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Madhya Pradesh clinch its maiden Ranji Trophy title, beat Mumbai by six wickets in the final

Madhya Pradesh has won its maiden Ranji Trophy title, beating 41-time winners, Mumbai by six wickets in the final.

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Madhya Pradesh Cricket Team

Madhya Pradesh Cricket Team (Image Credit : Twitter/BCCI)

Madhya Pradesh has won its maiden Ranji Trophy title after beating 41-time winners, Mumbai by six wickets in the final on Sunday. This is the first title in the premier domestic tournament after the state was renamed. Till 1956, it was called Holkar which dominated four-day cricket in India with four trophies from 1944 to 1955. In this phase, they had played 10 finals.

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However, after the name of the state was changed, their cricket team's fortunes changed as well. The central Indian team couldn't make it to the final till 1998-99. In that final, they had played against Mumbai as well. The then Chandrakant Pandit-led team would have won that final as well. They had the lead of 75 runs in the first innings. They were asked to chase the improbable target of 247 runs on the final day.

MP scored 108/3 and looked like drawing the game and lifting the game. However, they collapsed and were all out for 150. Notably, Pandit was the head coach of the team and was on the other side of the result this time around. This time around, the collapse happened with the 41-time winners. They resumed the final day of the game with 113/2. Mumbai needed to bat out for the entire day to pull out a draw.

However, this would have led the team losing the final on the basis of trailing in the first innings. They trailed by 162 runs. This is the reason they resort to scoring quick runs to set a stiff total for MP to chase and pick 10 wickets after that. However, they failed in both as they could only set a target of 108 and pick only four wickets. Rising star Rajat Patidar hit the runs fittingly for the team.

Watch the winning moments

Talking about the legacy of Holkar, it has produced players such K Nayudu, CS Nayudu, Syed Mushtaq Ali and Chandu Sarwate. After becoming MP, the state has given players such as Narendra Hirwani, Rajesh Chauhan, Amay Khurasiya, Jai Prakash Yadav, Naman Ojha and Devendra Bundela.

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