Ranji Trophy 2017-18: Ravindra Jadeja’s all-round heroics spur Saurashtra to victory

Ravindra Jadeja picked up seven wickets in the match. (Source: Reuters)

Ravindra Jadeja’s all-round show spurred Saurashtra to its second Ranji Trophy win this season. After slamming a double century with the bat in the first innings Jadeja snared three wickets in Jammu and Kashmir’s second innings to help his side win the Group B match in Rajkot on Monday.

Earlier, Saurashtra captain Cheteshwar Pujara won the toss and opted to bat first. After failing to get off to a good start it was the duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Sheldon Jackson who came together to arrest the fall of wickets. Along with Sheldon Jackson, Jadeja compiled a stand of 281 runs for the fourth wicket which propelled Saurashtra to a massive first innings score of 624/7 (declared). While Jackson played a sublime knock of 181, on Sunday Ravindra Jadeja slammed a whirlwind knock of 201 in which he faced 313 deliveries and hit 23 boundaries and two maximums.

In reply, Jammu and Kashmir could only manage 156 in their first innings as Jadeja scalped four wickets. After being enforced with the follow-on J&K once again succumbed for 256 as VM Jivrajani picked up six wickets, while Jadeja scalped three more to take his match tally to 7 wickets.

Prior to this Saurashtra had won their first match of the competition to grab seven points and with this win, they sit pretty at the top of the points table in group B.