Unfancied Tripura pulled off a stunning 133-run victory over former champions Saurashtra with off-spinner Sandip Sarkar and pacer Abhijit Sarkar sharing seven wickets between them in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match here on Thursday.
Chasing an improbable 342-run target, Saurashtra were bundled out for 208 in their second innings as Tripura celebrated a memorable moment in their cricketing history, which also happened to be their first win of the season.
Off-spinner Sandip and pacer Abhijit led Tripura’s charge to the triumph, adding to their Elite group wins over Himachal Pradesh and Goa in previous years.
Saurashtra started the day at 131 for seven with seasoned Arpit Vasavada and Chetain Sakariya looking to mount an unlikely fight.
But Sakariya fell in the day’s first over to Abhijit and the end seemed near for the two-time champions. But Vasavada (89, 189 balls) and Neel Pandya (9, 63 balls) added 59 runs for the ninth wicket to delay the inevitable.
Abhijit returned to dismiss Pandya, pushing Saurashtra to 191 for nine, and the dismissal also extended the first session.
Vasavada, who fought gallantly to reach fifty in 122 balls, was the last man to depart, as skipper Manishankar Murasingh’s throw found the stumps to catch the Saurashtra batter short of crease. It was Tripura’s first win of the season from four matches, and pushed them up to seventh place in the table with six points. That the northeastern side recovered from a massive innings defeat against Karnataka in its last match to beat a traditional powerhouse makes the achievement all the more commendable.
Saurashtra continued to occupy the third position on the table with 13 points from four matches.
Chasing a tough 259-run target, Hyderabad eked out a thrilling one-wicket win over Chhattisgarh at Secunderabad.
Aniketh Reddy (39 not out) and Rakshan Readdi (15 not out) added 39 runs for the 10th-wicket stand to see the hosts home in 79.4 overs.