Vidarbha fast bowler, Rajneesh Gurbani recreates history with a hat-trick in Ranji Trophy final

Vidarbha who made it to the finals of the Ranji Trophy for the first time ever have put up a decent performance against the mighty Delhi. Coming into the final as underdogs, Vidarbha have already overpowered Delhi by restricting them to 295 in the first innings. Rajneesh Gurbani picked up six wickets including a hat-trick and recreated history by becoming the second player to take a hat-trick in the Ranji Trophy final.

The 24-year old’s sensational performance with the ball took Vidarbha to a commanding position. Rajneesh picked 4 wickets in seven deliveries, which helped him equal the 44-year-old record. Despite a stand out knock by Dhruv Shorey, Delhi lost quick wickets. Considering how things transpired, Dhruv’s knock became that much more crucial for Delhi as hi 145, made the difference.

Rajneesh rattled through the Delhi batting

The man who brought Vidarbha to their first ever Ranji Trophy final with 12 wickets in the semi-final, did the trick for them in the final as well. Before Rajneesh, B Kalyanasundaram of Tamil Nadu was the only one to take a hat-trick in a Ranji final in the 1972-73 season against Bombay. However, Kalyanasundaram’s hat-trick couldn’t win the title for his team.

Despite walking off the field after picking two wickets, Gurbani came back into the game on the second day to pick four wickets in seven balls. His almost unplayable deliveries got Vikas Mishra, Navdeep Saini, Dhruv Shorey, and Kulwant Khejroliya for 7, 0, 145, and 0 respectively.

Gautam Gambhir, the only experienced batsman in the Delhi batting scored a mere 15, before being bowled by the right-arm off-break bowler, Akshay Wakhare. The skipper, Rishab Pant also failed to build a partnership with Dhruv. He scored 21 before giving away his wicket to the man of the hour.

Gurbani, the second highest wicket-takers this season has picked five-wicket hauls in all the three recent innings. He has 37 wickets to his name with an incredible average of 15.56.

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