Ranji Trophy: Unadkat, Sakariya stay put to deny Mumbai an outright win

Cheteshwar Pujara's dismissal threatened to change the complexion of the game as Shams Mulani sliced through the lower middle-order but Jaydev Unadkat and Chetan Sakariya had other plans.

Jaydev Unadkat (in pic) and Chetan Sakariya denied Mumbai an outright win.

A dogged rearguard effort from Saurashtra skipper Jaydev Unadkat and Chetan Sakariya denied Mumbai an outright win in the Group D Ranji Trophy match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday. Prithvi Shaw's men earned three points due to their first-innings lead in the drawn game while Saurashtra pocketed one.

At 341/9, with Saurashtra's slender lead, Mumbai seemed set for a win, riding on Shams Mulani's seven-wicket haul. But the tide turned when Sakariya top-edged a sweep against Mulani, and the ball went high enough for three fielders to converge under it. The miscommunication between Mulani, Dhawal Kulkarni and Mohit Avasthi meant Sakariya survived. Sakariya and Unadkat then braved a probing spin attack and close-in catchers to put on a 31-run 104-ball last-wicket stand to end on 372/9.

Resuming at their overnight score of 105/0, the top-order grit of Snell Patel and Harvik Desai thwarted Mumbai.

READ|

Mumbai began with the medium-fast duo of Dhawal and Avasthi, and both were guilty of bowling too full to find swing. Snell and Harvik picked up boundaries via drives down the ground.

Mulani eventually broke the 163-run opening stand, with Harvik getting caught at slip for 62. In the next over, Snell lobbed a simple catch to cover on 98.

That brought Cheteshwar Pujara to the crease, who in the company of Vishvarajsinh Jadeja, began the repair work. With an initially packed off-side field against spin, Pujara productively employed the sweep shot against Mulani and collected two boundaries behind square. When the quicks bowled short and wide, he either punched off the backfoot or carved the ball to third man fence.

Pujara was particularly severe on off-spinner Tanush Kotian. He cut, pulled and drove with disdain, stepping out with refreshing freedom. Pujara swat-pulled a Kotian half-tracker over deep square for six before collecting a hat-trick of boundaries. He entered the 90s with a late cut for four but just when he seemed destined for a 100, was given out lbw not offering a shot to a Mulani arm ball.

Pujara's dismissal threatened to change the complexion of the game as Mulani sliced through the lower middle-order. But Unadkat and Sakariya had other plans.