Follow UsIt was the Bihar-ball on display in the Plate Group of the Ranji Trophy 2025-26 as the state team chased down a total of 251 in only 27.4 overs against Mizoram in the last league match to qualify for the final and give themselves a chance to move to the Elite Group for the next season.
On the fourth and the last day of the game, both teams were yet to begin their second innings, with Bihar having taken a 13-run first-innings lead at the Moin-ul-Haq Stadium in Patna. No one, not even the most loyal fans of either team, believed that the game could have a result.
Both Mizoram and Bihar were in a position to qualify for the final by winning the match. However, Mizoram had to put on a total and then take 10 Bihar wickets, while Bihar had to take the 10 wickets of the Mizoram team and then also chase whatever total that the team put on minus the 13 runs.
In such a scenario, to foresee a result was unbelievable. But then something unusual happened. Mizoram declared their innings at 260/6 in the 58th over. With the change of innings happening, the Bihar team had barely 31 overs to try and chase 248 to win.
While the declaration was thought to be a good decision to try and win the match by getting Bihar all-out in the 30 overs, the Mizoram side would not have thought in the wildest of their dreams that the opposition would play T20 in red-ball cricket on the last day.
Bihar went all guns blazing right from the start. Centurion from the first innings, Mangal Mahrour and skipper Sakibul Gani put on 128 for the first wicket in 15.4 overs, scoring at more than eight runs per over. Mahrour got out shortly after with Bihar at 145/2 in 17.4 overs, needing 103 in about 80 balls.
If someone thought that the wickets of Gani and Mahrour would put pressure on Bihar, and they would slow down, it didn’t happen. The two batters that came after the openers, i.e. Ayush Loharuka and Bipin Saurabh, went even berserk and smashed 55 together in just 31 balls to get the team close to victory.
Even as Saurabh got out for 47 off just 22 balls, striking at over 200, Loharuka and Suraj Kahsyap carried the team home by chasing the target down in only 27.4 overs.