Vidarbha (Photo Source: Twitter/X)
Ecstasy spread all over the VCA Stadium in Jamtha, Nagpur as Vidarbha lifted their third-ever Ranji Trophy title on their home ground on Sunday, March 02. They were up against Kerala in the summit clash of the 2024-25 edition, as a 37-run lead in the first innings helped them reign supreme on Day 5.
Their solid triumph over Kerala also makes them the team with most titles after 2017-18 edition of the tournament, which also was the season where VCA lifted the trophy for the first time. In the following 2018-19 season, Vidarbha successfully defended the title to bag consecutive wins. After losing the finals to Mumbai in the previous season, the Akshay Wadkar-led side made an emphatic comeback to cross the finishing line this time round, tasting glory after a prolonged wait of six years.
Across departments, Vidarbha were stellar in each of the verticals. Southpaw Yash Rathod emerged as the highest run-getter of the season with a mammoth 960 runs at 53.33. Then veteran batter Karun Nair also scored 863 runs at 53.93, including a quartet of centuries, with a couple of fifties to go with. He was the second-highest run-getter for the side, while Danish Malewar, who scored a century in the first innings, had 783 runs with two important tons and six fifties. Malewar averaged 52.90 in the tournament.
Lefty all-rounder Harsh Dubey had a season worth remembering, where he bagged a record-breaking 69 wickets, the most in a single season ever. Dubey also scored an impressive 476 runs, which included five half-centuries as well. Breaking several records with his all-round skills, Dubey also got hold of the Player of the Tournament award with bragging rights.
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