Left-arm spinner Dharmendrasinh Jadeja once again did the star turn with career-best figures of 7 for 32 and played a leading role in Saurashtra’s 218-run drubbing of Rajasthan in their Ranji Trophy Group A match here on Monday.
Having picked up five wickets in the first innings, Jadeja ended with career-best match figures of 12 for 131, as the defending champions logged six points from the contest on the fourth and final day.
Resuming on overnight 174 for 4 and 245 runs ahead, Saurashtra stretched the overall lead before declaring their second innings on 234 for 6 with Arpit Vasavada remaining not out on 74.
Walking into the middle after Saurashtra had lost their fourth wicket for 74, Vasavada added 102 runs with Player of the Match Sheldon Jackson (49).
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Jackson had scored 116 in Saurashtra’s first innings after Cheteshwar Pujara’s 110.
Set a target of 305, thanks to the efforts of Jackson and Vasavada, Rajasthan, who rode on a collective batting display to total 257 in their first innings, simply fell apart in their second essay and were bowled out for 87 in 28.4 overs, bringing the match to an early end.
While Jadeja was, without an iota of doubt, the star of the show, Yuvrajsinh Dodiya (3/25) gave his colleague great support with his off-break bowling, snaring three wickets to add to his four in the first innings.
That the Saurashtra spinners took 19 of the 20 wickets was a clear indication that the pitch favoured the tweakers.
Having set their opponents a target of over 300 on a final day pitch aiding the spinners, it was always going to be an extremely difficult task for Rajasthan, but Jadeja proved to be too good for the home team batters as they surrendered without a fight.
With Jadeja and Dodiya in their elements, Rajasthan lost wickets at regular intervals to concede the match.
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Brief scores: Saurashtra: 328 and 234/6 declared in 62 overs (Arpit Vasavada 74, Sheldon Jackson 49) beat Rajasthan: 257 and 87 all out in 28.4 overs (Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 7/32, Yuvrajsinh Dodiya 3/25) by 218 runs.
In Pune: Maharashtra: 208 and 371 all out in 121.5 overs (Murtaza Trunkwala 86, Ankit Bawne 84; Aditya Thakare 5/54) lost to Vidarbha: 552 and 28/0 in 6 overs by 10 wickets.
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