Ranji Trophy 2019-20: Final: Saurashtra vs Bengal – Jaydev Unadkat's record season, Sheldon Jackson's achievements and more stats

Saurashtra put an end to their trophy drought by winning the Ranji Trophy after taking the first-innings lead in the final against Bengal. The home team batted 171.5 overs to pile on 425 in the first-innings on what seemed to be a flattish pitch.

Bengal, in reply, stood 71 runs behind Saurashtra’s total with four wickets in hand ahead of the 5th day. However, Saurashtra skipper Jaydev Unadkat was involved in three of the four wickets that fell on the final day morning to seal the title for their team.

All the statistical highlights from the Ranji Trophy 2019-20 final held in Rajkot:

1 – Saurashtra won their 3rd Ranji Trophy title but the first since named as Saurashtra in 1950-51 season. They made it to the finals of the Ranji Trophy three times across the last seven editions but ended up losing every time. Saurashtra as Nawanagar in 1936-37 and as Western India in 1943-44 won the Ranji Trophy titles; both by defeating Bengal in the final.

3 – Sheldon Jackson scored more than 800 runs in a Ranji Trophy season for the 3rd time. He is now only the 3rd player to amassed 800+ runs in an edition of Ranji on three or more occasions. Abhinav Mukund scored 800+ runs in four Ranji seasons while Vinod Kambli, Ajay Sharma and Wasim Jaffer also amassed 800+ during three seasons.

4 – Bengal ended up as runners-up for their 4th consecutive time where they made it to the final. Their last title win came in the 1989-90 season where they faced Delhi in the final. Bengal ended up runners up in 1993-94, 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons in these 29 years.

67 – Jaydev Unadkat has picked up 67 wickets in this Ranji Trophy thus far; the most by a pace bowler in a Ranji season. Unadkat’s 67 wickets are now the 2nd most by any player in a single edition of Ranji Trophy. Ashutosh Aman of Bihar picked 68 wickets during the 2018-19 season.

76 – Number of wickets for Jaydev Unadkat in this 2019-20 season in first-class matches. The left-arm pacer picked up nine wickets in the Duleep Trophy before the 67 wickets in the Ranji Trophy. Among Indian pacers, only Kapil Dev (79 wickets in 1979-80) picked more FC wickets in an Indian season than Unadkat.

105 – Unadkat claimed as many 105 wickets across all formats in the 2019-20 season; the joint-most professional wickets by a pacer in an Indian season. Vinay Kumar also picked up 105 wickets during the 2013-14 Indian season.

809 – Sheldon Jackson is one of the nine players and only player from Saurashtra to aggregate 800 runs. His 809 runs are the 4th most runs scored by any player in a Ranji Trophy season for Saurashtra. Cheteshwar Pujara amassed 906 runs during the 2008-09 edition while Sheldon himself scored 853 and 819 runs respectively in 2018-19 and 2014-15.

2011-12 – The last instance of a Ranji Trophy final ending in a draw was during the 2011-12 season between Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. The previous seven finals of the tournament finished with an outright result.