Bengal bundled out for 174 as Saurashtra put themselves in driving seat
Unadkat celebrating a wicket [Twitter]
Expected to be a battle between two evenly matched sides, Saurashtra showed their prowess on Day 1, and knocked over Bengal for a paltry 174 in their first innings.
Bengal played so well against Madhya Pradesh in the semis, but looked a pale shadow of themselves against a quality Saurashtra bowling attack.
How the day panned out
Skipper Jaydev Unadkat won the toss and Saurashtra were happy to bowl first on a track that helped the seamers in the early going.
And it is fair to say that Bengal had a horror start, losing their first three wickets for just 2 on the board. Chetan Sakariya, and Jaydev Unadkat ran riot as the team from East had no answer for it.
Things went from bad to worse as Bengal lost their fourth wicket for a mere 17 runs. Unadkat was the chief destroyer once again, managing to get a thickish outside-edge that was taken safely at the gully region.
Anustup Majumdar, the star for Bengal in the semis looked rock solid, but had a mountain to climb alone. His persistence came to an end when the batter flashed hard at the away going delivery and the keeper made no mistake with it.
Akash Ghatak departed soon, and it looked as if the team will fail to cross the 100-run mark. But this is when the Bengal batters came to life and took the attack to the opposition. The unlikely duo of Shahbaz Ahmed, and Abhishek Porel started the counter-attack as the wicket got better for the batters.
The duo frustrated Saurashtra bowlers, and it seemed Unadkat had run out of ideas. However, just when things were falling in places for them. Shahbaz (69) nicked a fuller length ball as it lobbed up and the short leg fielder took the simplest of catches.
The wicket floodgates opened as Porel failed to get going after breaching the 50-run mark and Saurashtra cleaned up the tail with relative ease.
Saurashtra in driving seat
Bengal got the perfect start when Gohil was knocked over by the in-form Akash Deep. This was the only moment of joy for the Manoj Tiwari led side, as Harvik Desai and Vishvaraj Jadeja laid a strong foundation for the batters to follow.
They mixed aggression with caution and slowly and steadily started to hamper Bengal's chances in the game. But towards the closing moments of the day, Mukesh Kumar caught the big fish and sent back Jadeja for 25 on the board. Chetan Sakariya, the night-watchman survived a few closed calls as the former Ranji champions closed Day 1 on 81 for 2.
Brief Score
Bengal: 174-10 (54.1)
Shahbaz Ahmed 69 (112), Abhishek Porel 50 (98);
Chetan Sakariya 3-33 (13), Jaydev Unadkat 3-44 (13.1)
Saurashtra: 81-2 (17)
Harvik Desai 38* (51), Vishvaraj Jadeja 25 (36);
Mukesh Kumar 1-23 (6), Akash Deep 1-28 (8)
 "Anurag Dasgupta")
