Ranji Trophy: Manan Sharma spins Delhi to big win

Starting the day at 25 for one, none of the Odisha batsmen showed any guts to fight it out on a pitch where batting was certainly difficult but not impossible. Left-arm spinner Manan, with match-haul of 8/33 including a 6/24 in the
second innings, put it aptly.

“It was difficult to gauge which way the bowl would turn and the amount of turn. So rather than trying to give it a
tweak, we tried to bowl wicket to wicket and we knew that something would happen. You can’t call it was a difficult
track as our team scored 353 on the same track,” Manan, son of former India player and Delhi stalwart Ajay Sharma said.

Delhi now play three away games but with 30 points in their kitty after five matches, the team is almost through to the quarter-finals for the first time after the 2009-10 season.

Brief Scores: Delhi 1st Innings 353. Odisha 118 in 62.1 overs (Navdeep Saini 3/22, Varun Sood 3/16) & 85 in 39.1 overs (Manan Sharma 6/24). Delhi won by an innings & 150 runs.

Maharashtra outplay Rajasthan, win with ease

Pacer Shrikant Mundhe ripped through Rajasthan’s line-up as Maharashtra thrashed the visiting side nine wickets on an eventful third day of their Ranji Trophy match.

Overnight 274 for nine in their first innings, Maharashtra folded without adding anything to their tally before bowling out Rajasthan for 106.

Chasing a paltry target of 103, the home team romped home in 19.3 overs with opener Swapnil Gugale smashing an unbeaten 66-ball 56, which included seven fours and a six.

Brief Scores: Rajasthan: 270 & 106 Maharashtra: 274 & 105/1 in 19.3 overs (Swapnil Gugule 56 not out).

Jiwanjot, Kaul half centuries take Punjab to 219/4

Openers Jiwanjot Singh and Uday Kaul hit half centuries as Punjab reached 219 for 4 in their first innings in reply to Gujarat’s mammoth 513 for 8 on the third day of their Ranji Trophy match.

Jiwanjot (76) and Kaul (77) shared 153 runs for the opening wicket in 66.6 overs to give a strong foundation of Punjab reply at the Sardar Patel Stadium at Motera.

But, once the duo were out in quick succession, Punjab struggled, with captain Mandeep Singh and India discard Yuvraj Singh dismissed cheaply for 27 and 14 respectively.

Brief Scores: Gujarat: 513 for 8 dec Punjab: 219 for 4 in 98 overs (Jiwanjot Singh 76, Uday Kaul 77; Rujul Bhatt 2/32).

Pujara stikes ton on domestic return

Cheteshwar Pujara made a century on his domestic return but Saurashtra still face a steep climb to overcome Vidharba’s massive first innings total in the Ranji match.

Saurashtra, resuming at 20 for 2, were 251 for five at stumps on day three in reply to Vidarbha’s 583 for nine.

Pujara, who was disappointing against Australia in the Test series, was back amongst the runs with a solid 114 off
223 balls. Opener Sagar Jogiyani scored 81 and shared a crucial 185-run stand with Pujara.

Brief scores: Vidarbha 583/9 dec Saurashtra (Cheteshwar Pujara 114, Sagar Jogiyani 81; Akshay Wakhare (3/61), Shrikant Wagh 2/54).