FIrst-Class Matches India 2005/06 and 2006/07

The second Group B qualifying place was claimed by Uttar Pradesh, who came from nowhere to achieve wins their last two matches which, with the crucial assistance of two winning draws, sufficed to edge Punjab into third place. Uttar Pradesh carried this sudden good form into the knockout stages with a five-wicket win in a well-contested semifinal against Mumbai. In the other semifinal, Baroda’s domination of Group B counted for nothing as an indifferent opening score of 241 was overwhelmed by Bengal’s mammoth 619 to allow the latter to prevail on first-innings lead. In the final, Uttar Pradesh, having won an important toss, at 333-4 looked set for a big score. But they subsided to 387; and in reply Bengal fell a mere 14 runs short. This modest margin nevertheless proved decisive when Uttar Pradesh’s solid second innings used up enough time to deny Bengal any chance of an outright win. Thus it was that Uttar Pradesh, a side engaged in the tournament since its inception (as United Provinces in the early years), not only finally achieved its first-ever Ranji title but also gave further evidence (as if it were needed) that in the Ranji Trophy there is nothing that matters more than hitting form at the right time. In the Plate Rajasthan and Saurashtra, despite each having finished only second in its group, won through to the final and thus gained promotion to the Elite for the following season. The final itself was played for little except pride; but for what it may be worth Saurashtra achieved a very easy win. Turning to individual performances, Wasim Jaffer of Mumbai, India’s Test opener, stood out by himself in the batting with a remarkable season’s aggregate of 1174 at 65.22; Dheeraj Jadhav of Maharashtra was a distant second with 794. The bowlers with most victims were provided by the same two states: Mumbai’s off-spinner Ramesh Powar with 63 at 23.06, closely followed by Maharashtra’s Munaf Patel (fast-medium) with 62 at 18.25. Medium-pacer Shib Paul of Bengal, with 52, was the only other bowler to exceed fifty victims. Duleep Trophy 2005/06: Final tables Group A P W L DWF DLF BP Pts Quot 4 0 2 0 1 West Zone 2 2 0 0 0 0 8 1.548 2 Central Zone 2 1 1 0 0 0 4 1.031 3 South Zone 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0.622 Group B P W L DWF DLF BP Pts Quot 4 0 2 0 1 East Zone 2 2 0 0 0 1 9 2.047 2 North Zone 2 1 1 0 0 1 5 1.041 3 Zimbabwe XI 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0.459 FINAL: West Zone beat East Zone by five wickets 8 India in 2005/06