Harsh Dubey took nine wickets to bowl out Madhya Pradesh for 209 in the first innings, helping Vidarbha dominate the opening day at the VCA Stadium, Jamtha, Nagpur.
Madhya Pradesh chose to bat first. Nachiket Bhute struck first for Vidarbha, dismissing Yash Dubey, before Harsh Dubey, the left-arm spin all-rounder, took over. He picked up wickets at regular intervals and trapped the remaining nine batters with his left-arm spin.
Harsh first struck in the 17th over and kept going. He reduced the visitors to 64-5 in the 29th over. Atharva Mahajan and Saransh Jain then rebuilt the innings with a 72-run partnership. Harsh returned to break that stand after almost 18 overs. He then cleaned up the lower order quickly, skittling Madhya Pradesh for 209. His figures of 9 wickets for 53 runs made him the first bowler from Vidarbha to take a nine-wicket haul in an innings.
Record-breaking spell
Arun Ogiral had held the Vidarbha record with his 8-39 in 1967/68, also against Madhya Pradesh. Harsh now sits above him. Overall, Harsh becomes the 30th bowler to take nine or more wickets in an innings in the Ranji Trophy.
Siddharth Desai of Gujarat was the last bowler to take a Ranji Trophy nine-wicket haul, with 9-36 against Uttarakhand in 2024/25. Earlier that season, Anshul Kamboj made history for Haryana by taking all ten wickets in an innings, becoming only the third bowler in Ranji Trophy history to do so. His 10-49 against Kerala are the second-best figures in the competition’s history. That same season, Harsh’s Vidarbha counterpart Dubey set a new record for most wickets (69) in a single Ranji Trophy edition. [Note: see correction below]
A memorable 2026 for Harsh Dubey
This nine-wicket haul adds to a standout year for the left-arm spinner. He made his ODI debut for India against Afghanistan in June, taking four wickets in two matches. He then joined the India A squad for the tour of Sri Lanka, where he claimed three wickets and scored 59 runs across two innings.
Harsh went on to play for Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy, where he took eight wickets and scored 27 and 24 against East Zone. He has also made a strong start to the Ranji Trophy 2026/27 season, taking 23 wickets in seven innings so far.