Siddharth had claimed a match-winning 7-42 against Karnataka last season
Gujarat left-arm spinner Siddharth Desai made an immediate impact on Thursday as Ranji Trophy 2024-25 season resumed.
Within the first session of the first day of the match against Uttarakhand, Siddharth registered figures of 9-36 at the Gujarat College Cricket Ground A to wrap up the opponents for 111 within 30 overs.
Siddharth began his rampage from the fifth over the innings itself by sending back opener Priyanshu Khanduri followed by trapping Uttarakhand skipper Ravikumar Samarth for a first-ball duck. He didn’t get a hat-trick but sent back Yuvraj Choudhary off the final ball of the over to Uttarakhand to 15/3. Samarth (514 runs) and Chaudhary (497 runs) are currently their top run-getters this season and seeing them back in the dressing room was a big blow.
Uttarakhand’s misery was further compounded as Siddharth ran through the batting line-up reducing them to 72/6 by 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 batters could play more than 12 deliveries before falling to Siddharth.
Gujarat captain Chintan Gaja capitalised on the momentum by attacking with Siddarth from one end and three others to assist him at the other as he went on to bowl 15 overs, of which five were maidens.
He could’ve become the first Gujarat bowler and seventh Indian to claim all 10 wickets in a First-Class innings, but the final wicket was claimed by Vishal Jayswal.
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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’s 8-21 in the 1960-61 season against Saurashtra.
The Ahmedabad-born spinner made his Ranji debut at the age of 17, much before he was called up to India’s Under-19 side with whom he won the U19 Asia Cup and the U19 World Cup in 2018. He was also the highest wicket taker at the Asia Cup with 18 scalps at an average of 8.44.
His importance for Gujarat’s Ranji side was evident with his first match itself where claimed 6-80 against Kerala in October 2017. Siddharth currently has 159 wickets to his name from 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 from six matches. He is just five short of that tally this year with the latest nine-wicket haul taking him to 25 wickets from six games.
He was also in the thick of things in the 2023-24 season when Gujarat were staring down the barrel against heavyweights Karnataka in the second round match at Ahmedabad. Set a paltry target of 110, Karnataka were cruising at 50/0 when Siddharth began his hunt. Within a span of 12 balls, he had the top three of Mayank Agarawal, Devdutt Padikkal and Nikin Jose in the dug out and then got the wicket of veteran Manish Pandey.
His spell triggered a dramatic collapse as Karnataka went from 50/0 to 74/5 to 103 all out. Desai finished with figures of 7-42 setting up a thrilling victory by 6 runs. On Thursday, he went two wickets better and one step short of a rare record.
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