Irani Cup HIGHLIGHTS, Saurashtra vs RoI, Day 3: Unadkat fifty propels SAU comeback, leads by 92 runs

​Live Score, Day 4​

Unadkat and Parth see off the day for Saurashtra. A tremendous rearguard led by the skipper who walks back unbeaten on 78 off 116 deliveries. Saurashtra in the lead by 92 runs.

A 144-run stand finally comes to an end as Prerak Mankad miscues a pull to mid-wicket off Jayant Yadav.

Prerak Mankad 72(83) ct Umran Malik b J J Yadav

Prerak Mankad reaches half-century off 63 balls. This partnership has withstood some probing spells from the spinners and is also staving off the seamers with the new ball.

Unadkat hooks Umran for two runs and brings up the 100-run partnership for the eight wicket with Prerak Mankad. Short from Umran again and he pulls it to square-leg and Jayant Yadav spills a dolly!

The captain has come out with a sturdy innings. He reaches his fifty off 63 balls with a FOUR off Mukesh Kumar.

And Saurashtra deftly takes a lead with Unadkat and Mankad putting up a swift partnership of 63 from just 65 balls.

Saurabh Kumar to Arpit Vasavada, OUT! Saurabh Kumar tosses one up and Arpit shuffles across for a sweep but misses it. The ball hits the ball plumb in front and the umpire raises his finger. Skipper Jaydev Unadkat is in next.

A V Vasavada 55(127) lbw Saurabh Kumar

Mukesh to Sheldon, OUT! Holes out to the cover fielder. Full ball outside the off-stump and Sheldon lobs it straight to the fielder, a needless stroke at the moment.

Sheldon Jackson 71(117) ct Saurabh Kumar b Mukesh Kumar

Sheldon Jackson and Arpit Vasavada are living up to the reputation of bailing Saurashtra out of trouble. The duo has added 112 runs so far, but with Saurashtra still trailing by 77 runs, the task is far from being over. And Arpit raises his fifty with a cut off Mukesh.

Sheldon Jackson (52*) and Arpit Vasavada (32*) return to the crease with Saurashtra still trailing by 110 runs.

Half-century for Sheldon Jackson off just 68 balls. He also crosses 6000 runs in FC cricket with an average over 50.

Vasavada smacks Jayant Yadav through extra cover for FOUR and brings up the 150. A solid stand here between him and Jackson is delaying the inevitable.

Kuldeep to Jadeja, OUT! Wickets tumbling in quick succession and this could all be wrapped pretty quickly here.

Pujara’s tough homecoming

Kuldeep to Pujara, OUT! There goes the big fish. Undone by the quick bouncer properly this time. Massive jolt for Saurashtra.

C Pujara 1(9) ct K S Bharat b Kuldeep Sen

Kuldeep to Jani, OUT! Fast bowler’s delight! Kuldeep Sen strikes in the second over of the morning with one that whizzes past Chirag Jani’s defence and the off-stump goes cartwheeling. In comes Cheteshwar Pujara.

Chirag Jani 6(22) b Kuldeep Sen

Chirag Jani and D Jadeja at the crease for Saurashtra. Umran Malik to begin proceedings for RoI with the ball.

Mukesh Kumar’s rapid rise, from tennis ball in Kolkata to India’s ODI squad

The left-handed duo of Saurabh Kumar and Chetan Sakariya were in cruise control mode as the duo starred on a gruelling second day’s play of the Irani Cup tie between Saurashtra and Rest of India.

While Sakariya’s five-wicket haul in his maiden Irani outing helped Saurashtra restrict Rest of India to 374 in the first innings, it was Saurabh - the diminutive dynamo from Uttar Pradesh - who created an impact before and after the pacer’s heroics to help RoI lay one hand on the prized silverware.

Thanks to Saurabh’s classy fifty, Rest of India extended the first innings advantage to a more-than-sizeable 276 runs. Towards the end of the day’s proceedings, he claimed the Saurashtra openers to leave the host reeling at 49 for two. Despite the marathon man Cheteshwar Pujara waiting in the dressing room, it will take a Herculean task for Saurashtra to make RoI bat again.

The day was marked with safe bets from both the teams after an action-packed opening day. With RoI having raced to a hefty advantage, Saurashtra resorted to containing tactics against overnight unbeaten batters.

The consistent fifth-stump line in the morning meant neither Hanuma Vihari nor Sarfaraz Khan got freebies to score. And once the runs dried up, it led to Chirag Jani forcing them into false strokes in successive overs. While Vihari poked outside off to edge to slips, Sarfaraz went for a lofted drive to be rapped in front of the wickets.

When Sakariya had K.S. Bharat caught in the slips moments before lunch and the new ball available, trailing at 196 at that point, Saurashtra captain Jaydev Unadkat delayed the new ball. It gave Saurabh and Jayant Yadav ample opportunity to get their eye in and keep the scoreboard flowing.

Saurabh was impressive with his run-scoring ability square off the wicket on either side. By the time he edged an attempted horizontal heave off Sakariya, he had not only crossed his fifty but virtually shut the door on Saurashtra.

Saurashtra openers Snell Patel and Harvik Desai saw off the new ball but then perished to Saurabh’s artistry with his left-arm spin. While Snell, having kept for 110 overs, lofted a flighted ball straight to short-covers, Desai misread the flight to edge on to Bharat’s pads and the ball ballooned to Vihari at slip.

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The scoreboard

Saurashtra - 1st innings: 98

Rest of India - 1st innings: Abhimanyu Easwaran c Vasavada 0, Mayank Agarwal c sub (Vishvaraj) b Sakariya 11, Yash Dhull c Desai b Unadkat 5, Hanuma Vihari c Desai b Jani 82, Sarfaraz Khan lbw b Jani 138, K.S. Bharat c Desai b Sakariya 12, Jayant Yadav c Desai b Sakariya 37, Saurabh Kumar c Patel b Sakariya 55, Mukesh Kumar c Mankad b Sakariya 11, Umran Malik (not out) 16, Kuldeep Sen (run out) 1. Extras (b-2, lb-2, w-2) 6

Total (All out, 110 overs) 374

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-16, 3-18, 4-238, 5-239, 6-264, 7-335, 8-346, 9-373. Saurashtra bowling: Unadkat 24-1-100-2, Sakariya 28-5-93-5, Jani 18-3-58-2, Mankad 13-4-27-0, Bhut 14-3-39-0, Dharmendra 13-3-53-0.

Saurashtra - 2nd innings: Harvik Desai c Vihari b Saurabh 20, Snell Patel c Sarfaraz b Saurabh 16, Chirag Jani (batting) 3, Dharmendra Jadeja (batting) 8. Extras (nb-2) 2

Total (for 2 wkts, 17 overs) 49

Fall of wicket: 1-34, 2-38.

Rest of India bowling: Mukesh 5-3-6-0, Sen 4-0-22-0, Umran 4-1-21-0, Saurabh 4-4-0-2.