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The 2019-20 edition of India's elite domestic first-class tournament Ranji Trophy culminated behind closed doors in Rajkot with Saurashtra defeating Bengal by the virtue of their first innings lead to claim their maiden title. Arpit Vasavada won the Man of the Match award for his match-winning century in the grand finale.
All in all, it was an eventful season of Ranji Trophy where several upcoming stars of the cricketing world got an opportunity to showcase their talent. The heavyweights, Mumbai could not clear the first round of the competition while Jammu and Kashmir impressed by recording six wins in the tourney.
Here's a look at the top 10 performers of Ranji Trophy 2019-20.
Most Runs - Rahul Dalal, Arunachal Pradesh
The 28-year-old batsman from Haryana, Rahul Dalal topped the run charts in Ranji Trophy 2019-20 with 1340 runs in just 9 matches. He was the only batsman to touch the four-figure mark this year which shows how impressive he was. The right-handed batsman scored a majority of his runs against Mizoram.
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Playing for Arunachal Pradesh, the top-order batsman thrived the Mizoram bowlers with a knock of 178 runs in the first innings. He later registered a double hundred in the second innings to aggregate nearly 400 runs in the same match. Dalal breached the 200-run milestone once again with his knock of 267* against Nagaland.
Most Wickets - Jaydev Unadkat, Saurashtra
The captain of the winning team, Jaydev Unadkat led his team from the front with 67 wickets in 10 matches. The left-arm fast bowler took 7 five-wicket hauls in this competition and in three games, he finished with a ten-wicket haul. He played a match-winning role for his team in the semifinal against Gujarat.
Unadkat picked up 7/56 in the second innings to send the opposition team packing. He even picked six wickets each in the two innings of Saurashtra's match against Baroda. He will now be keen on continuing his fine form from red-ball to white-ball cricket when he takes the field for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2020.
Highest Score - Taruwar Kohli, Mizoram
One of the members of the Indian U-19 squad that lifted the World Cup in Malaysia 12 years ago, Taruwar Kohli finished second in the list of highest run-scorers of Ranji Trophy 2019-20. He missed out on the 1000-run milestone but he claimed the record for the highest score in this season.
Batting against Arunachal Pradesh, the right-handed batsman played a marathon knock of 307 runs. He remained unbeaten till the end and helped his team post 620 runs on the board. Apart from Kohli, Manoj Tiwary and Sarfaraz Khan also recorded a triple ton each in Ranji Trophy 2019-20.
Best bowling figures - R Sanjay Yadav, Meghalaya
Former Kolkata Knight Riders player, R. Sanjay Yadav made his first-class debut for Meghalaya this year. The left-arm spinner wreaked havoc in his debut match by recording figures of 9/52. He dismissed all the top nine batsmen of the Nagaland to leave them in shambles.
Yadav finished the season with 55 wickets with the other highlight of his season being the eight-wicket haul against Puducherry. His whirlwind knock of 254 runs off 228 deliveries against Mizoram showed everyone what he's capable of with the bat in hand.
Highest Batting Average - Sarfaraz Khan, Mumbai
Although Mumbai could not qualify for the quarterfinals of Ranji Trophy 2019-20, their right-handed batsman Sarfaraz Khan returned to form with a triple century in this season. Sarfaraz batted in only 9 innings this year where he amassed 928 runs at an astounding average of 154.66 at a strike rate of 78.64.
Sarfaraz Khan was once billed as the next big thing in Indian cricket and given how he performed in Ranji Trophy, he would have gained the selectors' attention once again.
Best Bowling Strike Rate - Vinay Kumar, Puducherry
After switching from Karnataka to Puducherry, the former Indian pacer Vinay Kumar bowled extremely well in Ranji Trophy 2019-20. Among all the bowlers who picked 40 or more wickets this season, Kumar had the best bowling strike rate. He ended the season with 45 wickets in 9 matches at a strike rate was 24.
The right-arm fast bowler shone in the game against Meghalaya where he scalped eight wickets while giving away just 44 runs in the entire match. His best performance came versus Arunachal Pradesh when the 36-year-old finished with figures of 11/76.
Most Hundreds - Harpreet Singh, Chattisgarh
Another former Kolkata Knight Riders star to feature on this list is the 28-year-old from Madhya Pradesh, Harpreet Singh. The top-order batsman represented Chattisgarh in Ranji Trophy 2019-20 and emerged as the best batsman from his team with 838 runs in 11 innings. He registered four centuries this year with his best score being 221.
Besides Harpreet, Paras Dogra, Amit Verma, MD Rahmatullah, Arpit Vasavada, KB Pawan and Rahul Dalal also recorded four 100+ scores this season however, Singh topped the list on the basis of lesser innings played.
Most Sixes - Abdul Samad, Jammu and Kashmir
The 18-year-old from Jammu and Kashmir, Abdul Samad made his first-class debut this year and he ended Ranji Trophy 2019-20 as the batsman with the most sixes. The all-rounder whacked 36 maximums in 10 games this year to top the list by a huge difference. Samad grabbed the headlines by striking 8 sixes in his 73-ball hundred against Assam.
He even slammed 11 sixes against Jharkhand during his innings of 128 runs. It will be exciting to see how he plays for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2020.
Best Economy Rate - Paidikalva Vijaykumar, Andhra
Among all the bowlers who bowled a minimum of 100 overs in Ranji Trophy 2019-20, Paidikalva Vijaykumar had the best economy rate. While the batsmen do not play aggressively in the first-class arena, they always look for the weaker balls and try to keep the scoreboard ticking.
Hence, it is very important to keep the batsmen under pressure by controlling the runs flow. Playing for Andhra, Vijaykumar conceded only 216 runs in his 108.5 overs. He bowled 38 maiden overs in this competition while he even scalped 12 wickets. His economy rate of 1.98 shows that the batsmen found it extremely difficult to play his medium pace.
Most Dismissals - KS Bharat, Andhra
KS Bharat is on the verge of breaking into the Indian Test team and his magnificent performance behind the stumps for Andhra in Ranji Trophy 2019-20 has further strengthened his case.
In the 13 innings he kept wickets, he executed 37 dismissals (34 catches and 3 stumpings). With Wriddhiman Saha ageing and Pant still not nailing down his spot, KS Bharat could soon be in the mix for a spot in the Indian Test team, especially when they are playing at home.
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