Ranji Trophy: From underdogs to champions - Road of Madhya Pradesh to maiden title

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Madhya Pradesh scripted history by getting their hands on the trophy for the first time. They won against the 41-time champions Mumbai. MP made it to the final of the tournament for the second time after a long wait since the 1998-1999 season. The team had lost the final against Karnataka back then.

The journey to the Ranji title victory however wasn't easy. The Aditya Shrivastava-led MP had to cross several hurdles to register their much-awaited win.

Here is how the team managed to climb up to the final and defeated the team with the most titles in the tournament:

• MP vs Gujarat:

In the Elite Group A match against Gujarat which was played in February this year, Team MP was trailing in the first session by 57 runs as Gujarat had scored 331 runs. Shubham Sharma and Rajat Patidar scored a half-century each in that innings. However, the game became one-sided in the second innings when MP added 274 runs on board and took a lead by 179 runs with 92 runs coming from Shubham Sharma's bat. The team ended up winning the match by 106 runs.

• MP vs Meghalaya:

MP registered a brilliant win against Meghalaya in the Elite Group A match. They were strong and took control of the match from the beginning. Meghalaya managed to score just 61 runs in the first innings. On the other hand, MP took a lead of 438 runs by registering 499 runs. Meghalaya was helpless and lost the game by an innings and 137 runs in the one-sided match. Gaurav Yadav who was named player of the match took 5 wickets in the first innings and 2 in the second innings.

• MP vs Kerala: 

The match of Madhya Pradesh vs Kerala in which MP's Yash Dubey scored a double century, Rajat Patidar scored a century and Akshat Raghuwanshi scored a half-century ended in a draw.

• MP vs Punjab:

Kumar Kartikeya carried on with his brilliant bowling display and spun a web around the Punjab batters as Madhya Pradesh cruised into the Ranji Trophy semifinals with a 10-wicket victory. Punjab resumed play on day four at 120/5, still 58 adrift of their opponent to make them bat again. After a failure from the top order, the middle order too collapsed and the score of 203 was put on the board. MP had to score just 26 runs to make their way to the semifinal match and they won by 10 wickets.

• MP vs Bengal:

Madhya Pradesh reached the final of Ranji Trophy after a long wait of 23 years. Bengal needed 350 runs to register a win but Kumar Kartikeya's spell bundled them up at 175 i.e exactly half of the target. His final figures read 32-10-67-5 for an impressive match haul of 8 for 128. The ream ended up winning by 174 runs.

• MP vs Mumbai:

Coach Chandrakant Pandit's team defeated Mumbai by six wickets and won their maiden title. The heroics of Rajat Patidar, Yash Dubey, and Shubham Sharma with the bat, and Kumar Kartikeya's bowling helped the team to make their mark in the tournament.