Chennai, Jan 23: Rajasthan won the 78th Ranji Trophy final beating Tamil Nadu on the basis of a first-innings lead. The win was Rajasthan’s second in consecutive years secured largely due to Vineet Saxena’s marathon 257 in the first innings, the third longest first-class innings of all time.
Take a look at the numbers that matter from the final of the prestigious domestic tournament.
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Rajasthan won the 78th Ranji Trophy final beating Tamil Nadu on the basis of a first-innings lead. The break-up of Ranji winners is as follows: Mumbai (Bombay) – 39 times; Delhi – 7; Karnataka (Mysore) – 6; Baroda – 5; Holkar – 4; Bengal, Hyderabad, Tamil Nadu (Madras), Maharashtra, Railways and Rajasthan – 2 each; Haryana, Nawanagar, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Western India – 1 each.
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The win was Rajasthan’s second in consecutive years. Interestingly, Rajasthan have played four consecutive finals between 1961 and 1964 (all against Bombay) and lost all four. They have now won two in two years.
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Rajasthan are only the fifth side to win consecutive Ranji finals. The others to do so are: Mumbai (Bombay), Maharashtra, Delhi and Karnataka (Mysore). Between 1959 and 1973, Bombay won 15 titles on the trot.
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Robin Bist ended the season with 1034 runs thus becoming only the 12th batsman to aggregate 1000 runs in a Ranji season. The others to perform this feat are: 1415 – VVS Laxman (2000),1280 – RV Bhardwaj (1999),1260 – W Jaffer (2009),1089 – AM Rahane (2009), 1075 – S Sriram (2000),1066 – DS Jadhav (2004),1037 – JJ Martin (1999),1034 – R Lamba (1997),1033 – AK Sharma (1997),1018 – WV Raman (1989) and 1008 – RS Modi (1945).
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Vineet Saxena batted for 907 minutes for his 257 runs in the first innings, making it the third longest innings in the history of first-class cricket. Only Himachal Pradesh’s Rajiv Nayyar (1015 minutes – v Jammu & Kashmir in 1999-00) and Pakistan’s Hanif Mohammad (970 minutes – v West Indies in 1957-58) have batted longer than Saxena in a first-class innings.
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Vineet Saxena’s 257 is the fifth highest score in a Ranji final after Gul Mahomed’s 319 and Vijay Hazare’s 288 (Baroda v Holkar in 1946-47),Vijay Merchant’s 278 (Bombay v Holkar in 1944-45) and Ashok Mankad’s 265 (Bombay v Delhi in 1980-81).
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The previous highest score by a Rajasthan batsman in a Ranji final was 213* by Hanumant Singh against Bombay in 1966-67. Incidentally, the last batsman to score a double-ton in a Ranji final was Rahul Dravid (215) for Karnataka v Uttar Pradesh in 1997-98.
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Saxena’s innings is now the second highest for Rajasthan, next only to Aakash Chopra’s 301* v Maharashtra at Nasik in 2010-11.
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Saxena also achieved the rare distinction of batting on each of the five days of the match. He made 120 on the first day, 87 on the second, 50 on the third, 10 on the fourth (in second innings) and 3 on the fifth day.
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The 236-run partnership between Aakash Chopra and Vineet Saxena is Rajasthan's best opening partnership in all Ranji games. The previous highest was 202 between Vijendra Yadav and Gagan Khoda against Uttar Pradesh at Lucknow in 1993-94.
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Rajasthan’s first-innings total of 621 is the 11th highest by any side in a Ranji final.
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Rajasthan's record in Ranji finals: Played – 10,Won – 2, Runners-up – 8
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Tamil Nadu's record in Ranji finals: Played – 11,Won – 2, Runners-up – 9
