Jaydev Unadkat and Chetan Sakariya gave an edge to Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy final against Bengal. The Saurashtra pace duo bundled the hosts out for 174 on the first day of the summit clash on Thursday.
Making a comeback after being released from the Test side, Unadkat (3/44) produced a terrific opening spell of 5-2-7-2, while Sakariya (3/33) contributed to reducing Bengal to 17/4 within just 31 minutes.
Shahbaz Ahmed (69) and wicketkeeper Abhishek Porel (50) saved the team to register a 101-run stand for the seventh wicket and batted for around four hours to frustrate Saurashtra. But they looked with a sense of urgency and took risks as the Bengal innings came to an end with left-arm spinner Dharmendrasingh Jadeja (2/19) scalping two wickets.
At stumps on day one, Saurashtra were 81/2, trailing Bengal by 93 runs. In-form opener Harvik Desai (38) was at the crease with night watchman Sakariya (2). The duo survived some late charges by the Bengal's Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar to bring the deficit under 100.
Abhimanyu Easwaran showed a lack of application and fell for a duck becoming Unadkat's victim. All eyes were on veteran Anustup Majumdar, who was Bengal's leading run-getter this season, to revive the innings. But he played a freak shot against Saurashtra's third seamer Jani as Bengal lost half of their side at the stroke of drinks in the first session. From 34/ 5, Shahbaz took charge of the innings and smashed 11 boundaries.
The final clash is being hosted by Bengal as they secured more points than their fellow finalist in the group stage. The previous time these two teams faced each other in a Ranji final was back in the 2019-2020 edition. Saurashtra had won the tournament and finished as champions, while Bengal had finished second best. Team Bengal eyes a Ranji Trophy victory after more than three decades.
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