Railways created the biggest upset in this Ranji Trophy season so far, after they defeated domestic giants Mumbai by 10 wickets within three days in their Elite Group B match here on Friday.
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 at the Wankhede Stadium, after Test specialist Ajinkya Rahane failed miserably in the second innings as well.
The 41-time domestic champions resumed the third day on their overnight score of 64/3 and needed to bat as long as possible to avoid an outright defeat or to at-least force a draw.
However, Rahane, who was unbeaten on 3 could add only five runs to his score before being dismissed on 8.
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Rahane, who has played 63 Tests, was caught by wicket-keeper Nitin Bhille, putting Mumbai in a spot of bother at 69-4.
Then skipper Suryakumar Yadav (65 off 94 runs) and experienced Aditya Tare (14 off 47 balls) tried to rally the Mumbai innings with their 64-run stand.
However, Railways' pacer Pradeep T, who had taken six wickets in the first innings, broke the partnership, after removing Tare, who edged to keeper Nitin Bhille.
After Tare's dismissal, Railways pegged back the hosts by taking two wickets in quick succession -- Surya and Shams Mulani (1) -- as Mumbai slipped to 135-7.
However, Shardul Thakur (21 off 31 balls) along with Akash Parkar (35 not out), ensured that Mumbai avoided an innings defeat.
Leggie Sharma had trapped Parkar in front of the wicket, but it was declared a no-ball for overstepping and Parkar got a life.
At the stroke of lunch, Thakur edged, only to be caught by Mrunal Devdhar in the slip cordon, as Mumbai were teetering at 164/8, and were ahead only by 12 runs.
Pacer Tushar Deshpande survived for 15 balls, but fell when Mumbai were 33 runs ahead.
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.
He heaped praise on his team's pacers.
"Our pacers bowled well and the wicket was helpful. I had asked them to control their feelings. As a (former) fast bowler, I feel that Mumbai bowlers tried hard for wickets," he said, adding that the partnership between Ghosh and Sharma was the turning point of the match.
Harvinder said he had asked the boys to perform in Mumbai as the media covered the game prominently here and the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar read in newspapers and that has an impact.
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 (sic)."
Mumbai did not play India players Shreyas Iyer and Shivam Dube.
Brief scores: Mumbai 114 and 198 (Suryakumar Yadav 65, Akash Parkar 35 not out, H Sangwan 5-60) vs Railways 266 and 47/0. Railways won by 10 wickets. Railways 7 points, Mumbai 0 points.
At Rajkot: Saurashtra 331 versus Uttar Pradesh 523 (Mohammed Saif 165, Aksh Deep Nath 95; K Makwana 3-98). Uttar Pradesh lead by 192 runs.
At Indore: Tamil Nadu 149 and 177/4 (Kaushik 66 batting, N Jagdeesan 54; Kuldeep Sen 2-19) vs Madhya Pradesh 333 (Venkatesh Iyer 88, Rameez Khan 87; Mihir Hirwani 71; T Natarajan 5-106). Tamil Nadu trailed by 7 runs.
At Mysuru: Karnataka 166 and 191/3 (Devdutt Padikkal 69 batting, Karun Nair 62 batting; Rishi Dhawan 3-56) vs Himachal Pradesh 280 (Rishi Dhawan 93, P Khanduri 69; Koushik V 4-59, Prateek Jain 3-54). Karnataka lead by 77 runs.
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