Sheldon Jackson's 133* overshadow Ruturaj Gaikwad's milestone ton as Saurashtra clinch its second title
Sheldon Jackson scored an unbeaten 133 (Source: Twitter)
Saurashtra have been crowned the new Vijay Hazare Trophy champions defeating Maharashtra in the finals. They have won the title for the second time in the history of the tournament and it was the Sheldon Jackson Show that has made it possible for them.
Jaydev Unadkat won the toss, keeping the conditions in mind, and decided to field first. Much like the semi-final, the Saurashtra bowlers were economical yet again. The Maharashtra batters were suffocated by the bowlers and batting seemed very difficult for them.
But the Maharashtra skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad did not lose his composure and continued to fight the battle for his team. While runs were not coming and wickets were falling at frequent intervals, Gaikwad held the forte together from one end.
As he completed his third consecutive hundred of the tournament, the CSK batter tried to take on the opposition but was dismissed for 108 runs off 131 balls the team’s score reading 199 runs in 42 overs.
Azim Kazi (37 off 33) and Naushad Shaikh (31 off 23) played useful little cameos to take the team’s total to a fighting 248 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in their 50 overs.
Saurashtra walked out to chase down the target and started dominating the match with their patient, gutsy and clever batting.
Jackson and Harvik Desai gave their side an opening stand of 125 runs, but Mukesh Choudhary shifted the match by picking Desai (50 off 67) and Jay Gohil (0 off 2) in an over.
However, Sheldon Jackson, who found his form back in this all-important encounter, looked determined and carried on. He accelerated at the right moment and controlled the pace of the chase perfectly to take his team home.
Although a few wickets fell towards the end and there was a bit of nerve, Jackson kept his composure even when the ship looked unsteady. Although, in the end, Chirag Jani also played an important knock of 30 runs from 25 balls.
Saurashtra won the match by 5 wickets with 3.3 overs left in the match. This marks the end of the Vijay Hazare Trophy for this season and we see a truly inspirational leader in Jaydev Unadkat lifting the trophy for his team.
 "Probuddha Bhattacharjee")
