Seasoned campaigner Cheteshwar Pujara’s presence didn’t assist Saurashtra as a gritty Tripura humbled the defending champions by 148 runs of their Group A match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Bengaluru on Monday.
Fifties by Bikram Kumar Das (59 off 76 balls), Sudip Chatterjee (61 off 93 balls) and Ganesh Satish (71 off 74 balls) fuelled Tripura to a difficult 258 for 8.
Veteran left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat led Saurashtra’s bowling with a five-wicket haul (5 for 35).
In reply, Saurashtra may solely muster 110 earlier than getting bowled out in 31.4 overs as part-timer Joydeb Deb grabbed a fifer (5 for 15).
They have been in early bother at 13 for 3 after Harvik Desai, Sheldon Jackson and Chirag Jani went again in fast succession with pacer Mura Singh inflicting the blows.
Pujara (24) and Arpit Vasavada (16) tried to revive Saurashtra’s innings with a 37-run stand for the fourth wicket. Nonetheless, pacer Bikram Debnath trapped Pujara in entrance of the wicket to finish the alliance and the hopes of Saurashtra to make a fist of the chase.
