On Wednesday, Saurashtra captain Jaydev Shah announced his retirement from all formats of the game. Shah, who played a scintillating knock of 165 in his previous Ranji Trophy 2018-19 game against Baroda, will play his final match against Karnataka when Round 5 begins on Thursday at the SCA stadium in Rajkot.
Including his last match against Karnataka, Shah, who also happens to be the son of former BCCI secretary and administrator Niranjan Shah, will be leading the squad in his 108th Ranji Trophy match as captain – the only player to lead in over 100 games in Ranji history.
Under Shah’s captaincy, who will play his 120th first-class match, Saurashtra finished the runners-up in the Ranji Trophy 2012-13 and 2015-16 seasons. They clinched the Vijay Hazare Trophy in the 2007-08 season – their maiden national title.
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However, this wasn’t the first time Jaydev was picked by any team in the cash-rich league, he rubbed the shoulders with some of the big players during his stint with Rajasthan Royals (RR) in 2008 during their triumph before Mumbai Indians (MI) snaffled him through transfer window in the next season. In 2011, Deccan Chargers picked him then in 2011 before going back to Mumbai franchise again during the 2016 IPL auction.
Saurashtra's Jaydev Shah has announced his retirement from cricket.
Tomorrow's #RanjiTrophy match #SauvKar will be his…
– 120th fc match
– 119th Ranji Trophy match (+ 1 for IndA)
– 108th Ranji Trophy match as captain (the only player to lead in over 100 games in Ranji history!) https://t.co/Ju4uJHeJpr— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) December 5, 2018
In his career of almost 120 first-class matches, Shah has scored 5253 runs at an average of 29.67 with 10 centuries and 19 fifties to his name. In 2016, he became the first Saurashtra captain to slam a double century in the Ranji Trophy when he smashed 217 against Maharashtra. He had also bagged contracts with Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Deccan Chargers, before now defunct Gujarat Lions signed him for ₹20 lakh in 2016, but he has never played an IPL match.
Despite playing more than 100 first-class matches, Jaydev comparatively struggled in the shorter forms representing his state team only in 60 List A and 36 T20 matches. Even his team would be looking to bid him adieu with an exceptional performance in his final match.
