The scoreboard may suggest a rank turner — even an underprepared pitch — on offer at the Niranjan Shah Stadium C ground for Saurashtra’s final home league game against Punjab. But Saurashtra head coach Niraj Odedra underlined that batters from both sides were more culpable for the two-day finish than the 22-yard strip.

“It was not at all a two-day pitch,” Odedra told The Hindu after Saurashtra won by 194 runs on the second day of the game. “Most of the young batters nowadays are used to playing too aggressively and as a result, very few could apply themselves. We needed two good partnerships and once we had them, our job was done.”

The match was over with 25 minutes remaining in the second day’s play. A total of 722 runs were scored, with 40 wickets falling in just 185.1 overs.

Saurashtra, with 19 points from six games, thus has an outside chance of making it to the quarterfinals as it waits for the fate of the other Group B games. “We are still in contention. We have to repeat our performance in Chandigarh next week (against Chandigarh) and then hope for the best,” Odedra said.

He also confirmed that Ravindra Jadeja, the veteran allrounder, will be unavailable for Saurashtra’s last league game. “He has promised to rejoin the team should we qualify for the quarterfinal. That is an added motivation for the whole group,” Odedra said.