When Gujarat set a fourth innings target of 379 for Rest of India to chase, it looked like a very tall task for Cheteshwar Pujara’s men to achieve.
In fact, at one stage, Rest of India were in trouble after losing their first four wickets with just 63 runs on the board.
Then stepped up captain Pujara and Wriddhiman Saha, who stitched together an unbeaten 316-run partnership as Rest of India went on to win by six wickets and lift the Irani Trophy.
This game was viewed as the battle of the wicket-keepers as Saha and Gujarat’s Parthiv Patel are fighting it out for the wicket-keeper position in the Indian Test team.
And if Saha ever needed a stage to prove why he is the ideal candidate, the West Bengal stumper took his opportunity as he slammed his career-best first-class score. He was unbeaten on 203 in what can be described as one of the best knocks seen in Indian domestic cricket in recent times.
Pujara also notched up a century, remaining not out on 116.
Double century in chase of 379 by Saha, one of the best counter-attacking inns you will witness. Superb straight down the ground. #IraniCup
— jigar mehta (@jigsactin) January 24, 2017
BRIEF SCORES
Gujarat 358 [Chirag Gandhi 169, Siddarth Kaul 5/86] and 246 [Priyank Panchal 73, Nadeem 4/64] lost to Rest of India 226 [Pujara 86, Chintan Gaja 4/60] and 379/4 [Saha 203*, Pujara 116*, Hardik Patel 2/104] by six wickets.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Wriddhiman Saha
