Saurashtra has never won the Ranji Trophy despite reaching the final twice before. On the other hand, hosts Vidarbha are hoping to retain the title they won last year. And there is little to choose from the two teams based on their form coming into the summit clash, which will be played in Nagpur from Sunday.
Both teams are unbeaten in the competition, finishing on 29 points in the group stage with three wins and five draws. But the road since the knockout stage has seen them take different paths to the final.
Saurashtra began the season with a three-wicket win over Railways, following up with draws against Gujarat and Baroda. Their bowlers starred in an 87-run win over Karnataka and later in a five-wicket win over Maharashtra. They finished the group stage with draw against Mumbai and Vidarbha.
They then made it to the semi-final after chasing down a record target of 372 against Uttar Pradesh in quarters, while Vidarbha humbled minnows Uttarakhand at home.
In the semi-finals, Saurashtra once again left it too late and only won on the final day chasing a tricky target against Karnataka. Vidarbha, on the other hand, rocked Kerala as Umesh Yadav picked up 12 wickets in the match.
Going into the final, Vidarbha will be under pressure as they are the defending champions and playing at home. But for a team which has players like Faiz Fazal and Wasim Jaffer, coping up with pressure should not be an issue.
Veteran Jaffer is the top run-getter for Vidarbha with 1003 runs – the second highest in the season after Milind Kumar. Jaffer, along with Fazal, will be the key to Vidarbha’s batting in the final.
In the bowling department, Vidarbha will once again count on Umesh Yadav whose 10-wicket haul in the semi-final rocked Kerala. Another key bowler would be left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate who has picked up 44 wickets at an average of 21 this season.
But the Vidarbha bowling unit may not find it as easy as they did in the quarter-final and semi-final. They will be dealing with like of Sheldon Jackson, Cheteshwar Pujara and Harvik Desai who have been in top form recently.
Sheldon, who is the team’s highest run scorer this season with a total of 838 runs, and Pujara scripted Saurashtra’s run chases against UP and Karnataka. Apart from the two, Desai will be a key batsman for Saurashtra as he is their second highest run scorer this season with 763 runs. Snell Patel would be another batsman to look out for.
Saurashtra’s bowling would be led by Jaydev Unadkat who has taken 35 wickets in seven matches this season. But the team will rely once again on Dharmendrasinh Jadeja who is the third-highest wicket-taker this season with 52 wickets. Two more wickets in the final will take him past Gurinder Singh of Meghalaya to the second spot.
Another factor that could work in Saurashtra’s favour is their form away from home. Both the quarter-final and semi-final wins, despite being pushed to the wall, came at away venues.
Vidarbha have to be at the top of their game if they want to stop Saurasthra from running away with the title. They have done it in the past when they upset former champions Delhi in the final last season.
Given the batting prowess, Vidarbha like to score big runs. Apart from the semi-final against Kerala, they scored 300-plus runs at least once in the match and 500-plus score on four occasions.
Their batting will hold the key in the final if they want to repeat the title-win last season. But it won’t be easy as Saurashtra showed it during the group stage game between the two sides.
After scoring 356 in the first innings, Saurashtra took a first-innings lead as Vidarbha declared at 280/9. The match ended in a draw but not before Saurashtra declared at 218/2 in the second innings.
But even Saurashtra would know that past results and form have little bearing on a Ranji Trophy final. Both teams are chasing a bit of history in Nagpur over the next five days and the only certainty would be that none of them would go down without a fight.