• Home
  • Match Hub
  • Watch Ajinkya Rahane Led Mumbai Give Guard Of Honour To Dhawal Kulkarni In Ranji Final

[Watch] Ajinkya Rahane-Led Mumbai Give 'Guard Of Honour' To Dhawal Kulkarni In Ranji Final

Dhawal Kulkarni celebrating a Vidarbha wicket in the finals with teammates (x.com)Dhawal Kulkarni celebrating a Vidarbha wicket in the finals with teammates (x.com)

Mumbai team players gave Dhawal Kulkarni a ‘guard of honour’ as the 35-year-old was making his way into the field on Day 1 of the 2024 Ranji Trophy final match against Vidarbha. 

The match marks the final first-class appearance of Kulkarni, considering the senior Mumbai cricketer had earlier announced his retirement from the format.


Dhawal Kulkarni gets a ‘guard of honour’

Mumbai players, led by Ajinkya Rahane, converged near the boundary of the Wankhede Stadium to give outbound fast bowler Dhawal Kulkarni a ‘guard of honour’ on Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy final.

Kulkarni made his Mumbai debut during India’s 2007-08 domestic season, and played his maiden first-class match against Australia A at Bengaluru in September 2008.

Dhawal Kulkarni has so far played 96 first-class matches in his career, picking up 284 wickets in the process at a remarkable bowling average of 27.

As it turned out, the bowling all-rounder celebrated the occasion of his final first-class match by collecting astounding figures of 3-15 against Vidarbha. He removed Vidarbha’s middle-order batters Aman Mokhade and Karun Nair within the course of a single spell before accounting for the wicket of well-set opener Atharva Taide.

Kulkarni’s three-wicket burst ensured that Vidarbha’s batting line-up slipped to 39-4 before capitulating at 105. Hosts Mumbai, on the other hand, had amassed 224 in their first innings on Day 1 as they secured a 119-run first innings lead at the halfway stage of the contest.

Apart from holding a glorious first-class career for Mumbai, Dhawal Kulkarni also played 12 ODIs and two T20I matches for Team India during his brief international run between 2014 and 2016. He also represented the Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals franchises in IPL.