Saurashtra created history on Friday (13th March) after winning their maiden Ranji Trophy. In the tight final of the Ranji Trophy 2019/20 at Rajkot, Saurashtra achieved the first innings lead against Bengal on the last day of the match and secured their first Ranji Trophy.
After winning the toss, Saurashtra captain Jaydev Unadkat decided to bat first. While they scored 425 runs in the first innings, there was no assured result till the day four. But Saurashtra bowled out Bengal for 381 runs in the morning session of the fifth day and secured the trophy for gaining the first innings lead of 44 runs. At the end of the match, the champions scored 105/4 in their second innings, and they had the lead of 149 runs.
Saurashtra captain Jaydev Unadkat played a massive role on the fifth day
Bengal started the day five on 354/6 while they were 72 runs behind to get the first innings lead and secure the trophy. But the Saurashtra players superbly handled the morning session and secured their historic trophy.
Skipper Jaydev Unadkat led the team from the front on the final day as he took two wickets and he was also successful in making a smart run-out which counted hugely for his team. The most wicket-taker in this season, Unadkat (67 wickets), didn’t take a wicket in this game ahead of the final day.
Though Arnab Nandi (40*) fought till the end, Bengal just fell short of winning their first Ranji Trophy in last 30 years (last time won in 1989/90). In that innings, Sudip Chatterjee (81), Wriddhiman Saha (64) and Anustup Majumdar (63) played some crucial knocks.
Among the Saurashtra bowers, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja was the most successful bowlers in that innings as he had the bowling figures of 52-14-114-3.
In the first innings of this match, Arpit Vasavada (106) scored the crucial century, and later he was awarded the Player of the Match. In that same innings, opener and wicketkeeper-batsman Avi Barot scored 54 runs while Vishvaraj Jadeja also scored 54 runs.
Despite the illness, Cheteshwar Pujara played a crucial knock of 66 runs in the first innings of this match. However, he was not available for the game at later of the game due to his illness.
The last day of this tournament final was run behind the close door in the wake of COVID-19 or coronavirus outbreak.