Jaydev Unadkat loses his cool in Ranji Trophy final, breaks middle stump during his follow-through

The caravan of the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy final between Saurashtra and Bengal is in full flow with both sides going hammer and tongs at each other in a bid to earn the rights of being called the champions of India’s premier first-class competition.

And, such are the stakes attached to the encounter that tempers have flayed. And, we saw that to the hilt, during the morning session of the fourth day at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium.

Saurashtra skipper Jaydev Unadkat- seemingly frustrated with his sides’ inability to dislodge the fourth-wicket stand between Sudip Chatterjee and Wriddhiman Saha– proceeded to break the middle-stump after he threw the ball towards the batsman during his follow-through in the penultimate over of the pre-lunch session.

Unadkat’s actions came after Sudip Chatterjee and Wriddhiman Saha frustrated the Saurashtra’s bowling unit throughout the morning session with a gritty fourth-wicket-stand. Saha, in particular, was edgy in the morning session. Prior to the incident, the Indian wicket-keeper was dropped by Vishvaraj Jadeja off Unadkat’s bowling.

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Wriddhiman Saha and Sudip Chatterjee lead Bengal’s fightback

Post that, Saurashtra opted for a caught-behind review for Saha, but the replays clearly displayed that the latter bat had hit the ground.

Saha and Sudip Chatterjee ensured that Bengal went unscathed in the morning session and at the time of writing were 3-225; 200 runs still in arrears of Saurashtra‘s first-innings total of 425.

Earlier, Saurashtra batted first and on the back of a gritty hundred from Arpit Vasavada [106] and half-centuries from Avi Barot [54], Vishvaraj Jadeja [54] and Cheteshwar Pujara posted a commanding first-innings total on a track that has come under stinging criticism from Bengal Head Coach Arun Lal.

“Very poor wicket. The board has to look into things like these. The ball is not coming up. This is not good for cricket. The ball is not getting off, it is dusting, reversing. Very poor,” Arun Lal had said after the first days play.

However, pitch curator countered Lal’s comment with a sharp rebuttal, terming it as ‘poor misjudgment’

“It is a rather hasty and poor judgment by the Bengal Coach and it may not be beneficial for their own players when the coach makes a statement like this” Mahendra Rajdev said.