On Day 1 of the 2024 Ranji Trophy final on March 11 (Monday), Mumbai players gave a guard of honour to veteran pacer Dhawal Kulkarni before Vidarbha's innings began at the Wankhede Stadium. The gesture was spearheaded by Mumbai captain Ajinkya Rahane, who recognised the contribution made by Kulkarni towards Mumbai cricket. It is important to note that Kulkarni featured in his last first-class match after serving Mumbai cricket for a long time.
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Dhawal Kulkarni's career
Right-arm pacer Dhawal Kulkarni made his First-Class debut in 2008 and made an instant impact. In his first Ranji Trophy campaign, Kulkarni bagged the most wickets (42) in the competition and helped Mumbai win the title. From there on, Kulkarni became a mainstay in Mumbai's team. Kulkarni has bagged 284 wickets in 96 First-Class matches.
Kulkarni never got a chance to represent India in red-ball cricket but he played 12 ODIs and two T20Is, bagging 19 wickets and three wickets respectively.
Mumbai surges ahead in the final
In the morning session of Day 2, Mumbai surged ahead in the final after Vidarbha were bundled out for just 105 runs in reply to Mumbai's first innings score of 224. Vidarbha began Day 2 at 31/3 and hoped for a solid performance from the middle order against a quality bowling attack of Mumbai.
As it turned out, Vidarbha's batting line-up capitulated miserably as Kulkarni led the charge with three wickets, including that of experienced Karun Nair. Tanush Koitan and Shams Mulani also bagged three wickets each while Shardul Thakur chipped in with a wicket.
Only four Vidarbha batters managed to score in double figure with Yash Rathod (27) top-scoring for his team.
Shardul Thakur shines on Day 1
After Mumbai failed to capitalise on the good start provided by the openers on Day 1, Shardul Thakur dug his team out of a precarious situation. The right-handed batter played a counter-attacking knock of 75 runs in just 69 balls and helped Mumbai post a decent score of 224 runs.
With Mumbai securing a first innings lead of 119 runs, Vidarbha would require a sensational performance both in the bowling and batting departments to make a comeback in the game.
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