Saurashtra wins its first-ever Ranji Trophy title
March 13, 2020
Rajkot: Saurashtra has won its maiden Ranji Trophy title today on the back of first innings lead against Bengal in the final played at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium.
This is Saurashtra’s first-ever win in the history of India’s premier domestic competition. Saurashtra had posted 425 in their first innings riding on a brilliant century from Arpit Vasavada and gritty half-centuries from Avi Barot, Vishvaraj Jadeja and Cheteshwar Pujara.
They then restricted Bengal on 381, thus taking a crucial lead of 44 runs on the final day of the match. Dharmendrasinh Jadeja was the pick of the bowlers as he scalped three wickets, while skipper Jaydev Unadkat and Prerak Mankad picked two wickets each.
In their second innings, Saurashtra put up 105 runs for the loss of four wickets in the 34 overs they batted on the final day before the players shook hands and agreed on a mutual draw.
Saurashtra wins its first-ever Ranji Trophy today against Bengal in final played at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium. Saurashtra posted 425 in first innings with a century by Arpit Vasavada, half-centuries by Barot, Vishvaraj and Cheteshwar Pujarapic.twitter.com/RJ1kcDCN7R
— DeshGujarat (@DeshGujarat) March 13, 2020
According to the rules of the tournament, if the final match is heading towards the draw, then whoever manages to take the first-innings lead is declared as the winner.
During the course of the game, Unadkat also broke a 21-year-old record as he became the fast bowler with most wickets in a single Ranji season. He picked up 65 wickets in the season and snapped the record which was previously held by Karnataka’s Dodda Ganesh. The Karnataka pacer had bagged 62 wickets in 1998-99 season.
It's moment of brilliance.
Congratulations to team Saurashtra for winning the #RanjiTrophy.
— Vijay Rupani (@vijayrupanibjp) March 13, 2020
After the match, Pujara — who is India’s batting mainstay when it comes to Test cricket — said: “It’s a great feeling and we are in a different world altogether. At the start of the season, we believed that we could win. Last season, we lost in the final, we had a chat after that and credit goes to the boys.
“The best thing about this team is most of them have played cricket together for a long time. Everyone contributes at sometime or the other. Not many state teams play as a team. It’s a nice unit and whenever I am here, I always feel comfortable. We are working towards one process and we got the title today.”
United we stand. 🌟 Keep it up team Saurashtra for an epic season and an outstanding finals! Champions..🏆🎉 #Ranji pic.twitter.com/U8J4Vao3GE
— cheteshwar pujara (@cheteshwar1) March 13, 2020
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