2018-19 Ranji Trophy Final in Nagpur Feb 03 -07,2019 - Vidarbha beats Saurashtra to claim second successive Ranji title Thursday Feb 07,2019

Defendng champions Vidarbha won the 85th Ranji Trophy title, beating Saurashtra by 78 runs in the finals in Nagpur on Thursday Feb 07,2019

Set a target of 206, Saurashtra folded out for 127 in 58.4 overs, giving Vidarbha their second title triumph in the country’s marquee first-class tournament.

Left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate was the star for Vidarbha, claiming 6/59 in  24 overs in the second innings. He had picked up 5/98 in the first innings.

Star batsman Cheteshwar Pujara, who played a stellar role in India’s maiden Test series triumph on the Australian soil last month, could not come good for Saurashtra and was dismissed cheaply in both the innings.

Scorecard
Vidarbha: 312 and 200
Saurashtra: 307 and 127 all out in 58.4 overs (Vishvaraj Jadeja 52, Aditya Sarwate (6/59).

Note

The voctory for Vidarbha makes them the sixth team in the competition’s 84-year history to defend the title in the immediate season after they won it

The last team to defend the title was Karnataka who won the Ranji Trophy in the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons.

Prior to that Rajasthan won the title in consecutive seasons (2010-11, 2011-12).

Mumbai won the trophy in 2008-09 and defended their crown in 2009-10; overall, the domestic giants have an outstanding record, repeating title triumphs in 2002-03 and 2003-04, 1993-94 and 1994-95, 1983-94 and 1984-85, thrice in a row from 1974 to 1977, an astonishing 15 consecutive seasons from 1958 to 1972 and before that in the 1955-56 and 1956-57 editions and 1934-35 and 1935-36.

Karnataka also won the title in the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons.

The others teams to have won the Ranji Trophy in successive seasons are Delhi (1978-79, 1979-80) and Maharashtra (1939-40, 1940-41).