Jaydev Unadkat’s Six-Wicket Haul Helps Saurashtra Win Ranji Trophy

Kolkata: Saurashtra defeated Bengal by nine wickets to win their second Ranji Trophy title today (February 19) at the Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata.

Chasing a target of just 12 runs, Saurashtra lost an early wicket of Jay Gohil for a duck. Harvik Desai and Vishvarajsinh Jadeja, chased down the target in 2.4 overs. While Vishvarajsinh struck two fours in his 10* (off 7 deliveries), it was Harvik who hit the winning runs, a boundary off Mukesh Kumar to seal a win for his team.

Akash Deep picked up the only wicket of the innings.

Earlier in the day, Bengal resumed their innings at 169/4, trailing by 61 runs with Shahbaz and Manoj Tiwari batting. The duo put on a 48-run stand to take Bengal close to the 200-run mark. But, Saurashtra got their breakthrough at the right time when Arpit Vasavada ran out Shahbaz for 27.

Saurashtra capitalised on this moment as Jaydev Unadkat dismissed Tiwary for 68. And, in the very next over, Chetan Sakariya picked up the wicket of Abhishek Porel.

Unadkat was in red hot form with the ball, as he picked up the last three wickets in quick succession, as Bengal were bowled out for 241. Unadkat registered figures of 22.4-1-85-6.

In the first innings, Saurashtra were all out for 404, with Vasavada top scoring with 81 while Chirag Jani added 60. Bengal’s Mukesh Kumar picked up a four-wicket haul, while Akash and Ishan Porel took three wickets each.

Bengal were bowled out for 174 in the first innings, with Shahbaz Ahmed top-scoring with 69 and Abhishek Porel adding 50. Unadkat and Chetan Sakariya bagged three wickets each.

Arpit Vasavada, who was adjudged the Player of the Tournament for amassing 907 runs in 10 matches at an average of 75.58 said that he is happy to perform when the team needs him.

“There is no secret. When the team needed me, I performed, and I feel lucky for that. My strength is my defensive technique and I focus on that and don’t go for too many shots. Whenever needed, everyone did well and that is why we won. We were confident, last time I also performed well and this time I performed very well in the final, so I am very happy that whenever the team needed me, I stood tall,” said Vasavada in the post-match presentation.