Sachin Tendulkar's 96 off 75 balls in the 1991 Ranji final went in vain as Haryana defeated the all-star Mumbai team by two runs in a pulsating Ranji Trophy final at the Wankhede stadium.
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When one talks about Indian domestic cricket, the dominance of Mumbai for the last 70 years, be it in the Ranji Trophy or in the IPL, has been unprecedented. From 1956 to 1973, Mumbai won 17 consecutive Ranji Trophy titles. In all, they have won 41 Ranji titles which is the most. Karnataka and Delhi did try to break their dominance in the 80s and 90s but they never came close. In the modern era, Mumbai Indians are the five-time IPL champions which is unprecedented.
In the Ranji Trophy, a team that defeated Mumbai was itself a big claim to fame. Beating Mumbai in their fortress or sentinel of Wankhede stadium was considered next to impossible. Mumbai may have lost Ranji matches, but no team managed to breach the fortress. In the 1991 season, Mumbai had made the finals of the Ranji Trophy after a gap of eight years. That Mumbai side included stalwarts and legends like Sachin Tendulkar, Sanjay Manjrekar, Vinod Kambli, Chandrakant Pandit, Dilip Vengsarkar, Lalchand Rajput, Abey Kuruvilla and Salil Ankola. In that side, at least eight of them played for India or would go on to represent the national team on a big stage.
Defeating that Mumbai side would have made climbing Mount Everest backward an easy task. In the Haryana team, there was an individual who had made the impossible possible. Under the captaincy of Kapil Dev, the individual who had given India World Cup glory in 1983, they set out to do the impossible.
In the Haryana team, there were good players like Ajay Jadeja, Chetan Sharma in addition to Kapil Dev. There were domestic stalwarts like Yogendra Bhandari, Rajesh Puri and Amarjit Kaypee. Haryana chose to bat and they made 522 thanks to Deepak Sharma’s brilliant 199 and superb knocks of 98 and 94 by Chetan Sharma and Jadeja. Haryana were helped by eight dropped catches by Mumbai, especially from Tendulkar and Kambli. In response, Haryana managed a crucial 112-run lead with Yogendra Bhandari taking 5/118 and Kapil taking 3/54.
Mumbai, though, had Haryana on the ropes in the second innings. Kapil Dev’s side lost three wickets for seven runs and were left reeling at 154/8. However, the last two wickets added 88 and that helped Haryana end on 242. Mumbai had to chase a target of 355 in two sessions.
Nowadays, a knock of 96 in 75 balls would mean a splendid knock. But, in 1991, the magnitude of that knock was revolutionary. Tendulkar, in his short international career, had shown that he was a game-changer.
Vengsarkar and Tendulkar were playing in T20 style when two things happened. First, Tendulkar fell to Bhandari Second, Vengsarkar suffered a thigh injury and had to need a runner. Rajput was the player who ran for Vengsarkar. With Mumbai at 305/9 and still requiring 50 runs, Vengsarkar got to his century and he rotated the strike well, showing ample confidence in Kuruvilla. Vengsarkar was severe on Bhandari, hitting him for three sixes in one over which cost him 26.
With just three runs required for victory, there was a mix-up between Sanjay Patil, Kuruvilla and Rajput. A run-out ensued and Haryana had done the unthinkable. They had won the Ranji Trophy by beating Mumbai by two runs.
When one thinks about the euphoria of the breach at the Gabba by India in 2021 against Australia, 30 years ago, Haryana did the unthinkable in front of close to 20000 fans at the Wankhede. It remains the closest final in the history of the Ranji Trophy. The passion was so much that Vengsarkar cried inconsolably while many Mumbai fans were also shedding tears.
The magnitude had not sunk in. Haryana’s only Ranji Trophy title remains the 1991 Ranji Trophy but they achieved it in the face of massive obstacles.
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