Champs Mumbai go down to Vidarbha by 80 runs in semis

Vidarbha’s Harsh Dubey. Pic/PTI

Shardul Thakur scored a valiant fifty but it was left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey who stole the limelight with a brilliant five-wicket haul as Vidarbha secured a commanding 80-run victory over defending champions Mumbai to reach the Ranji Trophy final here on Friday.

In a thrilling final day, Dubey, the 22-year-old from Pune, claimed three wickets to add to his two from Day 4, taking his season's tally to 66. His match-winning performance helped Vidarbha, last year's finalists, bowl out Mumbai for 325 while chasing a challenging target of 406. This marks Vidarbha's fourth appearance in the Ranji Trophy final, with previous titles coming in 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons.

Dubey took his season's tally to 66 wickets, just two shy of Bihar left-arm spinner Ashutosh Aman's record for the most wickets in a Ranji season.

Mumbai fought hard, with Thakur playing a solid knock of 66 off 124 balls, including five boundaries and a six. He and Shams Mulani (46) formed a resilient 103-run partnership for the seventh wicket.

Brief scores
Vidarbha 383 & 292 (Y Rathod 151, A Wadkar 52; S Mulani 6-85, T Kotian 3-81) beat Mumbai 270 & 325 (S Thakur 66, S Mulani 46, A Anand 39; H Dubey 5-127, P Rekhade 2-70, Y Thakur 2-43) by 80 runs

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