Ranji Trophy round-up: Karnataka, Mumbai in close fight, Meghalaya and Uttarakhand in command

Shivam Dubey ended up with a highly creditable seven-wicket haul for 63 runs.

In reply, Mumbai made 99 for 2 by stumps on day two, still 301 runs in arrears, with Jay Bista cracking an unbeaten 69.

Mumbai lost opener Akhil Herwadkar (5) early but his partner Bista hit 11 fours to remain unbeaten after facing 111 balls.

In Nagpur, vetetan Wasim Jaffer (153), skipper Faiz Fazal (151) and wicket-keeper batsman Akshay Wadkar (102 not out) steered reigning champions Vidarbha to a massive 529 for 6 declared against Baroda who replied with 41 for no loss.

In Raipur, Chhattisgarh managed to restrict Railways to 132 for 4 after putting on 300 in their first innings.

Brief Scores: At Belagavi: Karnataka 400 all out (Siddharth K V 161, Shreyas Gopal 48, Shivam Dube 7-53) vs Mumbai 99/2 (Jay Bista 69 not out, Abhimanyu Mithun 1-22).

At Raipur: Chhattisgarh 300 all out (Harpreet Singh Bhatia 79, Amandeep Khare 54, Manjeet Chaudhary 4-85) v Railways 132/4 (Pratham Singh 56 not out, Arindam Ghosh 34, Pankaj Rao 2-27).

At Nadiad: Gujarat 324 all out (R B Kalaria 91 not out, Manprit Juneja 66, Chetan Sakariya 5-83) v Saurashtra 221/3 (H Desai 79 not out, Snell Patel 62).

At Nagpur: Vidarbha 529/6 Declared (Wasim Jaffer 153, Faiz Fazal 151, Akshay Wadkar 102 not out; Lukman Meriwala 2-79) against Baroda 41/0.

RANJI-GROUP B: TN reaches 122 for 3 after restricting Andhra to 216

Tamil Nadu made 122 for 3 in 50 overs at stumps on the second day after bowling out Andhra for 216 in the first innings of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group ‘B’ match on Wednesday.

Only 140 runs were scored from around 60 overs of play possible before bad light ended proceedings on the day.

Resuming at 198 for 8, Andhra’s innings ended for the addition of 18 runs. Girinath Reddy, overnight 69, scored 86.

Medium-pacer M Mohammed (4/70) and left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore (3/29) were the main wicket-takers.

Sai Kishore and T Natarajan (3/36) wrapped up the host innings by removing B Ayyappa and Imandi Karthik Raman, both failing to open their account.

Tamil Nadu was provided a solid start by the experienced Abhinav Mukund and M Kaushik Gandhi as the duo added 70 runs for the first wicket.

Mukund, who scored a ton in the previous match against Hyderabad, stroked some fluent boundaries, before being the first man to go, leg-before to Ayyappa for 31.

Kaushik Gandhi (38, 7X4) went 10 runs later, edging Girinath Reddy to ‘keeper Siva Charan Singh.

Skipper Baba Indrajith fell for a 28-ball 7, giving Siva Charan Singh his second catch off Karthik Raman’s bowling.

Baba Aparajith (27 batting, 80 balls, 4X4) and N Jagadeesan (8 batting) ensured that the visiting team didn’t suffer any further losses before bad light brought an early halt to the day’s proceedings.

Brief scores: Andhra 216 all out in 89.5 overs (Girinath Reddy 86 not out, Jyothisaikrishna 58, M Mohammed 4 for 70, T Natarajan 3 for 36, Sai Kishore 3 for 29) vs Tamil Nadu 122 for 3 in 50 overs (M Kaushik Gandhi 38).

At Indore: Punjab 293 all out in 84.4 overs (Jiwanjot Singh 124, Gurkeerat Mann 66, Kuldeep Sen 5 for 62, Avesh Khan 4 for 77) vs Madhya Pradesh 186 for 2 in 76 overs (Rajat Patidar 63 batting, Naman Ojha 46 batting).

At Hyderabad: Hyderabad 460 all out in 170.3 overs (Tanmay Agarwal 120, T Ravi Teja 115 not out, Himalay Agarwal 66, C V Milind 58, Gourav Kumar 3 for 50) vs Delhi 21 for no loss in 7 overs.

RANJI-GROUP C: Rajasthan fight back against Jharkhand

Rajasthan conceded the first innings lead to Jharkhand but remained in the hunt for victory in their Elite Group C Ranji Trophy game on Wednesday.

Rajasthan, who were bundled out for a paltry 100 in the first essay, performed better in the second to make 127 for 4 at stumps on day 2, after skittling out Jharkhand for 152.

Robin Bist made 45 after the other top-three Rajasthan batsmen failed.

Ashok Menaria (25 not out) and Rajesh Bishnoi Jr (13 not out) held fort as Rajasthan would look to extend the lead, which stands at 75 now.

Earlier, Jharkhand resumed the second day at 92 for 5 and overhauled Rajasthan’s score with Ishan Jaggi making a fighting 79 in 131 balls with 10 fours.

For Rajasthan, T M Haq was the pick of the bowlers to return with figures of 6 for 42.

At Guwahati, Odisha were on top with Assam tottering at 60 for 4 in their second outing and still trailing by 59 runs.

At Rohtak, Haryana held the upper hand when they managed to bundle out Goa for 177 after putting on 276 in their first innings.

At Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir held the advantage after putting up 442 on the board in the first innings against Tripura, who trailed by 307 runs.

Brief Scores:

At Ranchi: Rajasthan 100 all out and 127/4 (Robin Bist 45, Ashok Menaria 25 not out; Anukul Roy 2-28) v Jharkhand 152 (Ishank Jaggi 79; T M Haq 6-52)

At Guwahati: Assam 121 all out and 60/4 (Sibsankar Roy 20 not out, Rajesh Mohanty 3-25) v Odisha 240 (Anurag Sarangi 77, Biplab Samantaray 61; Ranjeet Mali 6-80).

At Rohtak: Haryana 276 all out (Himanshu Rana 86, Nitin Saini 64; Krishna Das 6-75) v Goa 177 all out (Sagun Kamat 68; Poonish Mehta 4-21).

At Srinagar: Tripura 124 and 11/0 v Jammu and Kashmir 442 all out (Ahmed Bandy 136, Irfan Pathan 85; Harmeet Singh 5-91).

At New Delhi (Palam): Services 260 all out (Devender Lohchab 75, Nitin Tanwar 39; Shivam Mavi 4-44) v Uttar Pradesh 265-5 (Priyam Garg 88, Aksh Deep Nath 56; Diwesh Gurdev Pathania 3-64).

RANJI-PLATE: Meghalaya, Uttarakhand in command

Meghalaya put up a spirited bowling show to tighten their grip over Nagaland in their Ranji Trophy Plate group match on Wednesday.

Resuming on 338/5, Meghalaya managed to add just 51 runs this morning as Nagaland left-arm pacer Pawan Suyal returned with 5/96.

In reply, Meghalaya trio of Gurinder Singh (4/37), Aditya Singhania (3/12) and Lakhan Singh (3/23) shot out Nagaland for a paltry 106 runs in 46.3 overs before enforcing follow-on.

At close, Nagaland were 31 for no loss in their second innings, trailing Meghalaya by 252 runs.

Playing at their adopted home venue in Bhubaneshwar, Sikkim found themselves on the backfoot to be on 49/3 in reply to Uttarakhand’s huge 582/9 declared.

It was a tale of two youngsters as Saurabh Rawat (220) and Vaibhav Bhatt (152 not out) smashed their career-best scores to put Uttarakhand in command in the top of the table clash.

The 20-year-old Rawat hit 14 boundaries and six sixes in his knock from 381 balls in their 231-run fifth wicket partnership with Bhatt.

Playing his second first class match, 22-year-old Bhatt played a perfect fiddle as Sikkim bowlers had a tough outing. Bhatt’s unbeaten knock came from 275 balls and included 13 fours.

Uttarakhand skipper Rajat Bhatia claimed two wickets in an over as Sikkim ended the day with 533 runs in arrears.

It was a washout for the second successive day in Puducherry. Bihar won the toss and opted to field against the home team, but no play could be possible due to heavy rain.

Brief Scores

In Bhubaneshwar: Uttarakhand 582/9 declared; 163 overs (Saurabh Rawat 220, Vaibhav Bhatt 152 not out, Rajat Bhatia 121; Ishwar Chaudhary 4/105). Sikkim 49/3; 20 overs (Nilesh Lamichaney 23 batting, Milind Kumar 12 batting; Bhatia 2/2)

In Jorhat: Mizoram 219 and 34 for no loss; 13 overs. Manipur 319; 87 overs (Yashpal Singh 156, Prafullomani Singh 51; Lalhmingmawia 3/88).

In Shillong: Meghalaya 389; 110.2 overs (Yogesh Nagar 166, Raj Biswa 111; Pawan Suyal 5/96, Jala Uddin 3/33). Nagaland 106; 46.3 overs (Gurinder Singh 4/37, Aditya Singhania 3/12, Lakhan Singh 3/23) and 31 for no loss; 10 overs.