Ranji Trophy 2019-20: Final, Day 2: Saurashtra vs Bengal – Arpit Vasavada’s conversion rate, Cheteshwar Pujara's maiden fifty in a Ranji final and more stats

Saurashtra tried to bat Bengal out of the match with their dead batting as the scored only 178 runs for the loss of three wickets on the 2nd day. Cheteshwar Pujara (66), who retired hurt on day 1, resumed his innings at the start of the day along with Arpit Vasavada (106). The duo added 142 runs for the 6th wicket in a marathon stand of 63.1 overs as Bengal went wicketless in the first two sessions.

The centurion Vasavada was stumped trying for a big shot to put an end to his 287-ball stay. Pujara batted 237 balls for his 66 that included five fours. Cheteshwar and Prerak Mankad (0) were trapped in front by Mukesh Kumar in the space of 5 balls during the last hour. The home team ended the day at 384/8 in the 160 overs of play possible thus far.

All the statistical highlights from a tiring 2nd day’s play for Bengal with the ball:

4 – Arpit Vasavada struck four centuries in this Ranji Trophy season thus far; the joint-most hundreds for any player in this Ranji Trophy season. As many as seven players including Vasavada struck four hundreds in this tournament. He is also the only player from Saurashtra with four tons in this season.

4 – Vasavada converted all his four fifties into centuries during this season. Only two players scored more than five centuries in a Ranji Trophy season with 100% conversion rate. VVS Laxman in 1999/00 season converted all his 8 fifties into hundreds while Parag Dogra covered all his 5 fifties into tons during the 2012/13 season. For Saurashtra, Cheteshwar Pujara in 2008/09 season also ended up with a hundred on four occasions where he got past 50-run mark.

66 – The 66-run knock by Cheteshwar Pujara in this game is his first 50+ score while batting at No.6 or a lower position in first-class cricket. Pujara batted at No.6 or a lower position on 8 instances before this game in his FC career where his highest score was only 39* while batting at No.9 against Orissa in 2014/15.

66 – Cheteshwar Pujara scored a fifty for the first time in a Ranji Trophy final. Across four innings during the Ranji finals before this game, Pujara aggregated 32 runs at an average of 8. His scores in the Ranji Trophy finals now read 4, 27, 1, 0 and 66.

760 – Arpit Vasavada has aggregated 760 runs in this Ranji Trophy season thus far at an average of 58.46. These are the 2nd most runs by a player for Saurashtra in this tournament behind Sheldon Jackson’s 797 runs. Overall, Vasavada’s 760 runs are the 11th most runs scored by any player in Ranji Trophy 2019-20.