The 21-year-old Harsh Dubey was impressive during the Ranji Trophy 2024 final where he dismissed Ajinkya Rahanae in the first innings.
Harsh Dubey on Rahane’s Dismissal
The left-arm spinner played a dominant game in the first innings of Mumbai picking three wickets. Choosing to bowl first Vidarbha has picked up all 10 wickets of Mumbai side for 224 runs.
Yask Thakur and Harsh Dubey are the leading wicket-takers for the side in the match. Particularly Dubey showcased his impressive skills and also plotted Rahane’s dismissal to perfection in the first innings.
He picked up wickets of Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, and Musheer Khan.
“I enjoyed Ajinkya Rahane’s wicket the most. Before the match, I had made up my mind to dismiss him. I always do it. Before every match, (I) pick a player whom I want to dismiss,” Dubey said excitedly.
“It’s my best wicket in Ranji Trophy till now. After bowling the stump line, I gave him balls to drive. I thought that there were chances of the ball going in the air if Rahane drives it as the ball was getting stuck on the wicket. The plan succeeded.”
The Youngster was part of the team that won the inter-state age group championships helped him enter the final without any pressure.
“There was no pressure of the final. We have won the Under-16, Under-19 and Under-23 finals in the past, so, there was no such pressure of the final,” Dubey said.
“I was treating it as a normal game and not thinking of it as a big game. I am taking it as just another Ranji [Trophy] game against Mumbai.”
Coming to the match, Mumbai scored 224 runs where Shardul Thakur was the only half-centurion for the side in the match. He smashed 75 runs on 69 deliveries including 8 fours and 3 sixes.
Prithvi Shaw and Bhupen Lalwani are the other scorers with 46 and 37 runs respectively for the side. With a trial of 224 runs, Vidharba started their innings where the batting line-up suffered severe loss as they lost all 10 wickets for scoring 105 runs.
Despite their bowling efforts, Vidharba concluded their innings for a low total in the first innings. Dhawal Kulkarni, Shams Mulani, and Tanush Kotian bagged three wickets each for Mumbai.
After Mumbai started their second innings, the openers Prithvi Shaw and Bhupen were sent out with 11 and 18 runs.
At the time of writing Musheer Khan and Ajinkya Rahane were batting with 21 and 19 runs on day 02 session 2 at Wankhede Stadium.
