Saurashtra complete formalities to post horic win in Mumbai

Saurashtra regered their maiden Ranji Trophy win against Mumbai as they beat a star-studded line up 48 runs on the final day on Friday. On Day 4 of the third round fixture, Mumbai needed 62 runs to win while Saurashtra needed two wickets at the MCA-BKC ground.
And as the play got underway on Friday, Saurashtra took only 30 minutes to take the remaining two wickets and went home with six points. After drawing their first two matches, this was Saurashtra’s first win of the season and they are third in the table with 12 points behind Mumbai (13) and Maharashtra (13).
Jayesh Odedra, a former Saurashtra player and now coach of the team, was lost for words as he couldn’t believe that his team had beaten Mumbai in their own den despite missing Jaydev Unadkat and Cheteshwar Pujara. To put things in perspective as to how much the win meant to Odedra, at the end of the game he went to the pitch and took a pinch of mud and kept it in his pocket.
Later in the day, Odedra was emotional speaking about the special win. “It’s a pretty emotional, special moment. We talked about it yesterday (Thursday), we tried to get data from the Saurashtra Cricket Association as well. To my knowledge, no team from Saurashtra has scored an outright win against Mumbai. It was a really good team effort where each and every individual contributed. We were missing our star players — Pujara and Unadkat — but we had self-belief and unity. I still can’t get out of it. I even took some mud from the wicket (here), because I know that it’s a big thing when you win against Mumbai in Mumbai,” Odedra said.
For Saurashtra, off spinner Yuvrajsinh Dodiya and left arm spinner Dharmendrasinh Jadeja took a wicket each in the day to witness an early wrap up. With a New Year on the horizon, this seemed like the perfect gift for the Saurashtra side which won its maiden Ranji Trophy title in 2019/20 season before winning the Vijay Hazare Trophy last month.
“We aren’t huge beer drinkers, but I’m definitely going to celebrate opening a bottle of champagne!,” Odedra said when asked about how the team would celebrate the horic occasion.
When the game began, Mumbai with a strong batting line-up including a top four of Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav and Ajinkya Rahane started as favourites. However on a pitch that took turn, their skills were tested the Saurashtra attack that had three spinners in their ranks. Mumbai, though, relied heavily on their left-arm spinner Shams Mulani.
However, it was Saurashtra’s batting depth that made the crucial difference in the game to shock Mumbai in their own backyard. Mumbai coach Amol Muzumdar said it was a good wake up call for the team especially with four games left in the league. Mumbai will be without Suryakumar for the three rounds of fixtures because of India commitments. Mumbai are next scheduled to face Tamil Nadu at CCI from January 3.
Muzumdar said, “We’ve played some good cricket throughout the last year and a half, but it’s (the defeat) a good wake up call to have.”