4.20pm Going up to collect the Ranji Trophy from Sandeep Patil, the chairman of selectors, Tare calls for Abhishek Nayar to join him before lifting the trophy. Everyone else piles in later, and they look utterly overjoyed, posing with the big cup. They've played an outstanding season, and capped it with a thoroughly professional display in the final. That's it from us. Hope you've enjoyed our coverage. Until next season, I'll leave you with this number from our stats whiz Bharath Seervi - it sums up everything about Mumbai cricket:
"10th innings win for Mumbai in Ranji finals. No other team has managed to win 10 Ranji Trophy finals even (any margin!)"
Aditya Tare: "It still hasn't sunk in, but it's a great feeling. Last season, when we lost the semifinal, I felt we had the ability to beat any team, and we've proved it this year. We have a lot of history, but most of the guys are winning it for the first time. I'm really glad this young team has won the Ranji Trophy. All the games there have been match-winners, but not just one or two players."
Jaydev Shah: "It was very disappointing. Catches win matches, and we missed two important opportunities. But my team has done really well, from Plate we came to Elite, and we've come up to the final. Siddhesh Lad's last-wicket partnership gave them a very crucial lead. We've been in the final two times, and we'll try our best and we hope that next year we will win the final. It's been a fantastic season for us. Everyone has supported each other."
Shreyas Iyer is the man of the match. "You can't express this feeling at the moment, you always dream of winning the Ranji Trophy. All of us worked really hard for this, and it's been amazing. Last season I scored 810, and this season I just decided I would break that mark. I surpassed that total and it got to 1300 runs and it's an amazing feeling. I think I play each and every ball on its merit, I don't decide whether to hit this ball or not. The pressure situation really gets me going. I'd really like to thank the team management, they've given me a lot of freedom. It was a bowler-friendly wicket and it was seaming a bit."
Bhargav: "Mumbai repeats the history, crushing Saurashtra on the 3rd day itself as they did it in 2012-13 finals. Hard luck for Saurashtra again. "
Chandrakant Pandit, Mumbai's coach, admits he was a little nervous last night. "We thought we had the upper hand last night, but the way Siddhesh Lad and Sandhu batted, that changed the entire scenario."
"We have worked very hard for this, starting from the off-season camp, and yes, we'll party hard tonight," says Siddhesh Lad.
Shivendra: "Bossed it Mumbai style. Respect the khadoos!"
Abhishek Nayar said Mumbai didn't have a good day yesterday, so he shaved his beard off, thinking maybe it might make a difference. "Every Ranji Trophy is a new one to me and this is number five, I'm very happy."
4.00pm Mumbai's players are overjoyed. They form a circle, everyone's whooping and yelping in delight. This means a LOT to them. Title number 41 for one of the greatest cricket cultures anywhere.
Who would have thought it would end so early? Mumbai were only 27 ahead, with two wickets in hand, when the day began. But Siddhesh Lad and Balwinder Sandhu, aided by sloppy catching and Saurashtra's tactical decisions, stretched that lead to 136. It proved enough not just to take command but to wrap up an innings win. Outstanding bowling from the seamers, and Thakur in particular - his delivery to Pujara was one of the defining moments of the game.
HR Rathod b Thakur 2 (18m 6b 0x4 0x6) SR: 33.33
around the wicket to Rathod.
END OF OVER:48 | 7 Runs | SAU: 114/9
- Jaydev Unadkat15 (20b)
- Hardik Rathod2 (5b)
- Dhawal Kulkarni16-4-34-2
- Shardul Thakur13-1-25-4
around the wicket now.
END OF OVER:47 | 4 Runs | SAU: 107/9
- Hardik Rathod2 (5b)
- Jaydev Unadkat8 (14b)
- Shardul Thakur13-1-25-4
- Dhawal Kulkarni15-4-27-2
And again, the field spreads for Unadkat.
END OF OVER:46 | (maiden) | SAU: 103/9
- Jaydev Unadkat7 (12b)
- Hardik Rathod0 (1b)
- Dhawal Kulkarni15-4-27-2
- Shardul Thakur12-1-22-4