Ranji roundup: Pandey misses double ton, Gopal hits hundred for Karnataka

Manish Pandey (193) missed out on a double hundred even as Shreyas Gopal (124) hit his second first class century as Karnataka took a healthy 213-run first innings lead over Madhya Pradesh in their Group A Ranji Trophy cricket contest, on Thursday.

Resuming at 214 for three, Karnataka ended day three at a formidable 516 for eight in reply to Madhya Pradesh’s 303 all out at Holkar Cricket Stadium.

Abhimanyu Mithun (22) and Udit Patel (0) will resume Karnataka’s innings on Friday. Pandey, who started the day at individual score of 92, lost his overnight partner Karun Nair (36) in the seventh over of the day when paceman Puneet Datey had the latter caught by Saransh Jain.

Wicket-keeper Chidambaram Gautham (5) also went back without scoring much but Gopal went about his business with quite impressively as he raised a huge 192-run stand with Pandey for the sixth wicket.

Yogesh Rawat not only broke the stand but also denied Pandey his double ton by having the young batsman caught behind. Pandey’s 193-run knock came off 351 balls with 15 boundaries, including a six.

Gopal went on to score his second first class hundred, scoring 124 before becoming the third victim of Rawat in the fag end of the day. He hit 13 shots to the fence.

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 Group B cricket match on Thursday.

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.

The foundation of the victory was, however, laid by Mundhe. His six wickets cost merely 38 runs in 13.4 overs, an effort which left Rajasthan in dire straits.

Aristh Singhvi was the highest scorer for Rajasthan with 19 runs even as seven of the visiting batsmen departed without touching the double digit mark.

Set a small target, Maharashtra literally sailed through with Gugule’s innings being the best.

Anshul Gupta struck an unbeaten century to guide Services to 219/4 in their Group C Ranji Trophy match against Goa on Thursday. Responding to Goa’s first-innings total of 304 all out, Services trailed by 85 runs with six wickets remaining when stumps were drawn on the third day at the Palam A Ground Model Sports Complex.

Resuming on their overnight score of 28/2, Services rode on Gupta’s 226-ball 110 and and Hardik Sethi’s unbeaten 59 to inch closer to the visitors’ total. The two batsmen were in the middle at close of play. Saurav Bandekar and Gauresh Gawas picked up two wickets each for Goa.

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 Trophy Group B cricket match on Thursday.

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.

Saurashtra still need 333 runs to earn the first innings lead, something that is unlikely to happen on the final day on Friday.

Akshay Wakhare took three wickets for Vidarbha while Shrikant Wagh picked a couple.

PTI