NEW DELHI: Veteran pacer Dhawal Kulkarni suddenly got an opportunity to play his 96th and final first-class match after Mohit Avasthi was ruled out of Mumbai's Ranji Trophy final against Vidarbha due to injury on Sunday.
For this entire Ranji season, all Dhawal Kulkarni, who had earlier announced that this would be his farewell season, had done, besides playing three matches in which he took seven wickets, was bowl in the nets, besides 'mentoring' other seamers.
But having got a chance, Kulkarni led his team's fightback with the ball in the last session of Day 1 by making two crucial strikes in an incisive spell.
Bowling in a 'corridor of uncertainty,' the veteran pacer forced Aman Mokhade (8) and then 'big fish' Karun Nair (0) to nick deliveries outside the offstump to a delighted 'keeper Hardik Tamore.
Kulkarni struck again in the morning when he had Atharva Taide caught behind by Hardik Tamore for Mumbai's first wicket on Day 2.
No wonder Kulkarni was given a guard of honour by his Mumbai teammates on the first day of the final.
The domestic handle of the Indian cricket board (BCCI) shared a video of the moment on X:
