Unadkat, Sakariya rattle Bengal; hand Saurashtra edge in Ranji Trophy final

Bengals dream of winning a Ranji Trophy after more than three decades suffered a setback as leftarm Saurashtra pace duo of Jaydev Unadkat and Chetan Sakariya rattled the home teams toporder to bundle them out for a paltry 174 on the opening day of the summit clash here on ThursdayIt would have been more embarrassing for Bengal but spin allrounder Shahbaz Ahmed 69 and wicketkeeper Abhishek Porel 50 saved the hosts from the blushes with gritty halfcenturiesThe duo showed the way for the toporder in a 101run stand for the seventh wicket and batted close to four hours to frustrate SaurashtraBut they looked in a sense of urgency and took risks as Saurashtra wrapped up Bengal innings with leftarm spinner Dharmendrasingh Jadeja 219 scalping two wicketsAt close on day one Saurashtra were 81 for 2 trailing Bengal by 93 runsInform opener Harvik Desai 38 who has more than 600 runs this season was at the crease with night watchman Sakariya 2The duo survived some late charge by Bengal pace duo of Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar to bring the deficit under 100With their leading rungetter of the season Aprit Vasavada 826 runs at 7506 yet to come along with the prolific duo of Sheldon Jackson 529 and Chirag Jani 509 Saurashtra would definitely fancy a first innings leadBengal bowlers looked pedestrian at start but Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar took some purchase in the fag end of the day to dismiss Jay Gohil 6 and Vishvaraj Jadeja 25 respectivelyAlso Read Bengal favourites but must not get carried awayMaking a comeback after being released from the Test side Unadkat 344 produced a terrific opening spell of 5272 while Sakariya 333 made the ball talk in initially to reduce Bengal to 17 for 4 inside 31 minutesBengal lost half of their side at the score of 34 for 5 in one hour and 13 minutes with third seamer Chirag Jani 233 also making good use of the lively Eden surfaceAfter winning a good toss on a green top Unadkat along with fellow leftarm pacer Sakariya set the tone in the morning session dismissing their topfour batters inside 17 runsSurviving the firsthours play when the ball swings viciously on the Eden strip was always going to be key and Bengal are wellversed with the home conditionsBut it was the visitors who exploited the conditions well bowling a probing line that teased the batters offstumpThe need of the first hour was to show some patience and judge the ball well but the topfour Bengal batters went on with premediated shots and lasted just 29 ballsAbhimanyu Easwaran showed sheer lack of application and fell for a duck becoming Unadkats victim in the fifth ball of the dayThe spirited start pumped up the Saurashtra camp and Sumanta Gupta making a debut in the final could not sustain the pressure succumbing to a peach of a delivery from Sakariya at the other end to be out for oneSakariya was on a roll as he cleaned up Sudip Kumar Gharamis offstump two balls laterSkipper Manoj Tiwary became Unadkats second victim when he poked at a wide delivery to edge one to Vishvaraj Jadeja at gullyAll eyes were on another veteran Anustup Majumdar who was Bengals leading run getter this season to revive the inningsMajumdar also built a mini partnership with rookie pace bowling allrounder Akash Ghatak who replaced Pradipta Pramanik in the playing XI and was promoted to No 6But Majumdar played a freak shot against Saurashtras third seamer Jani as Bengal lost half of their side at the stroke of drinks in the first sessionFrom 34 for 5 Shahbaz took charge of the proceedings and counterattacked the Saurashtra bowlers hitting 11 boundariesLuck also was on his side as he got a reprieve on 26 while on 38 a Prerak Mankad delivery looked to hit the stump on replay but Saurashtra did not make use of the DRSBrief ScoresBengal 174 all out in 541 overs Shahbaz Ahmed 69 Abhishek Porel 50 Jaydev Unadkat 344 Chetan Sakariya 333 Chirag Jani 233 Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 219 vs Saurashtra 81 for 2 in 17 overs Saurashtra trail by 93 runsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever