Odedra is Saurashtra's crowning glory

IN A one-sided final on Thursday, Ranji semi-finalists Saurashtra crushed Bengal by six wickets to lift the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the entire match lasting only 62.2 overs.

It was a remarkable end to the season for the minnows, who won the Plate title two seasons ago, maintained their place in the Super League in 2006-07 and entered the last four this season.

Without any big names in the side and mentored by old-school coach Debu Mitra, who coached Bengal and East Zone some years ago, Saurashtra showed they are a team capable of taking on any side.

Opting to bat, Bengal were shot out for 85. Right-arm medium pacer Jayesh Odedra inflicted the maximum damage with four scalps, making it easy for left-arm spinner Rakesh Dhruv to polish off the lower order.

Saurashtra chased down the target in 23 overs with veteran Sitanshu Kotak edging off-spinner Saurasish Lahiri past the wicketkeeper to bring up the winning runs. The pitch could not be blamed for Bengal's meek surrender as Saurashtra's new ball bowlers Sandeep Maniar and Odedra tested the batsmen by bowling a probing line.

Bengal, who had got the better of Delhi and Mumbai, were in deep trouble straightaway at 15 for four in the seventh over. But for one bad decision, Anustup Majumdar being adjudged leg before when the right-hander had clearly edged Odedra on to his pads, the Bengal batsmen played like amateurs - Sreevats Goswami edged a late-moving delivery to wicketkeeper Sagar Jogyani; Manoj Tiwary was cleaned up by one that came in; Saurasish Lahiri edged an away-going delivery into Kotak's hands; Laxmi Shukla attempted to cut Odedra and edged behind and Debabrata Das was caught brilliantly by Balakrishna Jadeja off his own bowling.

At 55-7, Bengal were in no position to recover and post a fighting total.
Openers Chirag Pathak and captain Jaydev Shah threatened to bring an early finish to the match but their dismissal slowed down proceedings. Saurashtra, who were 37 for one at lunch, took another 16 overs to surpass the target and make the country sit up and take note of their credentials.

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