Ranji Trophy 2022/23 : Saurashtra advance to the Semi-finals as they beat Punjab by 71 runs
The only Ranji Trophy 2022/23 Quarter-final match which did not produce any result on the 4th day between Saurashtra and Punjab extended for the 5th day and the hosts defeated the North Indians by a margin of 71 runs. All of the Semi-finalists have been locked now and Saurashtra will now face Karnataka on 8th February.
The visitors at the SCA stadium could not stand firm against the opposing bowling unit which did not let Punjab make partnerships to get to the total of 252 runs. Saurashtra earned the victory on Session 2 of day 5 as Parth Buth, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja and Yuvrajsinh Dodiya starred in this emphatic quarter-fin win.
Saurashtra Won by 71 Run(s) (Qualified) #SAUvPUN #RanjiTrophy #QF2 Scorecard:https://t.co/Qjh7r8OTSL
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) February 4, 2023
The home team had won the toss and chose to bat first but they had a stumbling start to their innings as they kept losing batters cheaply. Snell Patel and Vishvaraj Jadeja first scored 70 and 28 with 4th Innings star Parth Buth grabbing a full-century. Buth was the only Saurashtra player to remain not out throughout the 1st innings and scored 111 runs.
Due to his efforts, SAU reached 303 runs and Punjab in turn scored 431 runs in their 1st innings through Centuries from openers Prabhsimran Singh and Naman Dhir. They had an opening partnership of 212 runs with Prabhsimran scoring 126 and Naman amassing 131 runs.
Other than them, Captain Mandeep Singh missed out on his century by 9 runs as he scored 91 to help Punjab take a lead of 128 runs. But Saurashtra’s 2nd Inning batting took the game further away from Punjab’s hold. They had a similar start as the 1st innings but the lower order batters – Arpit Vasavada (77), Chirag Jani (77), Prerak Mankad (88) and Parth Buth’s 51 help SAU score 379 runs and give a target of 252.
ICYMI!
Skipper Arpit Vasavada led from the front with a valuable 7️⃣7️⃣ as Saurashtra posted 379 in the second innings against Punjab👌🏻👌🏻#SAUvPUN | #RanjiTrophy | #QF2 | @mastercardindia
Relive his knock here 🎥https://t.co/KM8UBE2zzC pic.twitter.com/adumzNwsdm
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) February 3, 2023
Punjab’s 2nd Innings never really looked good enough as no player could get to a half-century and man of the match Parth Buth’s Fifer took Saurashtra to the semi-finals against Karnataka.
