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Saurashtra booked their place in the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy 2022-23 season after a thrilling 71-run victory over Punjab on the final day of the quarterfinal match played at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot, on Saturday.
A brilliant all-round performance by Parth Bhut with his 111* and 51 along with a match-haul of 8/203 helped Saurashtra to secure a crucial win despite conceding a 128-run lead in the first innings. He was well supported by left-arm spinner Dharmendrasinh Jadeja who took 8/165 in the match.
Chasing 252 in the second innings, Punjab needed 200 runs on the final day with eight wickets in hand. However, they found themselves in a bit of trouble with Siddarth Kaul getting caught on 10 off Bhut early in the day.
Despite Pukhraj Mann holding one end with his gritty 42 off 119 balls and skipper Mandeep Singh scoring 45 off 128, the spin-bowling duo of Bhut and Dharmendrasinh took full advantage of the pitch helping the spinners on the final day.
Bhut grabbed 5/89 from 33 overs, while Dharmendrasinh picked 3/56 in 38.1 overs as Punjab were bundled out for 180 in 89.1 overs despite taking a 128-run first-innings lead.
Electing to bat first, Saurashtra lost opener Harvik Desai on a duck in the first over, but Snell Patel (70 off 131) and Vishvaraj Jadeja (28 off 56) added a 77-run partnership for the second wicket to get them going.
However, leg-spinner Mayank Markande was impressive with the ball picking 4/84, while right-arm pacer Baltej Singh took 3/60 to restrict Saurashtra to 147/8 in 45.1 overs.
At that point, Saurashtra needed someone from the lower order to step up and get them to a fighting total in the first innings. Bhut, who came into bat at No. 9, recorded his maiden first-class century and helped his side get over the 300-mark.
He first stitched 61 runs with Chetan Sakariya (22) for the ninth wicket and then added a 95-run partnership for the tenth wicket with No. 11 Yuvrajsinh Dodiya (17) as Saurashtra managed to score a total of 303/10 from 87 overs in the first innings.
In reply, Punjab openers Prabhsimran Singh (126 off 158) and Naman Dhir (131 off 180) scored quick centuries to add a 212-run opening stand within the first 50 overs. Skipper Mandeep also scored a fifty with his 91 off 206 to help Punjab take a first-inning lead of 128 runs before left-arm spinner Dharmendrasinh picked up 5/109.
In the second innings, Saurashtra were once again in trouble as pacer Vinay Chaudhary (7/179) ran through their top order to reduce them to 60/4 in 22.5 overs. However, Saurashtra fought back with captain Arpit Vasavada (77 off 148) and Chirag Jani (77 off 191) adding 140 runs for the fifth wicket to take them to 200/6.
After Vasavada was caught and bowled off Chaudhary, Dharmendrasinh and Jani too fell in quick time as Saurashtra saw themselves at 235/7 in 80 overs with a lead of just 107 runs. In the end, Prerak Mankad (88 off 137) and Bhut (51 off 68) helped them recover before ending their innings at 379/10 in 120.1 overs to post a target of 252 runs.
While chasing the total, Punjab’s chase never really got off and they lost wickets at regular intervals with Saurashtra’s spin-bowling department wrapping up the win. Together the Bhut-Dharmendrasinh duo shared 71.1 overs of spin bowling between them out of the 89.1 overs bowled in the second innings.
The remaining 18 overs were bowled by Yuvrajsinh who took 2/35 in the second innings in addition to his 2/71 from 17 overs in the first innings.
Parth Bhut was awarded the Player of the Match for his 111* off 155 and 51 off 68 along with 3/114 and 5/89.
The other three semi-finalists of the ongoing Ranji Trophy season are Bengal, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, who have already qualified for the semi-finals after winning their respective quarter-final matches.
While Bengal faces Madhya Pradesh in the 1st semi-final at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore, Saurashtra will face Karnataka in the 2nd semi-final match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, starting from Wednesday, February 8.
Brief scores: Saurashtra 303/10 (Parth Bhut 111*; Mayank Markande 4-84) & 379/10 (Prerak Mankad 88; Vinay Choudhary 7-179) beat Punjab 431/10 (Naman Dhir 131; Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 5-109) & 180/10 (Mandeep Singh 45; Parth Bhut 5-89) by 71 runs.
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