Vidarbha’s Harsh Dubey breaks Ranji Trophy record for most wickets in a season with 69th scalp | Cricket News
Vidarbha left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey broke the record for the most Ranji Trophy wickets in a single season during the 2024-25 Ranji final against Kerala at the VCA Stadium, Jamtha in Nagpur on Friday.
Bowling in the second innings after Vidarbha posted 379 on the board, Dubey reached the milestone with his third wicket of the innings, dismissing Nidheesh MD after Tea on Day three. Earlier in the day, the young left-arm spinner removed top-scorer Aditya Sarvate on 79 before trapping Salman Nizar, Kerala’s highest run-scorer of the season, leg-before on the stroke of lunch.
Dubey surpassed the previous-best of Bihar’s Ashutosh Aman who snapped up 68 wickets in the Ranji Trophy 2018-19 season. While Aman’s wickets came entirely in the Plate group that season, Dubey’s wickets have come in more challenging turfs of the Elite Group where Vidarbha have been unbeaten this season.
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Dubey set up the semi-final win over Mumbai with his seventh five-wicket haul of the season, the joint-most in a season among Elite group bowlers. The 22-year-old who made his First Class debut in 2022 is one of only six bowlers to go past the 60-wicket mark in a season, behind Aman (68), Jaydev Unadkat (67), Bishan Singh Bedi (64), Kanwaljit Singh (62) and Dodda Ganesh (62).
Besides the truckload of wickets, the southpaw Dubey has also racked up 472 runs in 17 innings this season with five half-centuries. Dubey is only the fourth player in Ranji Trophy hory to claim the all-rounder’s double of 450-plus runs and 50-plus wickets in a season.
Dubey recently told The Indian Express he chanced upon cricket accident as a fourth-grader in school. “We took a wrong turn one day when my father and I were going to buy my fourth-standard school books. I came across cricket practice at an academy there and asked my father what it was. He explained that’s where cricketers were made, and I got hooked and said I wanted to play too,” Dubey told The Indian Express.
After fruitful stints in the off-season, revelling on slow turners and flat tracks has been easier for the youngster, playing the TNCA first-division league in scorching Chennai. Interactions with the legendary off-spinner R Ashwin during his time and coursing different types of pitches in the Tamil Nadu league have helped him expand his versatility. Despite his 23 wickets last season – comprising eight with a five-for in the Ranji final – Dubey was overlooked for the season-opening Duleep Trophy in September 2024.Story continues below this ad
Most wickets in a Ranji Trophy season
69* wickets – 19 innings – Harsh Dubey (Vidarbha, 2024/25)68 wickets – 14 innings – Ashutosh Aman (Bihar, 2018/19)67 wickets – 16 innings – Jaydev Unadkat (Saurashtra, 2019/20)64 wickets – 16 innings – Bishan Singh Bedi (Delhi, 1974/75)62 wickets – 21 innings – Dodda Ganesh (Karnataka, 1998/99)62 wickets – 21 innings – Kanwaljit Singh (Hyderabad, 1999/00)
450-plus runs and 50-plus wickets in a Ranji Trophy season
529 runs, 52 wickets – Sunil Joshi (Karnataka, 1995/96)461 runs, 53 wickets – Gurender Singh (Meghalaya, 2018/19)603 runs, 55 wickets – R Sanjay Yadav (Meghalaya, 2019/20)472 runs, 69 wickets – Harsh Dubey (Vidarbha, 2024/25)*
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