus set Uttarakhand an improbable 794-run target. Mumbai in their first innings had scored 647/8 declared, riding on maiden double hundred by debutant Suved Parkar (252).
Uttarakhand were bundled out for partly 114 in their first essay. They once again capitulated in front of the Mumbai bowlers, as they were bundled out for just 69 in the second innings.
Mumbai bowlers led by experienced pacer Dhawal Kulkarni run riot. Kulkarni (3/11) along with in-form left-arm spinner Shams Mulani (3/15) and off-spinner Tanush Kotian (3/13) grabbed three wickets apiece as none of the Uttarakhand batters showed any spine.
Kulkarni wreaked havoc as he first castled opener Kamal Singh (0) and then trapped rival skipper Jay Bista (0) in front of the wickets. He then cleaned up Robin Bist (3) with a delivery that jagged backed in as Uttarakhand was starring at a huge defeat.
In-form Mulani, who had grabbed a fifer in the first innings, got into the act and ran through the middle-order. His victims included Kunal Chandela (21), Dikshanshu Negi (5) and Mayank Mishra (0).
Wickets kept tumbling for the hill state even as Kotian dismissed three lower-order batters in quick succession and also grabbed the final wicket of Agrim Tiwari to cap off a historic win for his side.
For Uttarakhand, such was the collapse that only wicket-keeper Shivam Khurana (25 not out) and Chandela could reach the double-figures.
Parkar was adjudged as the player of the match.
Brief scores
Mumbai 647 for 8 decl and 261 for 3 decl (Yashasvi Jaiswal 103, Prithvi Shaw 72) beat Uttarakhand 114 and 69 (Dhawal Kulkarni 3/11, Tanush Kotian 3/13, Shams Mulani 3/15) by 725 runs.
