The second day of the Ranji Trophy group B match between Saurashtra and Maharashtra belonged to Jaydev Niranjan Shah. Feasting on the featherbed that the Dr. P.V.G. Raju Sports Complex surface turned out to be, the left-hander cracked a fluent double century (217, 25 x 4, 5 x 6), outdoing the 193 he compiled against Rajasthan at this very ground and eclipsing his personal best of 195.
Just after Chirag Jani (100 not out, 10 x 4, 2 x 6) became the side’s third centurion of the innings, Saurashtra declared at 657 for eight. When stumps were drawn, Maharashtra had replied with 18 without loss.
In the first hour, Mohsin Sayyad (four for 90) claimed the prized scalp of Cheteshwar Pujara. Until then, showing no trace of any weakness, the Indian top order batsman swatted the pacemen past point with aplomb. The assurance with which he took on the attack revealed not a chink in his armour.
One rare lapse, given that Pujara is renowned for concentration spanning hours and sometimes days, cost him dear. If bounce seemed to be the only ally for the bowlers on a strip heavily biased in favour of the batsmen, Sayyad extracted whatever bite he could from the surface and sped one through. Slightly taken off guard, Pujara snicked to stumper Vishant More, the offering too good for the wiry wicket-keeper to miss.
Meanwhile Jaydev Shah grew in strength on the placid track, punishing every flawed delivery with severity. With no threat perceived from the pitch but knowing the opposition’s penchant for big totals, the Saurashtra skipper went about the task of building his side’s innings in right earnest, escorting it past the 300, 400, 500 and 600 marks.
Shortly before the last mentioned milestone, Shah registered his 150 and celebrated the occasion with an on-driven six , which also took his team past 500. Arpit Vasavada, who had a chanceless 46, committed hara-kiri after lunch. The left-hander struck Swapnil Gugale’s gentle off-spin to mid off Naushad Shaikh and set out for a single that simply wasn’t there. Non-striker Shah didn’t budge and Shaikh’s accurate throw left stumper More with enough time to dislodge the bails.
It was back-breaking work for the bowlers where little could be done to limit the leather hunt, the batathon continuing unabated. The scoring rate surged after 500, even Jani clearing the boundary once, just as his captain did five times.
Shah, the longest serving leader of a side in the championship, reached the second landmark with half the tally coming from boundaries. Apparently invincible on the off-side, he fell driving Shrikanth Mundhe to extra cover Chirag Khurana.
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