Saurashtra defeated Maharashtra in the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy despite Maharashtra captain Ruturaj Gaikwad scoring a brilliant century. And the man who canceled out his ton was none other than the 33-year-old Chirag Jani, who had earlier taken a hat-trick as Maharashtra managed to post 248 on the board.
While Unadkat (1/25 with 41 dot balls) was Saurashtra’s bowling hero in the first 10 overs, keeping the dangerous Gaikwad under a tight leash, the last 10 overs of Maharashtra’s innings belonged to all-rounder Chirag Jani. The 48th over hat-trick of seam bowling all-rounders (Saurabh Navale, Rajvardhan Hagargekar and Vicky Ostwal) prevented Maharashtra from adding at least 20 more runs.
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Bowling wicket-to-wicket, Jani clean bowled Navale and Hangergekar and then trapped Vicky Ostwal in front to seal his hat-trick. Maharashtra hit just two boundaries and scored 37 runs in the next seven overs for Saurashtra losing five wickets at a crucial juncture.
Jani played his all-rounder role to perfection as he scored an unbeaten 30 off 25 balls to help Saurashtra stay in the hunt. He was at the other end when Jackson scored the winning runs.
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Sheldon Jackson later scored one of the most important innings of his career, an unbeaten 133, to guide Saurashtra to their second Vijay Hazare Trophy title as they comfortably beat Maharashtra by five wickets in the final.
Jani’s captain Jaydev Unadkat later said that Jani deserved to play for India.
“Chirag Jani has been outstanding and if there is one player in the team who deserves to play at the highest level, it is him,” he said in the post-match presentation.
Earlier, a well-oiled Saurashtra bowling unit led by their captain chased down 249 with 21 balls to spare as national contender Ruturaj Gaikwad smashed 108 before Jackson, an unbeaten hundred from Maharashtra’s old domestic warrior .
“I think the toss played an important role, we were trailing. It was 30-70 per cent of the win/loss. After 30-40 overs we were ahead. Batting first, Gaikwad said after the match. 250 was a very good total.
In the middle overs, it was another show from Gaikwad as he registered his name as a ‘Vijay Hazare legend’ with his 12th century (highest in the history of the competition) studded with seven fours and four sixes. Thus he scored three centuries in three knock-out games, but on a slow pitch, the Saurashtra bowlers never allowed the Maharashtra batsmen to dominate and Azim Qazi’s 31 was the second best.
Saurashtra’s bowlers executed well against them, Gaikwad clearly fighting hard for his hundred which was evident from his thunderous celebration when he brought up his century against Jani for a boundary.
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