A look at the relevant numbers ahead of the Ranji Trophy 2015-16 final
Bharath Seervi23-Feb-201645 Number of finals Mumbai have played in the Ranji Trophy in 82 seasons. They have been on the winning side in 40 of their 44 previous finals. Their last final appearance was in 2012-13, also against Saurashtra at the Wankhede, when they won by an innings and 125 runs. The last time they lost a Ranji final was in 1990-91, when they lost to Haryana by 2 runs. After that season, Mumbai haven’t lost in ten Ranji finals. In 2013-14 they lost to Maharashtra in the quarter-finals, and in 2014-15 they ended as semi-finalists after losing to Karnataka.1 Number of Ranji finals played by Saurashtra before this. Saurashtra have been part of the Ranji Trophy since 1950-51 but the 2012-13 season, when they lost the final to Mumbai, was the first time they got to the title game.27-0 Mumbai’s win-loss record against Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy. The two teams have met 53 times; while Mumbai have won 27 of those matches, Saurashtra are yet to register an outright win. The teams have played out a draw on 25 occasions and one was a no-result when the first innings were not completed. Saurashtra have managed to take the first-innings lead in four out of the 25 draws. This will be the first match between the teams since the 2012-13 final.8 Number of matches out of 18 at this venue – Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium – that have ended in a decisive result. The current Ranji season has had three draws out of the four games played here. This is the first time that the stadium will be hosting a neutral Ranji game.62.83 Bowling average of spinners at this venue. Fast bowlers have averaged 33.33 here. While fast bowlers have taken 365 wickets here including nine five-fors, spinners have 90 wickets with just one such haul. The numbers have been similar in the 2015-16 season as well: while fast bowlers have taken 84 wickets at 28.82, spinners have taken 14 wickets at 63.35.16.85 Saurashtra spinners’ bowling average this season – the best among all the participating teams. While Ravindra Jadeja – whose services Saurashtra will be missing in the finals – took 38 wickets at 10.55 in the four matches he played, their other spinners have taken 68 wickets at 20.38. Saurashtra’s fast bowlers haven’t done badly either – 75 wickets at 24.82. In comparison, Mumbai spinners have taken 69 wickets at 32.40, and their pacers, 79 wickets at 30.39.0 Matches lost by Mumbai out of the ten they have played this Ranji season. They ended up on the winning side on five occasions and drew the rest. They took the first-innings lead in four of those five draws. They failed to gain a first-innings lead only against Andhra, which was their first match of this season . They are the only undefeated team in this tournament so far. Saurashtra have lost one match: by 45 runs to Kerala.7 Wins for Saurashtra in this season – two more than Mumbai. In ten matches, Saurashtra have won seven, lost one and drawn two. Leading up to the finals, Saurashtra have won their previous three encounters, while Mumbai have two draws and a win in their last three games. Three out of seven wins for Saurashtra have been by an innings, which is also the most by any team in the season. Mumbai has got only one such victory. No team has got more than seven outright wins in a single season in last ten years. Mumbai had won seven in 2008-09 and Karnataka in 2013-14.17 Number of times Saurashtra have dismissed the oppositions in this season – most by any team. No other team has done that more than 14 times. Jharkhand, Vidarbha and the other finalists Mumbai have done it 14 times each.40.90 Average runs per wicket for Mumbai in the first innings in this Ranji Trophy – second-best for a team after Himachal Pradesh, who averaged 48.98. Saurashtra have averaged just 29.55 runs per wicket in the first innings this season.77 Runs required by Shreyas Iyer to become the second highest run-scorer in a single Ranji Trophy season. He has made 1204 runs so far in this season; a further 77 would take him past Vijay Bharadwaj’s tally of 1280 runs in 1998-99. Iyer needs 212 runs to go past VVS Laxman’s record of 1415 runs in 1999-00, the most by a batsman in a single Ranji edition. Iyer also needs two more fifty-plus scores to go past the record for most fifty-plus scores in a Ranji season. Vijay Bharadwaj (1998-99) and Abhishek Nayar (2012-13) made 11 such scores in 1998-99 and 2012-13 respectively.6 Dismissals required for Aditya Tare to break Srikar Bharat’s record for the most dismissals by a wicketkeeper in a Ranji Trophy season. Bharat had effected 46 dismissals in 2014-15 for Andhra.
