Saurashtra 249 for 5 (Jackson 133*, Desai 50, Johny 30*, Ostwal 2-20, Chaudhary 2-38) Maharashtra 248 for 9 (Gaikwad 108, Qazi 37, Sheikh 31*, Johny 3-43) from five wickets
Satyajit Bacchu’s third over was really Jackson’s best outing, charging down the left-arm spinner to hit two sixes straight over his head, before a misfield at sweeper cover gave him another boundary. . He scored his half-century off 66 balls and Desai followed it up on 61 balls.
But Saurashtra managed to keep their noses in front, with Jackson hitting a 116-ball century and a 36-ball 42-run partnership with Vaswada for the fourth wicket.
Ostwal sent back Vaswada for his second wicket, and the Scorpions got rid of Prerik Mankid soon after, and when Johnny joined Jackson in the middle, Saurashtra were still 57 behind. But the duo put pressure on Maharashtra again and cleared the required runs with 21 balls to spare. Fittingly, it was Jackson who hit a six and a four to finish the job.
In the nippy conditions of the morning, Jaydev Annadak and Kushang Patel kept the Maharashtra openers quiet – Gaikwad and Pawan Shah could not find boundaries but also found the strike rotation difficult. This led to Pawan attempting a dangerous single after flicking Unaddict over midwicket for a run out courtesy of a direct hit from Johnny.
The battle of the morning was between Anadkat and Gaekwad, both experienced players fighting inch by inch and not giving up. After a spell of four overs, Unaddict changed the end and thought he had Gaekwad caught behind, but the umpire was unmoved. He conceded just one run in two overs after changing ends and after his first two spells, his figures read 6-1-5-0. It also included a bad bouncer who hit the scorpion on the helmet.
Gaekwad, meanwhile, struggled to get going as Maharashtra scored 18 for 1 at the ten-over mark. He was on 10 off 45 balls before he hit his first four – a sweep to backward square leg off Dharminder Singh Jadeja. After a few overs, he pulled pacer Kushang to square leg.
He took on Jadeja in the process, repeatedly hitting the left-arm spinner on the offside. He scored his third consecutive century with back-to-back sixes off Johnny before a run-out ended his knock. Maharashtra couldn’t pick up much momentum after that, and Johnny’s hat-trick – Saurabh Nawale, Hungargakar and Ostwal were his victims – held them back for good in the final over with a level score.
The win boosted Anadkat’s credentials as a captain. He led Saurashtra to their first Ranji Trophy title in 2019-2020. He also topped the wicket-taking charts in the Vijay Hazare Trophy with 19 strikes.
