The 2017 Ranji season turned out to be a complete surprise at every stage. The Vidarbha team entered the Ranji finals for the first time after beating Karnataka in the semi-finals. And then, Rajneesh Gurbani, of the same team, picked his second hat-trick in the Ranji Trophy finals. The three crucial wickets he picked helped the first-time finalist to restrict Delhi to 295 on Day 2.
The right-arm medium bowler got Vikas Mishra and Navdeep Saini out in the last two deliveries of his 23rd over. When he returned to bowl his next over, he got Dhruv Shorey, who was on 145. Gurbani made sure he couldn’t score his 150 and clean bowled him in the very first ball.
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Here’s the video:
WATCH Rajneesh Gurbani’s hat-trick that sent Delhi packing in the first innings. He became only the second bowler in the history of the #RanjiTrophy #Final to take a hat-trick @paytm #DELvVID : https://t.co/W1yolPHqUC
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) December 30, 2017
Rajneesh Gurbani became the second bower to pick up a hat-trick in a Ranji Trophy final match after B Kalyanasundaram for Tamil Nadu against Bombay in 1972/73 while playing in Chennai.
Even after getting a hat-trick, Gurbani didn’t just stop there. He went on to take another wicket and rattled the stumps of Kulwant Khejroliya, bundling up Delhi at 295. He bagged a total of 6 wickets after conceding 59 runs in 24 overs at a magnificent economy rate of 2.4 RPO.
According to several media reports, Gurbani suffered an ankle injury on Day 1 of the play which forced him to leave the field for around 30 minutes.
The Vidarbha bowlers have had an outstanding Ranji season so far. In the semifinal match against Karnataka, Gurbani went on to pick a total of 12 scalps including a 7-wicket haul in the second innings which helped Vidarbha in hammering Karnataka, and entering the finals. He also bagged the Man of the Match award, for his phenomenal bowling figures.
