Mumbai beat Bengal by 132 runs to win the Ranji Trophy for the 37th time, at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, on Monday.
Chasing a daunting target of 472 for victory, Bengal were dismissed for 339 in their second innings shortly after tea on Day 4 of the five-day final, despite a gallant 90 from Sourav Ganguly and 94 by exciting young batsman Manoj Tiwary.
Rohan Gavaskar also chipped in with a useful 46 but all that could not prevent Mumbai from regaining the title it last won two seasons ago.
Zaheer Khan was the pick of the Mumbai bowlers, claiming four wickets for 119 runs, including the prized scalp of Ganguly, as Bengal folded up in 92.2 overs. The left-arm pacer had picked five wickets in the first innings.
Ajit Agarkar and Wilkin Mota grabbed two wickets apiece.
At one stage Bengal looked like going the distance in the run-chase but the loss of the last six wickets for just five runs put paid to their hopes.
Resuming at 98 for 2, the visitors went about their task efficiently, scoring 226 for 3 by lunch. However, just when the partnership between Ganguly and Tiwari was assuming threatening proportions, Tewari (94) holed out at point off Abhishek Nair's bowling.
Tiwari enjoyed a bit of luck as Mumbai captain Amol Muzumdar dropped him in the slips when he was on 76 and 80, Nair being the bowler to suffer. Nair, however, got his man when Tiwari tried to cut him but only managed to offer an easy catch to point, where Rohit Sharma made no mistake.
The Bengal youngster was out six short of a deserved 100, with Bengal 270 for 4.
Ganguly and Tiwari put on 117 runs for the fourth wicket in only 176 balls.
Rohan Gavaskar, the next man in, was in an attacking mood. He hit Zaheer Khan for three boundaries in one over and then followed it up with a superb straight drive of Agarkar. However, the second new ball, taken in the 85th over, did the trick as Agarkar, after being hit for a four, got his revenge when he had Gavaskar playing a loose shot outside the off stump and Sahil Kukreja coming up with a brilliant catch at second slip.
Gavaskar scored 46 off just 49 balls, inclusive of eight boundaries.
Bengal at this stage were 5 for 334, but the remaining wickets fell like nine pins.
In the next over, Zaheer got rid of Laxmi Ratan Shukla, beating the batsman for pace and then trapped Sourashish Lahiri in front of the wicket to leave Bengal tottering at 335 for 7.
However, till Ganguly was at the crease there was room for the faithful to hope that Bengal might pull off something sensational, but when he fell for 90 -- for the second time in the match to Zaheer -- pulling and only managing to lob a high catch to Ramesh Powar at midwicket, Bengal was staring at defeat with 338 on the board.
Ganguly's 90 came in a stay of 129 balls and was studded with eight boundaries.
The end came when Ashok Dinda attempted to heave Ajit Agarkar over the ropes and holed out to Abhishek Nair at point.
Scorecard
Mumbai (1st innings):
S Kukreja c Jhunjhunwala b Bose 0
W Jaffer c Arindam Das b Lahiri 112
W Mota lbw b Bose 8
S Tendulkar c Shukla b Lahiri 105
A Muzumdar lbw b Ganguly 31
R Sharma run out (Sarkar) 14
A Nair c Dasgupta b Sarkar 15
V Samant c Dasgupta b Bose 0
R Powar b Sarkar 9
Z Khan c Dasgupta b Bose 9
A Agarkar not out 3
Extras: (lb 1, w 1, nb 12) 14
Total: (all out; 98.4 overs; 476 mins) 320
Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-14, 3-201, 4-268, 5-268, 6-298, 7-298, 8-299, 9-314, 10-320.
Bowling: R Bose 29-9-77-4, S Sarkar 21.4-5-76-2 (7nb, 1w), S Ganguly 16-4-30-1 (2nb), A Dinda 16-5-67-0 (3nb), S Lahiri 16-0-69-2.
Bengal (1st innings):
D Dasgupta c Sharma b Agarkar 0
Arindam Das c Samant b Khan 7
A Jhunjhunwala c Samant b Khan 2
M Tiwary lbw b Mota 42
S Ganguly b Khan 0
R Gavaskar c Samant b Khan 21
L Shukla c Samant b Khan 0
S Lahiri run out (Agarkar) 22
S Sarkar c Agarkar b Nair 25
R Bose c Kukreja b Powar 1
A Dinda not out 22.
Extras: (nb 1) 1
Total: (all out; 32.1 overs; 158 mins) 143
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-3, 3-28, 4-28, 5-72, 6-72, 7-72, 8-106, 9-108, 10-143.
Bowling: A Agarkar 10-2-42-1, Z Khan 11-2-40-5, W Mota 4-0-21-1 (1nb), A Nair 3-0-18-1, R Powar 4.1-0-22-1.
Mumbai (2nd innings):
S Kukreja c Dasgupta b Bose 5
W Jaffer c & b Bose 53
R Sharma b Dinda 57
W Mota c Dasgupta b Sarkar 15
S Tendulkar c Tiwary b Lahiri 43
A Muzumdar c Tiwary b Bose 37
A Nair c Dasgupta b Sarkar 34
R Powar c Ganguly b Sarkar 4
A Agarkar c Arindam Das b Bose 6
V Samant not out 9
Z Khan b Bose 13
Extras: (lb 4, nb 14) 18
Total: (all out; 80.3 overs; 393 mins) 294
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-113, 3-119, 4-160, 5-188, 6-257, 7-262, 8-269, 9-273, 10-294.
Bowling: R Bose 26.3-6-71-5, S Sarkar 14-2-54-3, A Dinda 25-6-70-1, S Lahiri 12-0-86-1 (2nb), S Ganguly 3-0-9-0.
Bengal (2nd innings) (target: 472 runs)
D Dasgupta c Samant b Mota 57
Arindam Das c Jaffer b Mota 10
A Jhunjhunwala lbw b Powar 20
M Tiwary c Sharma b Nair 94
S Ganguly c Powar b Khan 90
R Gavaskar c Kukreja b Agarkar 46
L Shukla b Khan 0
S Lahiri lbw b Khan 0
S Sarkar c Samant b Khan 2
R Bose not out 1
A Dinda c Nair b Agarkar 0.
Extras: (b 2, lb 4, w 1, nb 12) 19
Total: (all out; 92.2 overs; 421 mins) 339
Fall of wickets: 1-39, 2-65, 3-153, 4-270, 5-334, 6-335, 7-335, 8-338, 9-338, 10-339.
Bowling: A Agarkar 17.2-6-56-2, Z Khan 24-4-119-4 (9nb), W Mota 13-6-34-2, A Nair 12-2-29-1 (3nb), R Powar 23-4-85-1 (1w), S Tendulkar 3-0-10-0.
