Bombay won the first-ever Ranji Trophy competition in 1934–35 with Vijay Merchant starring in the final against Northern India. The title was retained the following season with a victory over Madras in the final. Bombay quickly showed themselves to be one of the strongest teams in the competition with 7 victories in the first 20 seasons of the Ranji Trophy. When playing Maharashtra in a semi-final of the 1948–49 season at Pune, Mumbai became the first and only team in first-class history to score over 600 runs in both innings of the same match – 651 and 714.