Gujarat left-arm spinner Siddharth Desai made an immediate impact on Thursday as the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season resumed.
In the first session of the first day of the match against Uttarakhand, Siddharth posted figures of 9-36 at the Gujarat College A Cricket Ground to beat the opponents for 111 in 30 overs.
Siddharth Desai weaves a web around Uttarakhand
Siddharth started his rampage from the fifth over during the innings by sending opener Priyanshu Khanduri back and then trapping Uttarakhand captain Ravikumar Samarth to duck off the first ball. He did not get a hat-trick but returned Yuvraj Choudhary in the last ball of the over to put Uttarakhand at 15/3. Samarth (514 runs) and Chaudhary (497 runs) are currently their best run-getters this season and seeing them back in the dressing room was a big blow.
Uttarakhand’s misery was further compounded when Siddharth ran through the batting line-up, reducing them to 72/6 in the 17th over. Experienced opener Avneesh Sudha put up some resistance with his 30 and survived 25 deliveries from Siddarth before being dismissed. None of the other batsmen could make more than 12 deliveries before falling to Siddharth.
Gujarat captain Chintan Gaja seized the momentum by attacking with Siddarth from one end and three others to help him at the other as he bowled 15 overs, of which five were maidens.
He could have become the first Gujarat bowler and the seventh Indian to claim all 10 wickets in a first-class innings, but Vishal Jayswal claimed the last wicket.
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Siddharth now has the best bowling figures in first-class cricket for Gujarat as he broke a 64-year-old record set by Jasubhai Motibhai Patel 8-21 in the 1960-61 season against Saurashtra.
The Ahmedabad-born spinner made his Ranji debut at the age of 17, long before being called up for the Indian under-19 team, with which he won the U19 Asia Cup and the U19 World Cup in 2018. He was also the highest wicket taker. in the Asian Cup with 18 scalps with an average of 8.44.
Invaluable for Gujarat Ranji Trophy team
His importance to the Gujarat Ranji team was evident in his first match, where he claimed 6-80 against Kerala in October 2017. Siddharth currently has 159 wickets to his name in 65 first-class innings, which includes a match best of 14 -104 in December. 2022.
The left-armer finished as their highest wicket-taker in the 2022-23 season with 30 wickets in six matches. He is just five wickets away from reaching that figure this year and the latest nine-wicket haul took him to 25 wickets in six games.
He was also in the thick of things in the 2023-24 season, when Gujarat faced heavyweight Karnataka in the second round match in Ahmedabad. With a paltry target of 110, Karnataka were cruising at 50/0 when Siddharth began his quest. Within a span of 12 balls, he had the top three of Mayank Agarawal, Devdutt Padikkal and Nikin Jose in the dugout and then got the wicket of veteran Manish Pandey.
His spell sparked a dramatic collapse as Karnataka went from 50/0 to 74/5 for 103 all out. Desai finished with figures of 7-42 establishing a thrilling 6-run victory. On Thursday, he improved two wickets and was one step away from a rare record.
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