Vidwath Kaverappa and Saurabh Kumar took three wickets apiece as Rest of India (ROI) firmly took control of the Irani Cup game. At the end of the second day’s play in Rajkot, Saurashtra were reduced to 212/9, still 96 runs away from ROI’s first-innings score.
ROI added only 10 runs to their overnight score of 298 before they lost their final two wickets. In response, Karnataka’s Kaverappa dismissed Saurashtra openers Harvik Desai and Chirag Jani in his first two overs, leaving the hosts wobbling at 4/2. Cheteshwar Pujara led a mini recovery but fell to Pulkit Narang for 29. In fact, three Saurashtra batters – Samarth Vyas and Prerak Mankad the others – also fell for 29.
The only batter to bat long enough to threaten scaling that ROI score was Arpit Vasavada, who hit just two boundaries in his knock of 54. He put on 54 for the seventh wicket with Parth Bhut. Vasavada, though, fell just two before close of play to Saurabh, becoming the left-armer’s third scalp. With the pitch already crumbling and assisting spin significantly, Saurashtra face a mountain to turn around this unfavourable position.
Brief scores: Saurashtra 212/9 (Arpit Vasavada 54; Vidwath Kaverappa 3-28, Saurabh Kumar 3-64) trail Rest of India 308 (Sai Sudharsan 72, Saurabh Kumar 39; Parth Bhut 5-94) by 96 runs
