The final match of the 2016-17 Ranji season will be played at Holkmar Stadium, Indore, between current champion Mumbai and Gujarat from January 10 to 14.
Mumbai defeated Tamil Nadu by 6 wickets to progress to their 46th finals. They have won the title 41 times.
Gujarat beat Jharkhand by 123 runs to reach their only second finals in the history of the trophy. Their previous appearance in the finals was in 1950-51.
Mumbai, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu from Group A, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Odisha from Group B and Hyderabad and Haryana from Group C qualified for the knockout stage of the 83rd season of the championship that saw 27 teams playing at neutral venues, unlike earlier.
In the 2015-16 season held in Pune, Mumbai beat Saurashtra by an innings and 21 runs.
The Mumbai team that played the semifinals against Tamil Nadu comprised following players: Aditya Tare (capt & wk), Praful Waghela, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Siddhesh Lad, Abhishek Nayar, Shardul Thakur, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Tushar Deshpande, Royston Dias, Sufiyan Shaikh (wk), Vijay Gohil, Akshay Girap, Eknath Kerkar, Prithvi Shaw.
The Gujarat team that played the semifinals against Jharkhand comprised Parthiv Patel (captain & wk), Priyank Panchal, Samit Gohil, Bhargav Merai, Manprit Juneja, Rujul Bhatt, Chirag Gandhi, Rush Kalaria, Mehul Patel, Karan Patel, Hardik Patel, Chintan Gala, Dhriv Raval, Jasprit Bumrah and Rudra Pratap Singh.
As far as the Mumbai team is concerned, Tare, Shaw, Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav are in excellent form. With the likes of Thakur, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Girap and Gohil, the bowling seems to be in good hands. The team seems to be very balanced. Remember the knock Shaw played in the second innings of the semifinals against Tamil Nadu. He produced a match-winning 120 to chase the target of 251.
Gujarat too has some good players like captain Parthiv Patel, Panchal, Merai and Gohel. The team bats deep and also has mixed bowling attack viz. experienced and new. The likes of RP Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Kalaria and Hardik Patel can damage any batting order on their day. Bumrah's excellent bowling against Jharkhand in the semifinals can play in the minds of the Mumbai batsmen. RP Singh was the wrecker-in-chief in the first innings. The combo seems a deadly one.
Though Mumbai's bowling is somewhat weaker than Gujarat's, the experience of playing in the finals can be an edge to the champion.
Have to wait and watch whether Gujarat can stop the Mumbai juggernaut and lift their maiden title?
