Ravindra Jadeja stole the show for Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy, helping them squash Delhi by ten wickets inside two days in Rajkot. Jadeja, the bowler, came to the fore for his state side unlike his fellow India teammates (for their respective teams), who suffered contrasting fates. The left-arm spinner returned with 12 wickets across both innings, conceding 104 runs.
He picked a five-for in the first innings (5/66) before tearing into Delhi’s middle order with a stunning seven-wicket haul (7/38) in the next.
After reducing Virat Kohli-less Delhi to 188 in the first innings, Saurashtra scored 271 in reply, with gloveman Harvik Desai hitting a gritty 93. Delhi’s second innings was worse than the first, with the touring team getting all out on a mere 94, giving the hosts just 12 runs to win, which they did with ten wickets in hand.
Of all the seven wickets he picked in the second innings, Jadeja removed his Team India mate Rishabh Pant (on 17). Even with the bat in hand, Jadeja impressed, scoring 38 in the first innings.
Who shone, and who failed?
Meanwhile, after the BCCI laid out a new ten-point policy mandate for all centrally contracted players (not picked for any India squad), everyone is now supposed to feature for their respective state teams, and those missing should have an unavoidable reason for that.
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Indian captain Rohit Sharma, openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, and middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer, among others, featured for their state teams in the ongoing Ranji Trophy. Unlike Jadeja, everyone fared poorly. Rohit and Jaiswal managed 28 and 26 runs, respectively, against Jammu & Kashmir in the second innings, Iyer got out on 17. All three fell for a single-digit score in their first outing.
However, out-of-favour India all-rounder Shardul Thakur slammed a hundred in the second innings, scoring a brilliant unbeaten 113, with Mumbai leading J&K by 188 runs.
Elsewhere, Punjab opener Shubman Gill failed in the first innings against Karnataka, getting out cheaply on just four. After the hosts made light work of
Punjab in their first innings, Gill remains unbeaten on seven at stumps on day two.
(With inputs from agencies)