Proud moment for Saurashtra cricket

More than anything else, the India-Zimbabwe series will be remembered in Gujarat for seeing three cricketers from the state together in the national team for the first time. Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja and Jaydev Unadkat—have featured in the Indian line-up that played Zimbabwe in the fourth and fifth ODIs.Though Saurashtra has a rich cricketing history and has produced many legends like the great Ranjitsinhji and Duleepsinhji, this is the first occasion when three cricketers from Saurashtra are playing for India in the same match.Jadeja and Unadkat were part of the ODI squad which clinched the series against Zimbabwe by the third ODI but Pujara made his debut in the fourth match which India won by nine wickets. He also played in the last ODI. "I am really delighted that Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) has been able to contribute three cricketers to the national team. The association has worked really hard for the last few years to put a system in place and it has started to show results," said BCCI vice-president and secretary of SCA Niranjan Shah. "The good thing is that they came in to the team after proving themselves in the domestic circuit for long. Can’t say the same for Unadkat, but he is getting better day by day and so has been rightly rewarded," said Saurashtra Ranji skipper Jaydev Shah under whom the trio made their Ranji debuts. Jadeja and Unadkat have shown in the Indian Premier League during the last few seasons that they are cut out for the slam bang format. Though Pujara has always been branded as a Test specialist one of his senior teammate in Saurashtra, Sitanshu Kotak said: "It is wrong to brand Pujara as a Test specialist because his domestic one-day average is pretty high (61M, 2735 Runs, 158* HS, 56.97 Ave, 8x100, 17x50). He is a batsman who can adapt his game according to the demand of the situation. He has proved many times in the past that he is a man for all season and all kind of cricket. I have no doubt that these three cricketers will play for India for a long time."