Vidarbha clinched their maiden Ranji Trophy title by beating Delhi in the finals by 9 wickets played at Holkar Stadium, Indore on 1st January 2018. It was a team effort by Vidarbha who finished top of Group D with 4 wins and 2 draws.
The team lead by Faiz Fazal had Wasim Jaffer as the most experienced player and no other popular cricketer, Chandrakant Pandit as the coach helped Vidarbha them to perform well as a unit.
Here are the 5 Key players which led Vidarbha to win their maiden title in Ranji Trophy
- Rajneesh Gurbani
The 19-year-old Rajneesh Gurbani impressed with his pace bowling abilities in 2017/18 edition of Ranji Trophy. He played 6 matches (12 innings) for Vidarbha and took 39 wickets. In the quarterfinals against Kerala, Gurbani took 7 wickets that helped Vidarbha to qualify for semi-finals. He bowled his heart out against a strong and fancied team of Karnataka batting line-up in the semi-finals. He picked 7 wickets in the first innings and when team required most Gurbani took 5 wickets in the second innings too sealing a place in their maiden Ranji Trophy finals.
On the second day of finals against Delhi, the young fast bowler became the second bowler to take a hat-trick in Ranji Trophy finals. He took 6 wickets in the first innings to restrict Delhi to just 295. In the second innings too, he picked 2 key wickets of Gambhir and well set Nitish Rana. Gurbani took 5 wickets in an innings 3 times and 10 wickets in a match 2 times. He finished as the second leading wicket-taker during 2017/18 Ranji Trophy season.
- Faiz Fazal
The captain of the Vidarbha side led from the front while opening the innings. He scored 912 runs from 9 matches (14 innings) with an average of 70.15. His best score this season was 206 against. It was an amazing performance by Faiz Fazal who scored 5 centuries and 1 half century. In the finals against Delhi, he gave a solid foundation scoring 67 runs, to make sure that Vidarbha reached a massive total.
He finished as the second leading run-getter in 2017/18 Ranji Trophy season. His captaincy was special as Vidarbha allowed the first innings lead to their opponents only 1 time.
- Wasim Jaffer
Wasim Jaffer the leading runs scorer in Ranji Trophy cricket, moved to Vidarbha stateside from 2015/16 Ranji season. Despite not scoring big runs, Jaffer played a key role in the finals against Delhi. Playing his 9th final, he steadied the ship and scored 78 important runs. Steadying at one end he made sure that Vidarbha did not panic.
Chasing the target of 29 runs to win, Wasim Jaffer scored the winning runs in the second innings to help Vidarbha clinch their maiden Ranji Trophy title. His ability to remain cool under pressure makes him a champion cricketer in the most prestigious title of Indian domestic cricket.
- Akshay Wakhare
Akshay Wakhare the off-spinner in Vidarbha side also played a key role during this season. He played 8 matches (15 innings) and took 34 wickets with an economy of 2.64 runs per over. His best figures in this year’s season were 5/16 against Services
Wakhare took 5 wickets in an innings thrice and 10 wickets in a match once. In the finals, he picked-up the important wicket of Gambhir in the first innings. He took 4 wickets during Delhi’s second innings and restricted Delhi to 280 runs. The off-spinner finished as 4th leading wicket-taker this season.
- Sanjay Ramaswamy
Sanjay Ramaswamy the opening partner with Captain Faiz Faizal played yet another key role. He played 9 matches (14 innings) and scored 775 runs at an average of 64.58. His best score in this season was 182 against Bengal.
Ramaswamy put up solid opening partnerships with Captain Faiz Fazal in most of the innings. He scored 3 centuries and 2 half-centuries. In the finals against Delhi, Ramaswamy and Faiz Faizal put on 96 runs for the first wicket setting a great foundation for Vidarbha to post a massive total.