Watch: 4 wickets in 4 balls! Kulwant Khejroliya creates history in Ranji Trophy with sensational bowling

Madhya Pradesh pacer Kulwant Khejroliya bowled a fiery spell against Baroda during the Ranji Trophy 2023-24 Elite Group D match played in Indore. MP could grab a win by an innings and 52 runs courtesy of a brilliant bowling spell by Kulwant Khejroliya. He picked up seven wickets in the match, including a fifer in the second innings. Baroda were wrapped up for 270 runs in their second innings while following on.

However, the major highlight of Kulwant Khejroliya‘s performance was his four wickets off four balls during Baroda’s second innings. In the 96th over of the innings, Khejroliya removed four Baroda batsmen on four consecutive balls and the visitors lost four wickets for a score of just 255 runs. This was the third such instance in the history of Ranji Trophy.

Centurion Shashwat Rawat became Kulwant Khejroliya’s first victim of the over when he was rattled by an inswinger due to which he lost his furniture. Mahesh Pithiya was caught behind for a first ball golden duck whereas the next batsman Bhargav Bhatt was also caught in front on the first ball by Kulwant Khejroliya for a duck. Akash Singh became Khejroliya’s 5th wicket and lost his off stump to a ‘jaffa’ from the bowler.

Watch: Kulwant Khejroliya bowls a fearful spell against Baroda

4⃣ in 4⃣! 🔥

Kulwant Khejroliya scalped 4 wickets in 4 balls en route to his five-wicket haul to help Madhya Pradesh beat Baroda in Indore.

Relive the four wickets 🔽@IDFCFIRSTBank | #RanjiTrophy

Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/6bvps90cWn pic.twitter.com/gk0QQFRjUe

— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) February 12, 2024

Batting first at the Holkar Stadium, Madhya Pradesh were able to put up a score of 454 runs courtesy of a century from opener Himanshu Mantri. Mantri played an innings of 111 runs from 183 balls, which included 12 fours and 2 sixes. Saransh Jain and captain Shubham Sharma were also able to contribute with the bat and scored half-centuries.

Baroda displayed a flop batting display while coming into bat in their first innings. No other batsman other than Milesh Patel was able to score runs and were removed cheaply. Patel played an innings of 80 runs from 115 balls, which included 11 fours. Anubhav Agrawal and Saransh Jain picked up 3 wickets each for Madhya Pradesh whereas Kulwant Khejroliya ended up with 2 wickets. Kumar Kartikeya picked up 1 wicket.

It was the same script for Baroda as it was in the first innings. Apart from Shashwat Rawat’s ton, opener Jyotsnil Singh was able to score 83 runs from 169 balls which included 9 fours and 1 six. No other batsman was able to cross the 20-run mark and were dismissed cheaply.

Madhya Pradesh and Baroda are currently the top two teams in the Elite Group D of the Ranji Trophy 2023-24. MP won the Ranji Trophy in the year 2022 and were able to make it to the semi-finals in the last edition of the tournament. Venkatesh Iyer is currently the highest run scorer for Madhya Pradesh in the current edition of India’s biggest domestic tournament. Iyer has scored 430 runs from 4 games at an average of 71.66, and his highest score has been 135 runs. He has also slammed two half-centuries followed by one ton.

Baroda is missing main players such as Deepak Hooda and Krunal Pandya, which might be the reason behind their terrible performance against Madhya Pradesh.