Vadodara: Pacer Munaf Patel's six-wicket haul helped Baroda humiliate Services in an emphatic innings and 147 runs win after the visiting side was sent packing for just 31 in its second essay on day three in their Ranji Trophy Group B encounter here today.
Responding to Baroda's first innings total of 369 after being bowled out for 191 in their own first essay, Services were demolished by the pace combination of Munaf and Gagandeep Singh, who took four in this innings. Baroda, who pocketed the bonus point as well to take a total of seven from this match, now have 14 points overall from two wins and three losses.
Services, in contrast, are bottom of the heap after two losses and four draws. Overnight 2/1, Services produced a shocking batting performance as half of their line-up departed without disturbing the scorecard.
Vishnu Tiwari was the lone batsman to touch the double-digit mark with his 14. In fact, the innings extras of 7 were the next big contributors to the Services' embarrassing scoreline. Munaf was the star of the show for Baroda with a match haul of 10 wickets. His figures this innings read an enviable 6 for 13 from 10 overs, four of them maiden.
Brief Scores: Baroda: 369. Services: 191 and 31 in 20 overs (Munaf Patel 6/13, Gagandeep Singh 4/11).
Bengal posts emphatic win over UP
Bengal posts emphatic win over UP
Kolkata: Pacer Ashok Dinda returned to his elements with a magnificent seven for 82, and a match haul of 10, to set up Bengal's emphatic eight-wicket win over Uttar Pradesh with more than a day to spare in their Group B Ranji Trophy league here today.
A day after Bengal skipper Laxmi Ratan Shukla turned it around for Bengal with his belligerent century, Dinda, who had taken two wickets to leave UP tottering at 50 for three in their overnight score, exploited the Eden green top to the fullest enroute to his 7/82, his first five-for this season.
Dinda was brilliantly supported by Sourav Sarkar (3/33) as the former India pacer bowled an unchanged spell of 12.4 overs in a brilliant display of seam bowling to skittle out the Group B leaders for 140, giving the hosts a paltry 69 to chase.
Bengal had the bonus point in sight as they promoted Abhimanyu Easwaran to open the innings with Gitimoy Basu as regular opener Arindam Das was down with a sore back. Debutant Abhimanyu looked elegant but Bengal's hope of posting a 10-wicket win was shattered when Basu got out chasing down a wide delivery.
Sayan Sekhar Mondal (21 not out) and Sudip Chatterjee (11 not out) completed the formality to hand Bengal their first win of the season with a full session and a day to spare. Even as the win came in their penultimate league match, the six points revived Bengal's quarter-final hopes as they moved to 18 points to have an outside chance of making the knockout stage.
Bengal will now have to produce yet another win in Tamil Nadu in their last league match from December 30 to keep their hopes of advancing to the next stage alive. Earlier, the visitors were clearly on the back foot as they started the day on the back of Dinda's two-wicket blitz yesterday.
With no positive intent from the UP overnight duo of Mulul Dagar and Prashant Gupta, Bengal skipper Shukla persisted with the Dinda-Sarkar attack. Sarkar did not disappoint his captain as he gave the first breakthrough of the morning castling Dagar in the ninth over of the day to leave UP reeling at 67 for four.
Dinda made his presence felt when Chatterjee took a stunning flying catch at second slip to dismiss Gupta, the other overnight batsman with an addition of two runs to the total. On a roll, Dinda took Ekalavya Dwivedi in his next over when the wicketkeeper-batsman top edged while trying to pull but only to be caught by the bowler.
Dinda scalped his fifth deceiving Parvinder Singh with a classical out swinger and in the next ball he trapped UP skipper Piyush Chawla lbw, which brought in the tailenders. The Bengal's bowling duo continued for 34th over before Shukla made the first change by bringing in veteran Shib Shankar Paul in place of Sarkar, even as Dinda continued unrelenting at the other end.
Ali Murtaza (41 not out) counter attacked Bengal with Paul bowling.
Sarkar was brought back again and the seamer yet again gave the breakthrough ending the 35-run partnership between Murtaza and Ahmed, trapping the latter on the back foot. With his newly-wedded wife cheering from the VIP box, Dinda dismissed RP Singh to cap a match haul of 10 for 157, and was adjudged the man-of-the-match.
"From the beginning, we went all out for a victory and it feels happy to have contributed to the win. I just kept it simple and it worked. I am thankful to Sarkar who lent a fine support at the other end," Dinda said.
Skipper Shukla, who was the man behind Bengal's turnaround with an aggressive 117 in the first innings, said his team would have to keep up the same intensity when they face Tamil Nadu at the Chepauk. "We have always been a good side. It's just we have been done in by some poor sessions this season. We will have to win once again and for that we have to be in the same tempo," Shukla said at the post match presser.
Brief Scores: Uttar Pradesh: 212 & 140 (Ali Murtaza 43 not out; Ashok Dinda 7/82, Sourav Sarkar 3/33). Bengal: 284 & 70 for two.
Mumbai in drivers' seat against Odisha
Mumbai in drivers' seat against Odisha
Mumbai: Defending champions Mumbai placed themselves in a strong position for a victory over Odisha after reducing the visiting side to 115 for two after following on on day three of their Group A Ranji Trophy match here today.
Despite opener Natraj Behera's valiant 130, Odisha could not avoid the follow on as they folded up for 256 soon after lunch, in reply to Mumbai's huge first innings total of 501/9 declared. Batting for the second time in the day, Odisha batsmen applied themselves and the new opening pair of Govind Podder and Girjia Rout looked tentative but stitched an 83-run stand for the first wicket.
But the visitors lost both the openers in a short span of time. Podder, who was dropped on 14 by wicket-keeper Aditya Tare, made 42 (6x4) before he caught behind off off Pravin Tambe. Rout was stumped, also off the bowling of Tambe after scoring 43 (6x4, 1x6).
Natraj (20) and one-down batter Niranjan Behera (9) were at the crease at the draw of stumps, with their team still 130 runs behind Mumbai's first innings total with eight second innings wickets intact. The 42-year old leg-spinner Tambe, playing his debut match, was wicketless in the first innings but scalped two wickets in Odisha's second innings so far.
Resuming their first innings at 79 for 3, Odisha lost four wickets in the first session. In the morning session, Natraj slammed his second ton of the season, the previous being against Delhi in the last game. Odisha's innings was wrapped up in 63.5 overs and Natraj batted till 60.5 overs. His 255 minutes at the crease yielded 24 fours and two sixes.
Despite losing wickets at the other end, Natraj, who resumed batting at his overnight score of 45, was resilient and tried to attack to the opposition. He extracted 20 runs off left-arm spinner Vishal Dabholkar's over by hitting two fours and two sixes.
Natraj, who was on 63 when Odisha lost their seventh wicket, forged a 77-stand with Basant Mohanty to consolidate the innings. With Odisha at 227 for 8 when Natraj departed, Mohanty later chipped in with a useful 29, with five fours and a six, before being dismissed by Dabholkar to signal the end of Odisha's first innings.
Captain Biplab Samantray (39), who shared a 50-run partnership with Natraj, made his intent clear when he hit Shardul Thakur for four consecutive boundaries. He, however, perished while attacking the bowler in his next over. Samantray made a quick 33-ball 39 which was laced with four boundaries.
Javed Khan was the pick of the bowlers for Mumbai in Odisha's first innings with four wickets for 53 runs, while Shardul Thakur grabbed three wickets for 54 runs. Dabholkar picked up two wickets and Kshemal Waingankar bagged one.
Brief Scores: Mumbai: 501 for 9 decl. Odisha: 256 all out (Natraj Behera 130; Javed Khan 4/53) and 115 for 2 (Govind Podder 42; Girjia Rout 43; Pravin Tambe 2/52).
Kerala-Maharashtra game evenly poised
Kerala-Maharashtra game evenly poised
Kannur: Kerala were ahead by 143 runs with six wickets remaining in their second essay against Maharashtra by the end of third day's play, leaving the Group 'C' Ranji Trophy match here evenly poised.
At stumps on the penultimate day, Kerala were 306 for four with skipper Sachin Baby (54 batting) and Robert Fernandez (29 batting) at the crease. Maharashtra had scored 314 in their first innings, thereby taking a 163-run lead over the hosts who were bowled out for 151 in their first innings.
Opener Nikhilesh Surendran top-scored for Kerala in their second essay with a fine 159-ball 83, while Sanju Samson made an equally impressive 66 off 136 balls at the Conor Vayal Stadium. Off-spinner Chirag Khurana was the most successful bowler for Maharashtra, returning with figures of 2/81.
Brief Scores: Kerala 151 and 306 for 4 in 100 overs (Nikhilesh Surendran 83, Sanju Samson 66, Sachin Baby 54 batting; Chirag Khurana 2/81). Maharashtra: 314 all out in 109.2 overs (Harshad Khadiwale 97, Akshay Darekar 52; V Manoharan 4/60).
Gangta hits 115 but HP concedes 1st inngs lead to Andhra
Gangta hits 115 but HP concedes 1st inngs lead to Andhra
Visakhapatnam: Nikhil Gangta (115) cracked a fine century but still could not save Himachal Pradesh from conceding a 112-run first innings lead to Andhra Pradesh on the third day of their Group C Ranji Trophy match at Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium here today.
Gangta blasted 13 boundaries and six sixes in his 251-ball innings and added 152 runs for the ninth wicket with Vikramjeet Malik (83) to help Himachal post 305 in their first innings. Malik had eight hits to the fence and five sixes in his 108-ball innings. For Andhra, DP Vijay kumar (4/90) and GVS Prasad (3/77) shared seven wickets between them, while D Shivkumar (1/42) scalped one.
Andhra, who had scored 417 runs in their first innings, were 39 for one in their second essay with DB Prasanth and MUB Sriram on 15 and 10 respectively at the draw of stumps. The only wicket to fall for Andhra was KS Bharat (9), who was trapped infront of wicket by Rahul Dhawan in the 8th over.
Resuming their first innings at 24/3, Himachal Pradesh lost Jarnail Singh (22) in the 19th over when he was adjudged lbw off Vijay Kumar's bowling. Prasad then got rid off V Bhatia (18) in the 34th over. Prasad again came back later to dismiss skipper Rahul Dhawan (19) and Bipul Sharma (25). A Bhalaik too was ran out by RK Bhui as HP slipped to 152 for eight in 54.2 overs.
Gangta and Malik then steadied the ship and took HP across the 300-mark.
Brief Score: Andhra: 417 & 39/1 (DB Prasanth 15; R Dhawan 1/15). HP: 305 all out in 80.4 overs (N Gangta 115; DP Vijaykumar 4/90).
RP Singh gets five wicket haul
RP Singh gets five wicket haul
Kolkata: In a comeback bid to Team India, RP Singh today registered his first five-wicket haul in their match against Bengal but the Uttar Pradesh pacer said he is not looking too far ahead.
"The selection issue is secondary at the moment. It's not in my hands. I'm just focusing about taking UP into the next stage," the left-arm pacer, who bagged 5/77 to bundle out Bengal for 284, said.
"I've been bowling well this season but it's good to get my first five-for. I just look forward to carry on with the momentum."
RP pulled his left hamstring in the run-up to the third ball of his third over of the day as he pulled himself out of the field.
"It's muscle pull that will take three-four days to heal. I just did not want to aggravate so pulled myself back."
Piyush Chawla after being hit by Laxmi Ratan Shukla yesterday had a bruised left shoulder but RP said the UP skipper would be fit for the next match.
RP's effort went in vain as their batsmen put up a meek show to be bundled out for 140 in their second essay to hand Bengal an eight-wicket victory with more than a day to spare.
The UP pacer, however, said the loss would not hurt much as they still are in joint lead in group B with Railways on 20 points each.
"We have had two wins including one with a bonus point. We have two more matches to go and both are at home. We are still comfortable to go all the way," RP said.
He further said it's a welcome sign that Ranji matches were turning out to be result oriented these days.
"Six-seven years ago, we used to see only draws with first innings lead but these days with green tops and lively wickets we get to see results within four days.
"One team has at least two wins every year which is a positive sign for the Indian cricket," RP said.
Singh's ton helps J&K tighten noose on Assam
Singh's ton helps J&K tighten noose on Assam
Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir tightened the noose on Assam on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Group 'C' tie by taking a 164-run first innings lead with the help of a stroke-filled 170 by Ian Dev Singh at the Gandhi Memorial Science College here today.
Riding on Singh's century, Jammu, who were struggling at 164 for five, made 427 having bowled out the visitors for 263 in the first innings.
At stumps, Assam were 156 for 6 in their second innings, trailing by eight runs, with Gokul Sharma (32 batting) and skipper Abu Nechim Ahmed (32 batting) at the crease.
Earlier, Singh was in his elements and looked solid, hitting 14 fours and three sixes en route his superb innings.
He was supported well by Samiullah Beigh who went on to make 164-ball 65, forging a crucial 132-run partnership for the sixth wicket with him.
Assam bowlers did not look lethal as Singh anchored the innings to perfection and took his team past 400.
Medium pacer Arup Das was the most successful bowler for the visitors, ended up taking five for 79.
In their second innings, Assam got off to a poor start losing the wicket of opener Abhijit Roy for nought.
J&K's pace duo of Ram Dayal and Beigh rocked the visitors' top and middle-order batting line-up to leave them reeling at 75 for five.
Gokul held one end, and together in the company of Ahmed, steered the team to 156 for 6.
Brief Scores: Assam: 263 & 156 for 6 in 43 overs (Gokul Sharma 32 batting; Ram Dayal 2/35)
Jammu and Kashnmir: 427 all out in 129 overs (Ian Dev Singh 170, Samiullah Beigh 65; Arup Das 5/79).
Rohit hits ton as Goa vs Hyd match heads for draw
Rohit hits ton as Goa vs Hyd match heads for draw
Porvorim (Goa): Rohit Asnodkar hit a patient 103 as Goa gave a strong reply to Hyderabad's 514/6, scoring 273/5 in their first innings on the penultimate day of the four-day Ranji Trophy league C match at Academy Ground here today.
After Hyderabad batsmen made merry on the dormant pitch to post 514/6 before declaring their first innings, Goa resumed the day on overnight score of nine for no loss.
The home team scored 273/5 in 97 overs at the draw of stumps with H H Gadekar and D W Misal batting on 10 and 4 respectively.
Hyderabad got an early breakthrough when G H Vihari dismissed S A Asnodkar (9) with the batsman edging the ball to wicket-keeper Habeeb Ahmed.
Sagun Kamat (4) too fell in a similar fashion, caught by Habeeb off Alfred Absolem with 26 runs on the board, before opener A S Desai stopped the collapse with his patient 95 runs for the third wicket. He fell to Ravi Kiran, caught by T Suman for 71, after hitting 10 fours and one six in 155 balls.
Thereafter, the visitors had to toil hard until after tea when Ravi Kiran struck twice in quick succession to put Goa under pressure.
Rohit Asnodkar, after completing a century, became Ravi Kiran's second victim, caught by B P Sandeep, with Goa's score at 254.
Four runs later, Ravi Kiran again struck when he got rid of well-settled Keenan Vaz (58) to finish with three wickets.
Asnodkar, who made 103, added 123 runs for the fourth wicket along with Keenan Vaz, hitting 15 fours in 227 balls.
Delhi crush Vidarbha by an innings & 156 runs as Nehra takes 9
Delhi crush Vidarbha by an innings & 156 runs as Nehra takes 9
New Delhi: Hosts Delhi extracted maximum benefit from conducive conditions as they thrashed Vidarbha by an innings and 156 runs in a Ranji Trophy group league encounter to get seven points which kept their hopes of making the knockout stages alive.
Declaring on their overnight score of 448 for nine, Delhi pacers Ashish Nehra (3/66), Sumit Narwal (3/52) and Parvinder Awana (3/29) bowled well in tandem as they shot out Vidarbha for 204 in their second innings.
Nehra was adjudged man-of-the-match by match referee Sanjay Patil for his all-round performance with match-figures of 9/82 and an attacking 57 that had four sixes.
In-form opener Faiz Fazal (90) played a counter-attacking innings but that wasn't enough for the visitors to erase a huge deficit of 360 runs.
The match started 50 minutes late due to foggy conditions and Nehra again got a breakthrough in his very first over as he trapped opener Akshay Kolhar leg before with a delivery that came into the batsman.
Ravi Jangid (4) poked at an away going delivery from Nehra after which Parvinder Awana took three quick wickets to reduce Vidarbha to 40 for five.
Awana bowled fast and straight as he got Shalabh Srivastava to offer a catch to Rajat Bhatia at short-leg and then took a fine return catch to get rid of Rashmi Ranjan Parida (1).
At the stroke of lunch, he cleaned up burly Ranjit Paradkar (0).
However Fazal, in company of wicketkeeper Urvesh Patel (34), added 106 runs for the sixth wicket to delay the inevitable. Since Gautam Gambhir had employed an attacking field, Shalabh got a lot of gaps in front of the square as he hit 16 boundaries in his 164-ball knock.Finally, Narwal broke the deadlock as he got Urvesh to edge one to Unmukt Chand in the slip cordon at the stroke of tea.
Delhi marched closer towards victory when Nehra got rid of Jungade to take his ninth victim of the match while wily Narwal got one to move away dismissing Fazal who nicked it to Rahul Yadav behind the stumps.
At 151 for eight, it was Shrikant Wagh (44, 33 balls, 10x4) who threw his bat around to take the score past 200 run mark before part-time spinner Mithun Manhas closed the match as Virender Sehwag took a smart catch diving to his right in the first slip.
"It was a good win and has kept us in the mix for the quarter-finals. I believe that we would need to get another outright win against Punjab," chief coach Sanjeev Sharma said at the end of the match.
Sharma stated that the team would like to play their final two matches at the Roshanara although there is a possibility that the match will be shifted at the Kotla.
Brief Scores: Vidarbha 88 & 204 in 63.1 overs (Faiz Fazal 90, Ashish Nehra 3/66, Sumit Narwal 3/52, Parvinder Awana 3/29) lost to Delhi 448/9 decl. Points: Delhi 7; Vidarbha 0.
Merai century takes Gujarat to 314/4 against Haryana
Merai century takes Gujarat to 314/4 against Haryana
Ahmedabad: Bhargav Merai struck a fine century to take Gujarat to a respectable 314 for four in reply to Haryana's massive 573 for six declared in the first innings as the Ranji Trophy Group A match between the two teams headed for a draw on the third day here today.
Merai was batting on 115 off 216 deliveries, hitting 15 fours and two sixes in the process, at the draw of stumps at the Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera.
Gujarat, who resumed the day on 27 for one, were struggling at 96 for three at one stage before Merai played the rescue act with a solid batting performance.
Y Venugopal Rao was giving Merai company on 64 and the duo has so far put on 147 runs for the unbroken fifth wicket stand.
The home side trail by 259 runs with six first innings wickets remaining.
With just one day left, the match is set to end in a draw but it will be interesting to see tomorrow whether Gujarat can go past the massive 573 scored by Haryana or not.
Both sides would look to take the first innings lead to get more points from the match now that it's improbable to get an outright result.
For Haryana, leg-spinner Amit Mishra grabbed two wickets while Ashish Hooda took one.
Brief Scores:
Haryana: 573 for 6 decl
Gujarat: 314 for 4 from 97 overs (Bhargav Merai 115 batting; Amit Mishra 2/88).
