JAIPUR:
Saurashtra
’s seasoned campaigners form the core of the team, and in demanding situations they can be easily relied upon. While it was
Cheteshwar Pujara
and
Sheldon Jackson
in the first innings, it was the latter along with
Arpit Vasavada
in the second innings who rescued their team from a precarious 74/4 to 174/4 on Day Three in a Group A
Ranji Trophy
game against Rajasthan at the SMS Stadium on Sunday.
On a deteriorating pitch and amid constant appeals from Rajasthan spinners, Vasavada notched up unbeaten 53 and Jackson stood at 48 not out, as the visitors took 245 runs lead when the stumps were called.
Resuming from an overnight score of 159/6, Rajasthan added another 98 runs, courtesy tailender Ajay Kookna’s breezy knock of 44 off 69 balls. But the deficit of 71 runs could not be covered.
Rajasthan coach Anshu Jain rued the failure of not getting the first innings lead, but he has high expectations from his team. “Saurashtra has taken the first innings lead and they have an edge over us, but one entire day’s play is left and we are hopeful,” he said after the match
What will be Saurashtra’s plan for the fourth day? “We won’t say we are looking at a certain target to set. Rather we will look at the time - how many overs we can bowl. But let me be clear here that we are not playing for a draw. This is a crucial match for us and we have to win it,” said Saurashtra coach Niraj Odedra.
Talking about the 100-run partnership between Jackson, 37, and Vasavada, 35, their coach said, “These two are seasoned campaigners. They have been performing well for Saurashtra for the last many years now. I was expecting this sort of batting from them. Sheldon scored a hundred in the first innings and hopefully tomorrow Arpit will also have a big score to his name.”
Odedra is happy about how the defending champions are currently placed in the match. “Rajasthan got 90 something in the morning, but I was not expecting more than 50-60. We were trying to get those last four wickets as quickly as possible so that we could get a bigger lead. But anyway, we are still in a good position. We are in the driver’s seat at the moment,” he added.
English (US) ·