Trials and travails
Saurashtra happens to be the only team this season that had an “all games away’ schedule. They started from the heights of Dharamshala, came down to less chilly but certainly wintry Delhi and moved to Jaipur for the first three games. This was followed by their biggest journey of the season — a 2112 kms journey down to Mysore. Saurashtra played the quarter finals at Mumbai, celebrated new year at home and got knocked out in the semi-final at Baroda. All that meant they logged roughly 7000 kms for the season. But not once did any of the players complain of jet leg, airlines delay or getting stranded at the airport. They couldn’t have. Team Saurashtra travel by train.
Gujarat won the Plate final on an empty stomach. With Railways bowlers threatening to run through their rivals and Gujarat making a mountain of the 150 runs molehill target, the dressing room was tense. Gujarat captain Parthiv Patel recalls: “We skipped lunch, we didn’t change the position in which we sat and not a word was uttered during the final stages of the game.” But with the score reading 131/7 and Railways getting a sniff of victory, there was a lot being said on the field. Gujarat leggie Jay Desai, who scored the most important 17 runs of his young career, says Murali Kartik and Sanjay Bangar did their best to psyche him. “Things they said, I can’t repeat,” is Desai’s way of describing sledging.
But Desai had a final say and the last laugh too. After hitting a four off Kartik, the 20-year-old found his voice. “ Jaa ball leke aa,” he said to the veteran. Moments later he was perched on the shoulders of his teammates as Gujarat had won the Plate final.
With domestic cricket still getting used to 15 camera live telecasts, a few slip-ups are always on the cards. The in-camera toss for the Ranji semi-final between Baroda and Delhi at Indore saw match referee Rajendra Jadeja from Saurashtra in a head-tail confusion. Delhi skipper Gautam Gambhir flipped the coin and his counterpart Connor Williams called heads. Heads it was, but Jadeja announced it was tails. Connor was shocked but the presence of television commentator and a veteran of such occasions, Arun Lal, saved the day. Lal’s intervention ended the confusion as Connor opted to bat.

... contd.