Saurashtra’s vice-captain Arpit Vasavada has given his team an edge by playing a brilliant inning on the second day of the Ranji Trophy final and has tightened the grip on Bengal.
Image Credit source: BCCI Photo
The Saurashtra cricket team, captained by Jaydev Unadkat, has strengthened its position against Bengal in the final of the Ranji Trophy. By the end of Friday’s game on the second day of the match, this team has scored 317 runs losing five wickets. With this, Saurashtra has gained a lead of 143 runs over Bengal. The Bengal team was bundled out for just 174 runs in the first innings in the title match being played at the Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata.
Middle-order batsman Arpit Vasavada, who dashed Bengal’s hopes of winning the Ranji Trophy three years ago, did the same again with an unbeaten 81 on the second day of this season’s final here to help Saurashtra win the title. Inching closer to their second title. The Saurashtra vice-captain scored a match-winning first innings lead in the 2020 final at Rajkot with a match-winning 106 and once again made it difficult for Bengal.
Team strengthened by partnership
Vasavada shared a 95-run partnership with Sheldon Jackson for the fifth wicket. Jackson faced 105 balls and got out after scoring 59 runs hitting 10 fours. Chirag Jani is with him till the end of the day’s play, who is playing unbeaten 57 runs. An unbeaten 113-run partnership between Vasavada and Jani gave Saurashtra a century lead in the first innings.
Vasavada, who scored a match-winning double century against Karnataka in the semi-final, continued his form, hitting 11 fours in his 155-ball unbeaten innings. Jani also crossed the boundary 10 times as the duo dominated the final session. .
Bengal’s bowling disappointed
Bengal’s fast bowling attack disappointed a lot and it took 46 minutes for the team to take the first wicket in the morning session. Till then opener Harvik Desai (50 runs) completed his 12th half-century while playing with night watchman Chetan Sakaria (08 runs). Mukesh Kumar dismissed Desai and after eight runs, Ishan Porel sent Sakariya to the pavilion. After this, left-handed batsman Vasavada started tightening the screws by playing a 95-run partnership with Jackson, which took them ahead of Bengal’s score of 174 runs.
Experienced Jackson gave his wicket away after completing his 35th half-century. In an attempt to pull Porel’s ball, he reached the pavilion by giving a catch at fine leg. Then Jani gave good support to Vasavada to increase the difficulty of Bengal and almost confirmed his team’s second Ranji title with an unbeaten century partnership. Jani took full advantage of the lifeline he got on 26 and scored his 13th first-class half-century in 72 balls. The tea break was extended by 20 minutes due to bad light. There was heavy fog at Eden Gardens on the second day, which affected the hosts’ pace attack, who could not control it during the first hour of play.