Saurabh Kumar stars as ROI wrest control

Chetan Sakariya's brilliant five-wicket haul could not stop Rest of India from taking control of the Irani Cup encounter. Saurabh Kumar was the standout performer both with the bat and the ball on Day 2, pushing ROI's lead beyond 250 and then claiming both Saurashtra wickets that fell in the closing minutes of play in a stellar spell of 4-4-0-2.

Both overnight batters, Sarfraz Khan (138) and skipper Hanuma Vihari (82) missed out on the respective milestones after Chirag Jani sent them packing in the morning session. However, Saurabh (55) joined hands with Jayant Yadav (37) for a 71-run partnership for the seventh wicket to frustrate the hosts. Saurabh hit ten boundaries in his 78-ball knock that was crucial in propelling ROI's first innings score to 374.

Starting their second innings with a massive deficit of 274, the Saurashtra openers could only keep ROI at bay for 12 overs. Saurabh struck with the first ball of his second over to have Snell Patel caught by Sarfraz at cover, and then sent back the other opener, Harvik Desai, packing too in another wicket-maiden. Dharmendrasinh Jadeja fetched back-to-back boundaries off Umran Malik in the following over to take Saurashtra to stumps on 49/2 - still behind by 227.

Brief scores: Saurashtra 98 & 49/2 (Harvik Desai 20; Saurabh Kumar 0-2) trail ROI 374 (Sarfraz Khan 138, Hanuma Vihari 82, Saurabh Kumar 55; Chetan Sakariya 5-93) by 227 runs