Railways created the biggest upset in this season so far, after they defeated domestic giants Mumbai by 10 wickets within three days in their Elite Group B match at Wankhede stadium.
After bundling out Mumbai for paltry 114 on the opening day, Railways riding on skipper Karn Sharma’s unbeaten 112, grabbed a crucial 152-run first innings lead. Then Railways pacer Himanshu Sangwan (5-60) took five wickets, as Mumbai were bundled out for 198 in their second essay, after Test specialist Ajinkya Rahane failed miserably in the second innings as well.
For the 41-time domestic champions skipper Suryakumar Yadav (65 off 94 runs) and experienced Aditya Tare (14 off 47 balls) tried to rally the innings with their 64-run stand before Shardul Thakur (21 off 31 balls) along with Akash Parkar (35 not out), ensured that Mumbai avoided an innings defeat.
With Parkar’s knock, Mumbai could at least set a 47- run target. For Railways, openers Devdhar (27 not out) and Pratham Singh (19 not out) overhauled the target in the 12th over, with all 10 wickets to spare.
The Railways’ win is more special, as 42 overs were lost on the first two days.
Mumbai will next play Karnataka at the BKC ground from January 3.
Railways coach Harvinder Singh said his team has defeated Mumbai for the first time.
“We are very happy, for the first time in history, Railways have defeated Mumbai. The credit goes to the boys, who played very well,” said Harvinder.
Mumbai skipper Suryakumar Yadav said Railways outclassed them in all the departments.
“We could have applied better in the first innings, getting 60-70 runs more would have helped us,” he noted. Former India batsman Vinod Kambli tweeted, “Mumbai team ni masta dabba ghatla (Mumbai played badly). Very poor from the team. Disappointed to see @ShreyasIyer15 &@ImShivamDube not being a part of the Mumbai set up for this game when the international game is 5 days away. Would like to see the best team playing when possible. #Ranji Trophy.” Mumbai did not play India players Shreyas Iyer and Shivam Dube.