Saurashtra beat Bengal by nine wickets in Ranji final, clinch second title
Kolkata (PTI): Left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat returned a match haul of nine wickets, including 6/85 in the second innings, as Saurashtra thrashed Bengal by nine wickets in the summit clash to clinch their second Ranji Trophy title here on Sunday.
Having given away a big first innings lead of 230 runs, Bengal, who were overnight 169/4 in their second essay, folded for 241, handing the visitors a mere 12 runs target to win the final.
Saurashtra lost their opening batter Jay Gohil (0) off the bowling of Akash Deep but eventually went past the target, reaching 14 for 1 in 2.4 overs, to wrap up the match with one day and two full sessions to spare.
Saurashtra's earlier triumph was in 2019-20 season when they defeated Bengal on the basis of first innings lead. In the last 10 seasons, they have made the final on five occasions, underlining their consistency.
A Ranji Trophy title eluded Bengal yet again. Their first title had come in 1938-39 in the pre-independence era.
Earlier in the morning session, Unadkat showed the way after a freak run-out of Bengal batter Shahbaz Ahmed (27). The veteran Saurashtra skipper added four wickets to his overnight tally of two.
The old Bengal warhorse duo of skipper Manoj Tiwary (68) and Anustup Majumdar (61) slammed valiant half-centuries but the home side were let down by their top-order batters, including the promising Abhimanyu Easwaran who scored 0 and 16 in the two innings.
In-form No. 3 batter Sudip Gharami, who is fresh from a 112 and 41 in the semifinal against Madhya Pradesh and has 800-plus runs this season, also came a cropper and scored 0 and 14 in the two innings.
The decision to hand debut to Sumanta Gupta in a Ranji final also will rankle Bengal as he did not show any technique of a top-order batter and perished to an outgoing delivery.
State sports minister-cum-cricketer Tiwary had delayed his retirement to win a Ranji title from his fourth final, and it remains to be seen whether he continue to play in the upcoming season.
Earlier, the overnight duo of Tiwary and Shahbaz Ahmed committed hara-kiri while going for a third run. Ahmed had to sacrifice his wicket to give Saurahshtra their first breakthrough of the day.
It also unsettled Tiwary as he followed suit and got out for 68 after chasing a wide delivery from Unadkat.
In no time, Bengal were reduced to 205/9, still trailing by 25 runs.
But, Bengal's last pair of Mukesh Kumar and Ishan Porel avoided the ignominy of an innings defeat, scoring 36 runs in 37 balls to delay the inevitable.
Unadkat, who was released from the Indian Test side to play in the Ranji final, had bagged 3/44 in the Bengal first innings. He was ably supported by fellow left-arm pacer Chetan Sakariya (3/33) after they opted to bowl on a lively pitch.
Having prepared a green-top, Bengal were caught in their own web as their top-order batters showed complete lack of application on the opening day.
Brief Scores:
Bengal 174 and 241 in 70.4 overs (Manoj Tiwary 68, Anustup Majumdar 61; Jaydev Unadkat 6/85, Chetan Sakariya 3/76).
Saurashtra 404 and 14/1 in 2.4 overs.
Saurashtra won by nine wickets.
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Water crisis hits Ballari’s jeans industry as over 100 units shut temporarily, hundreds left jobless
Ballari: A severe water shortage in Karnataka's Ballari is crippling the region’s jeans industry, leading to the temporary closure of over 100 jeans units and leaving hundreds of workers unemployed. The crisis, which has been ongoing for over a month, has reportedly left the industry in turmoil as many units that are still running are using tanker water, which is expensive.
Ballari, often referred to as the "Jeans Capital" of India, is home to 732 jeans production units, which rely heavily on water-intensive washing processes. The industry association has requested the administration to provide sufficient water to run the units, as reported by The New Indian Express on Tuesday.
All the 732 jeans factories in Ballari depend on fifteen washing units to finish their products. Although water shortages have been a recurring issue every summer for the past decade, no permanent solution has been found, the report added.
The situation has reached a critical point, with many units halting production due to the skyrocketing cost of water. Industry associations have appealed to the local administration for a more reliable water supply, but their repeated requests have largely been ignored by both officials and political leaders.
An owner of one of the units noted that summer started 15 days early this year which exacerbated the situation. “Instead of waiting and paying more money to wash jeans products, some owners have shut their units for four to five months. This has left a large number of people unemployed,” TNIE quoted the owner as saying.
Meanwhile, owners of the jeans washing units are pinning their hopes on the apparel park planned by the Karnataka state government, which is expected to provide a dedicated water pipeline from the Tungabhadra Dam to address the ongoing water shortage.
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