Mumbai cricketers Tanush Kotian and Tushar Deshpande etched their names in history books on Tuesday when they smashed a hundred each while batting at No. 10 and 11 in the Ranji Trophy 2024 quarterfinal against Baroda.
This is the first time in 78 years of First-Class cricket that the last two batters of a team have scored a century each. The only other pair to achieve the feat was Chandu Sarwate and Shute Banerjee during a match between India and Surrey at The Oval in 1946.
No. 10 batter Kotian remained not out on 120 while Deshpande was the last one to get out for 123 as Mumbai posted 569 in their second innings to set Baroda a mammoth target of 606 runs to win the knockout clash on the final day.
Record partnership for last wicket
Kotian and Deshpande stitched a partnership worth 232 runs which is the second highest in Ranji Trophy history for the last wicket.
It is just one short of the record for the 10th wicket between Ajay Sharma and Maninder Singh for Delhi against Bombay in the 1991-92 Ranji semifinal at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
They took Mumbai's score from 337 for 9 to 569 all out with both batters hitting 10 fours each. Kotian got to his century first off 115 balls while Deshpande reached the three-figure mark in 112 deliveries.
Both faced 129 balls each and scored 10 fours but it was Deshpande who hit 8 sixes as compared to Kotian's 4.
Mumbai almost through to Ranji Trophy semis
They have all but secured a comfortable victory for Mumbai as it will be impossible for Baroda to overhaul the target in one day. Mumbai already took a first-innings lead of 36 runs after posting 384 and then bowled out Baroda for 348.
Vidarbha, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh have already progressed to the semi-finals with Mumbai set to join the table soon.
