Raval's blitz helps Saurashtra beat Gujarat by 23 runs

AHMEDABAD: An excellent 134-run fourth wicket partnership between Himalay Barad (65, 84b, 3x4, 1x6) and Rujul Bhatt (69, 85b, 3x4) failed to lift Gujarat as they went down to Saurashtra by 23 runs in the opening game of the G1 Reliance one-day Tournament currently underway at the Motera here on Wednesday.
Gujarat were down in the dumps with three of their top batsmen - Parthiv Patel, Manpreet Juneja and Priyank Panchal - back in the hut with just 48 runs on the board.But Barad and Bhatt showed enough maturity and they not only pulled the team out of troubled waters but also built the platform from where they can actually take a shot at victory.
Sweet cameos by Rohit Dahiya (47 from 34 balls, 4x4, 1x6), Jesal Karia (26 off 19 balls) and Akshar Patel (19 off 15 balls) almost made Saurashtra's huge total of 308/7 look quite attainable. With the happening at the IPL auction abuzz on the background, the batsmen made the required 40 runs in the last four look pretty reachable.
They also went hammer and tongs in the typical T20 fashion but the experienced pair of Chirag Jani and Arpit Vasavada combined to send dangerman Dahiya back and it was curtains thereafter. If the saying "catches win matches" is true for any situation, than it is this.
Dahiya lofted Jani towards the long-on fence and the ball looked to be heading for maximum. But Vasavada, timed his jump to perfection, and just plucked it from thin air to turn the match on its head. Before Dahiya's dismissal, Jani sent Patel and Karia back for enviable figures of 4/69 from 11.3 overs (one bowler was allowed to bowl 12 overs).
During Saurashtra's batting, barring Bhushan Chauhan (17 from 45 balls) all the other batsmen batted at a fairly fast pace. Sagar Jogiyani scored 70 from 74 balls, skipper Jaydev Shah scored 36 from 44, before he was run out going for a non-existent single; Sheldon Jackson scored 50 from 57 balls and Vasavada score 61 from 47.
But it was Kuldeep Raval's 27-ball 55 (4x4 and 3x6) which actually did maximum damage as Saurashtra went on to added 114 runs in the last 10 overs. Raval almost undid all the good work with the bat by dropping three catches while fielding.
For Gujarat, Ishwar Chaudhary picked up two wickets for 68 runs from his 10 overs while Jaspreet Bumrah, Akshar Patel and Jesal Karia picked up one wicket each.