Ranji trophy: Saurashtra come a cropper again

At the national level, Saurashtra took a giant leap forward this year by producing two cricketers who donned India colours. But the team showed no progress whatsoever on the domestic cricket scene.

Cheteshwar Pujara and Jaydev Unadkat represented the national side to make it a memorable year for the region that is considered the cradle of the sport, but the rest of the team failed to put up a decent show in the national championships. 

As in 2009-10, Saurashtra again failed to advance to the knockout stage of the Ranji Trophy and finished second from the bottom in their Super League group.

Instead of getting a chance to fight it out for a place in the quarter-final, Saurashtra were reduced to waging a grim battle to avoid relegation! The failure to post outright wins has been a major problem for them.

In two seasons, Saurashtra have played 14 games but have managed only a solitary victory. The only triumph, against Assam, was achieved in the last game of the season.

The turning track prepared specially to get a result helped them retain their place in the Super League.

Saurashtra were deprived of their star players on a few occasions, but their fondness for featherbeds for home encounters have hindered their progress.

Their old strategy of vying only for the first innings lead (3 pts.) has been criticised by experts. In fact, it has ended up giving others teams the benefit.

Tamil Nadu gained by posting a mammoth 582-4 (declared) and Railways scored 415 in their first innings, at Rajkot. In the Gujarat derby held in Valsad, Saurashtra conceded five full points as Gujarat clinched a nail-biter by romping home by two wickets.

Saurashtra also conceded three points against Bengal at home this season, whereas in the last season, they had earned three.
Saurashtra have always relied on their batting and this time the batsmen really let them down.

Wicketkeeper-batsman and opener Sagar Jogiyani, their highest run-scorer, got 369 runs from 7 games with a century and two fifties. Thirty-one players from other states have scored more runs than him in the same or lesser number of matches. This piece of stats highlights the failure of the Saurashtra batting.

Veteran Sithanshu Kotak came a close second with 353 runs at 39.22. He missed out on a century by a whisker and had three half centuries to his name. Pujara played just two games and scored only 28 runs.

In the absence of Pujara, one would expect captain Jaydev Shah and Chirag Pathak to step up the rate, but unfortunately that did not happen. Jaydev managed 278 runs with the help of two fifties from seven games.

The biggest disappointment was talented Chirag Pathak's dip in form. The 23-year-old's career average stood at an impressive 44.23 but this season he was off the radar. Pathak had scored 601 runs in six games last year at an average of 60.00 but this year could only muster 225 from seven games at a low 25.00.

The overdependence on Pujara, who had scored four half centuries and one century (204*) last year, cost them dearly.

The spin combination of Jadeja-Makwana however, was consistent this season. The pick of the bowlers was left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja with 20 wickets from four games.

He was well supported by right-arm offie Kamlesh Makwana, who grabbed 17 scalps from 5 games, including a 10-wicket haul against Assam.