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Arpit Vasavada leads strong reply as Saurashtra take firm control
Four batters crossed the 50-run mark for Saurashtra as visitors take 143-run lead over Bengal in Ranji Trophy final
Saurashtra rode on fifties from Harvik Desai, Sheldon Jackson, Arpit Vasavada, and Chirag Jani to gain a stranglehold on the Ranji Trophy final against Bengal after losing just three wickets on the second day while taking a 143-run lead.
Vasavada (81*) and Jani (57*) have added 113 unbeaten runs for the sixth wicket. On a day Saurashtra gave few chances, Shahbaz Ahmed will regret dropping Jani at fine-leg just after tea. The visitors raced away from there, adding 79 runs in an extended post-tea session after bad light held up play for around 15 minutes. With three more days to go, Saurashtra will surely look to bat once and bat big while nothing short of a miracle will save Bengal the blushes from here.
Touted as one the best bowling attacks in domestic cricket, Bengal were insipid with the semi-new ball as Saurashtra punished them for not hitting the right lengths. The first breakthrough for Bengal in the first session came in the form of Desai’s wicket when Mukesh Kumar trapped him low with a ball that moved back into him.
Ishan Porel then cleaned up nightwatchman Chetan Sakariya, beating his outside edge with a seam-up delivery. That brought Sheldon Jackson, who had hit a brilliant hundred against Karnataka in the semi-final, and Vasavada, who had hit a double century in the same game, together. It was Vasavada who had snuffed out Bengal’s title hopes in 2019-20 with a hundred in the Rajkot final. This time too he looked in ominous form, caressing Ishan through the covers off the second ball he faced.
Almost taking off from where he had left in Bangalore, Jackson started flaying the bowling in what is usually the best time for batters at Eden. Together, they added 95 runs in 164 balls, 56 of them coming after lunch. Against the run of play, Jackson fell for 59 after mistiming a pull to deep square leg. That prompted Vasavada to drop anchor as he got down to blunting out Bengal’s bowling. Soon, Bengal's shoulders began to drop as Akash Deep and Mukesh failed to prise out a few miserly overs. Akash often bowled on the pads and was guilty of overstepping. Porel was inconsistent with his lines, allowing Jani to settle down quickly. Once Ahmed spilled his catch at deep square leg, it was pretty much one-way traffic from there.
For a side that had overtaken 407 to score 527 in the semi-finals, 174 was not exactly a challenging total. But Saurashtra were thoroughly clinical about it, from altering their approach according to the session to batting cautiously towards the end of session in tricky conditions. This threw Bengal in disarray, even after they had taken the second new ball. Reviews were wasted in desperation and chances have been dropped in what has been a pretty bland bowling display so far. Bengal coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla still tried to sound positive about their chances. “We still have three days to go, so anything can happen. Yes, we leaked some vital runs, but our aim will be to get them out as early as possible tomorrow.”
