Rajkot, Feb 9: Manan Hingrajia and Jaymeet Patel, the orthodox yet effective pair of southpaws, added 134 runs for the fourth wicket to put Gujarat in complete command against Saurashtra at stumps on the second day of their Ranji Trophy quarter-final here Sunday.
Gujarat ended the second day’s play at 260 for 4 and are currently 44 runs ahead in their first innings with an aim to get a sizeable first innings lead.
Hingrajia (83 off 219 balls) and all-rounder Jaymeet (88 batting off 147 balls) came together when Gujarat were in a spot at 78 for 3 but two the left-handers doggedly handled the seasoned Saurashtra attack to take the visitors over and above the home team’s paltry score of 216.
Saurashtra seamers Jaydev Unadkat and Chirag Jani did take advantage of a slow start by Gujarat as they crawled to 78 in 38 overs, but Hingrajia and Jaymeet showed a lot of composure in handling Unadkat and company.
The only bowlers who kept Hingrajia on backfoot were Prerak Mankad and Chirag Jani.
Also, there wasn’t much purchase from the track for the spinners unlike the outside grounds where matches ended in one and a half and two and a half days respectively at the group league stage.Spinners Yuvraj Dodiya and Dharmendra Jadeja bowled 32 overs between them but got only a single wicket between them.
The low and slow wicket gave enough time to the Gujarat batters to adjust their strokes and once they were set, they also got their fair share of boundaries. Hingrajia had eight fours and a six off left-arm spinner Dharmendra Jadeja while all-rounder Jaymeet had nine boundaries.
Brief Scores: Saurashtra 1st Innings 216; Gujarat 1st Innings 260/4 in 95 overs (Manan Hingrajia 83, Jaymeet Patel 88 batting, Chirag Jani 2/25). (PTI)
