Ranji Trophy 2019-20: Final, Saurashtra vs Bengal – Day 3: Review

After Saurashtra resumed their play at 384/4, Bengal’s Akash Deep struck on the delivery of the day as he showed the exit door to Chirag Jani. It was looking like Saurashtra won’t be able to go past the 400-run mark but the last wicket duo of Jaydev Unadkat and DharmendraSinh Jadeja stitched a 38-run gritty stand and steered their side to a total of 425 runs. Akash Deep emerged as Bengal’s talisman amid the toil as he scalped a four-wicket haul alongside Shahbaz Ahmed, who dismissed Unadkat and completed his three-fer to clean up Saurashtra’s first innings.

Coming on to Bengal’s first innings, the Abhimanyu Easwaran-led side suffered an early blow after both the openers were sent back to the pavilion with the scoreboard reflecting 35/2 at the end of fifteenth over. Easwaran was trapped by Prerak Mankad while Dharmendrasinh Jadeja removed Gharami five minutes before the lunch.

Post the lunch, the experienced duo of Manoj Tiwary and Sudip Chatterjee steadied Bengal’s ship and endured a wicket-less session on Day 3 of the Ranji Trophy 2019-20 final. It was looking like Bengal wouldn’t lose further wickets before the culmination of the day but Chirag Jani trapped Manoj Tiwari to plunge misery on the Bengal side. Tiwary had to return back to the pavilion after scoring a gritty 35 off 116 deliveries which involved 2 fours.

Bengal’s Sudip Chatterjee stuck to the crease at the end of Day 3

The trio Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Prerak Mankad and Chirag Jani scalped a wicket each to keep Bengal’s run-flow in check. It was surprising to witness Saurashtra skipper Jaydev Unadkat going wicketless on Day 2 but the prolific player is expected to leave his mark and wreak havoc on Bengal’s batting force on the succeeding day.

Sudip Chatterjee remained unbeaten and stayed glued to the crease at the end of the day as he stitched a steady 47-run knock coupled with 5 fours. Wriddhiman Saha, who was slotted back in the side for the final, also stuck to the crease and knitted 4 runs in 43 deliveries until the stumps on Day 3. Bengal now trail by 291 runs as they amassed a total of 134/3 at the completion of the third day.

Brief Scores

Saurashtra 1st innings: 425/10 (Arpit Vasavada 106; Akash Deep 4/98)

Bengal 1st innings: 134/3 (Sudip Chatterjee 47; Prerak Mankad 1/7)