Saurashtra registered their maiden Ranji Trophy win in opposition to Mumbai as they thrashed a star-studded line-up by 48 runs on the ultimate day on Friday. On the fourth day of the third spherical match, Mumbai wanted 62 runs to win, whereas Saurashtra wanted two wickets on the MCA-BKC floor.
And as play resumed on Friday, Saurashtra took solely half-hour to select up the remaining two wickets and went house with six factors. This is Saurashtra’s first win of the season after drawing their first two matches and are third within the desk with 12 factors behind Mumbai (13) and Maharashtra (13).
Former Saurashtra participant and now the workforce’s coach Jayesh Odedara was confused as he couldn’t imagine that his workforce had crushed Mumbai at house regardless of lacking Jaydev Unadkat and Cheteshwar Pujara. To put into perspective what this victory meant to Odedra, on the finish of the sport he went onto the pitch and took a pinch of clay and put it in his pocket.
Later within the day, Odedra turned emotional whereas talking concerning the particular victory. “It is a really emotional, particular second. We talked about it yesterday (Thursday), we tried to get knowledge from the Saurashtra Cricket Association as properly. To the perfect of my data, no Saurashtra workforce has outright gained in opposition to Mumbai. Haven’t gained. It was a extremely good workforce effort the place everybody contributed. We have been lacking our star gamers Pujara and Unadkat however we had the arrogance and unity. I nonetheless cannot recover from it I additionally took some soil from the wicket (right here) as a result of I do know whenever you win in opposition to Mumbai in Mumbai it’s a huge factor.
For Saurashtra, off-spinner Yuvraj Singh Dodiya and left-arm spinner Dharmendrasinh Jadeja picked up a wicket every within the day which ended early. With a brand new 12 months on the horizon, it appeared like the proper reward for the Saurashtra facet that gained their maiden Ranji Trophy title within the 2019/20 season earlier than profitable the Vijay Hazare Trophy final month.
“We’re not a lot of beer drinkers, but I’m definitely going to celebrate by popping open a bottle of champagne!”
When play started, Mumbai began as favorites with a robust batting line-up together with the highest 4 of Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav and Ajinkya Rahane. However, on a turn-taking pitch, his expertise have been examined by the Saurashtra assault, which had three spinners of their ranks. Mumbai, nonetheless, relied closely on their left-arm spinner Shams Mulani.
However, it was Saurashtra’s batting depth that made the essential distinction within the recreation to shock Mumbai in their very own yard. Mumbai coach Amol Majumdar stated it was a very good wake-up name for the workforce, particularly with 4 video games left within the league. Mumbai shall be with out Suryakumar for the three rounds of fixtures attributable to India commitments. Mumbai will subsequent face Tamil Nadu within the CCI from January 3.
“We have played some good cricket in the last year and a half, but this (the defeat) is a good wake-up call,” Majumdar stated.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
