When was the last time Vidarbha won the Ranji Trophy? 

The 89th season of India's premier domestic tournament, the Ranji Trophy, is in its final stage. The summit clash of the 2023-24 season is currently ongoing between two Maharashtran sides, Mumbai and Vidarbha.

Led by skipper Akshay Wadkar, Vidarbha were fantastic in the group stages as they topped their Elite Group A with five wins, one draw and one loss in seven games.

In their quarter-final, they beat a strong Karnataka side by 127 runs before running over Madhya Pradesh in the first semi-final in Nagpur. Vidarbha, who have won two Ranji Trophy titles so far, are up against heavyweights Mumbai in the final.

After stumps on Day 1 of the final, Vidarbha find themselves a bit under pressure as they trail Mumbai by 193 runs with only seven wickets in hand in the first innings. A superb innings by Shardul Thakur, who made 75 off 69, helped Mumbai pile up 224 runs on a slightly difficult track at the Wankhede Stadium.

Dhawal Kulkarni and Shardul Thakur then came up with a great opening spell where they reduced Vidarbha to 31/3, with both Dhruv Shorey and Karun Nair getting dismissed for a duck.

Vidarbha need their lower-order to fire and take them to Mumbai's total in order to remain in the game. Fortunately for them, opener Atharva Taide is still unbeaten at the crease with Akshay Wadkar, Yash Rathod and Aditya Sarwate still to come.

While Vidarbha's fate in the hunt for their third Ranji Trophy win is still in their hands, let's take a look at the last instance of them winning the coveted title:

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Vidarbha won their last Ranji Trophy in the 2018/19 season, beating Saurashtra in the final

Vidarbha completed a fairytale as they clinched the Ranji Trophy title for the first time in 2017-18 by thrashing Delhi in the final in Indore. Under the leadership of Faiz Fazal, they had a blend of youth and experience and beat all odds to win their first Ranji Trophy title.

However, another fabulous season next year meant that Vidarbha's resurgence wasn't just a one-off. The team continued on their set template, and with the mentorship of senior pros like Faiz Fazal, Wasim Jaffer, and Umesh Yadav, they won their second consecutive Ranji Trophy in 2018-19.

After winning Group A, Vidarbha demolished Uttrakhand in the quarterfinals by an innings and 115 runs. They again ran over Kerala on a spicy Wanayad pitch and sealed their spot in the final by an innings and 11 runs.

A mouth-watering clash awaited fans as Vidharbha faced Saurashtra for the final.

Opting to bat first, Vidarbha managed to put up a decent total of 312 runs on the board. This is despite losing their first six wickets within 139 runs. Akshay Karnewar, who was playing his first Ranji season, made a solid 73* while Jaydev Unadkat took three wickets for Saurashtra.

Saurashtra themselves breached the 300-run mark, with Snell Patel scoring a century. Vidarbha's second innings saw no individual score a half-century, but small contributions from multiple batters took their lead to 205.

Chasing 206 in the fourth innings, Saurashtra's batting line-up faltered big time. Left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate was the wrecker-in-chief for Vidarbha, taking a total of 11 wickets in the match, including 6/59 in the last innings.

This victory marked a historic moment for Vidarbha as they successfully defended their Ranji Trophy title, becoming only the sixth team in the history of the tournament to achieve this feat.