Stats highlights from the two Ranji Trophy semi-finals; Mumbai and Saurashtra set to do battle in what will be a repeat of the 2012-13 finale
Bharath Seervi17-Feb-20162 Instances of Saurashtra reaching the Ranji Trophy final. Their first appearance came in 2012-13, when they were beaten by an innings and 125 runsby Mumbai. Saurashtra have reached two finals in the last four seasons, after not making it to any in their first 62.45 Number of appearances in the final for Mumbai in 82 Ranji Trophy seasons. In the previous 44, they finished runners-up only on four occasions. Their last final was also against Saurashtra in 2012-13. They haven’t lost any of their last 10 finals since 1990-91.10 Number of scores of 50 or more for Shreyas Iyer – the second most in a Ranji Trophy season. Only Vijay Bharadwaj in 1998-99 for Karnataka and Abhishek Nayar in 2012-13 for Mumbai had more – 11 each. With two more innings left potentially, Iyer has an opportunity to equal or perhaps even go past the record. He has scored fifties in his last three innings: 81 in the second-innings of the quarter-final against Jharkhand and 90 and 58 in the two innings of the semi-final against Madhya Pradesh.4 Batsmen who have aggregated 1200 or more runs in a Ranji Trophy season, before this. Shreyas Iyer became the fifth to do so with aggregate of 1204 runs at the end of the semi-finals. The previous four were: VVS Laxman (1415) in 1999-00, Bharadwaj (1280) in 1998-99, Wasim Jaffer (1260) in 2008-09, Kedar Jadhav (1223) in 2013-14. Only Jaffer’s 1260 is more than Iyer among Mumbai batsmen in a Ranji Trophy season.571 Target set by Mumbai against Madhya Pradesh, which is the biggest in Ranji Trophy semi-finals since Uttar Pradesh were set 615 to win against Karnataka in 2009-10. Last time Mumbai set a bigger target than this in Ranji Trophy was 670 runs against Baroda at Wankhede 2012-13. In the quarter-final of this season, Madhya Pradesh themselves had set a target of 788 runs against Bengal. These are the only two targets of 500 or more set in this season.2 Bowlers who have taken 50 or more wickets this season. Assam’s Krishna Das became the second to get there after Jharkhand’s Shahbaz Nadeem, who had completed 50 wickets in the quarter-finals. Incidentally, in the last 15 Ranji Trophy seasons, there was only one bowler who took 50 or more wickets in a season – Ranadeb Bose (57) for Bengal in 2006-07. Three bowlers ended up with 49 wickets this season: Kerala’s K Monish, Vidarbha’s Akshay Wakhare and Madhya Pradesh’s Jalaj Saxena. In the first 81 Ranji Trophy seasons, there were only three bowlers who ended up with exactly 49 wickets: Padmakar Shivalkar for Bombay in 1972-73, Bharati Vij for Punjab in 1992-93 and Rishi Dhawan for Himachal Pradesh in 2013-14.0 Number of centuries for Madhya Pradesh wicketkeeper Naman Ojha in this Ranji Trophy season, before this match. He got to his first century of the season against Mumbai after having made six fifties with a highest of 88. He has made four scores of 50 or more in his last four innings of the season including the 113 in the second innings. He made 64 and 52 in the quarter-finals against Bengal and 79 in the first innings of the semi-final.502 Runs by Amit Verma this season for Assam – the most without a century. He made 98 and 16 in the semi-final to complete 500 runs in the season. Before scoring the century, Ojha had 633 runs without a century. The record for most runs in a Ranji Trophy season without scoring a century is 647 by Harshad Khadiwale for Maharashtra last season.41 Dismissals by Mumbai wicketkeeper Aditya Tare in the season. Only three wicketkeepers have effected more dismissals than Tare in a season: 46 by Srikar Bharat for Andhra in 2014-15, 43 by CM Gautam for Karnataka in 2013-14 and 42 by Rohit Motwani for Maharashtra in 2014-15. No other wicketkeeper has effected more than 35 dismissals in this season.6 Number of catches by Ojha in Mumbai’s second innings – the joint highest this season. Only Vidarbha’s Amol Ubarhande and Saurashtra’s Sagar Jogiyani have taken six catches in an innings in this season. Ojha also made a century. Interestingly, Ojha was the last batsman to score a century and take five or more catches in an innings – against Assam in 2008-09. Click here for most wicketkeeping dismissals in an innings in this season.20 Wickets for Saurashtra’s Jaydev Unadkat in the knockout matches of this season. He took 5 for 70 and 4 for 35 in the quarter-finals and 6 for 77 and 5 for 45 in the semifinals. These are the most combined wickets by a bowler in the quarter-finals and semi-finals of a Ranji Trophy season in last ten seasons.13 Innings without a century for Cheteshwar Pujara before scoring 126 in Saurashtra’s first innings in the semi-final against Assam. His last hundred was 145 not out against Sri Lanka in Colombo (SSC) in the Test in 2015.
