Rajkot: Parth Bhatt saves Saurashtra against Punjab in Ranji Trophy quarter-final. Bhatt’s unbeaten century in the ninth over for a devastated Saurashtra gave them a score to fight for. The player showed an amazing performance with 111 runs not out in 155 balls including 11 fours and four sixes.
Saurashtra scored 303 runs in the first innings. Batting first against Punjab, Saurashtra got off to a poor start. Opener Harveys Desai returned even before the scoreboard opened. Fellow opener Snel Patel shone with 70 off 131 balls but the middle order let down. All who came quickly returned. At one stage it was 147 runs for the loss of eight wickets.
Bhatt’s century in the ninth over took Saurashtra to three hundred. The 25-year-old left-arm spinner Bhat made a partnership of 61 runs with Zakaria for the ninth wicket and 95 runs with Dodia for the last wicket. This is the star’s first first-class century. Bhatt’s highest individual score on his first-class debut in 2019 was 49.
Among the Punjab bowlers, Mayank Markinde took four wickets, Baltej Singh took three wickets, Siddharth Kaul took two wickets and Naman Dhir took one wicket. In reply, Punjab scored 33 runs without losing any wicket.