Ranji wrap: Jadeja helps Saurashtra bag bonus point, Rahil seals thrilling win for Tamil Nadu, Lad revives Mumbai

Rajkot: Riding on a superb all-round performance by Ravindra Jadeja, Saurashtra today thrashed Tripura by an innings and 118 runs to bag a bonus point from their Ranji Trophy Group C game here.

Having already choked the Abhijit Dey-led side to 11 for three while following on at the end of Day 2, left-arm spinner Ravindra (5-45) bagged three more scalps on the final day to skittle out the visitors for 86.

Another young left-arm spinner Dharmendrasinh Jadeja gave his senior partner good support from the other end to bag four wickets.

After posting a respectable 307 while batting first, Saurashtra saw a six-wicket haul from Ravindra to bundle out Tripura for 103.

The left-handed all-rounder, who scored a brilliant 91 with the bat, again turned on the heat on Tripura batsmen to shut them out in well under three days.

Sheldon Jackson, who top-scored for the Jaydev Shah-led side with a superb 97, also shared a crucial 146-run fifth-wicket partnership with Man of the Match Jadeja.

With this win, Saurashtra earned seven points (6+1 bonus).

Brief Scores:

Saurashtra 307

Tripura 103 and 86 (M Murasingh 36; Ravindra Jadeja 5-45, Dharmendra Jadeja 4-12).

Baby, Samson hit tons as Kerala take big lead

Srinagar: Sachin Baby and Sanju Samson struck centuries as Kerala piled up 485 for eight to take a huge 155-run first-innings lead over Jammu and Kashmir in a Group C Ranji Trophy cricket match here today.

Baby made 151 off 321 balls with the help of 21 boundaries and a six, while Samson scored 101 off 171 balls, hitting 16 fours in the process.

Resuming at overnight 158 for two, the two batsmen added 177 runs for the fourth wicket to help Kerala comfortably overtake Jammu and Kashmir’s first-innings total of 330 all out at the Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium.

For Jammu and Kashmir, Ram Dayal picked up three wickets for 79 runs, while Mohammed Mudhasir and Parvez Rasool had two wickets each.

Samarth hits ton as K’taka set 388 target for Assam

Guwahati: Ravikumar Samarth hit a brilliant century to help Karnataka post 394 for eight declared in their second innings and set a massive 388-run target for Assam on day three of the Ranji Trophy Group A cricket tie here today.

At stumps, Assam were reduced to 30 for one in their second innings with Pallavkumar Das batting on 21.

Resuming on 77 for no loss, Karnataka declared their second essay on 394 for eight today with Samarth being the top scorer with 131 off 199 balls, including 12 boundaries.

Mayank Agarwal (47), CM Gautam (44), Shrayas Gopal (41) and Shishir Bhavane (40) also chipped in with crucial runs.

Although Assam had earlier taken a slender seven-run first innings lead, tomorrow the hosts would have to play out of their skins to save the match.

Assam require 358 more runs on the fourth and final day tomorrow with nine wickets remaining.

Brief scores:

Karnataka: 187 & 394 for eight decl. (Ravikumar Samarth 131, Mayank Agarwal 47; Swarupam Purkayastha 3/78).

Assam: 194 & 30 for one in 11.1 overs (Pallavkumar Das batting 21).

Goa takes 1st Innings lead against Hyderabad

Porvorim: Four Goa batsmen struck half centuries to guide the home team to a formidable 349 for 5 in their first innings on Day 3 of the Group C Ranji Trophy cricket match against Hyderabad here today.

Sagun Kamat (81 batting), Darshan Misal (67), Swapnil Asnodkar (53) and Rituraj Singh (59) scored half centuries to hand Goa a 24-run first innings lead so far.

Resuming at their overnight score of 47/1, the Goan batsman batted brilliantly and Kamat (81) and S S Bandekar (5) were holding fort for the side when stumps were drawn for the day.

Brief Scores:

Hyderabad 1st Innings: 325 all out

Goa 1st innings: 349/5 in 114 overs (Sagun Kamat 81batting, Darshan Misal 67, Sudeep Tyagi 2/92).

TN spinners win it against Baroda on rank turner

Chennai: Tamil Nadu’s spin troika of Rahil Shah, DT Chandrasekhar and Malolan Rangarajan took full advantage of a Chepaul track that was turning square from the very first day as they defended a lowly target of 122 beating Baroda by seven runs.

Chasing a victory target of 122, Baroda were shot out for 114 in 35.4 overs as the match ended inside two and half days.

Left-arm spinner Shah took 5/43 in 15.4 overs while offie Malolan Rangarajan grabbed 3/38 in 10 overs. Debutant left-arm spinner Chandrasekhar picked 2/33 as he ended with match-haul of six wickets on debut.

In the match, spinners from either sides snared 36 of the 40 wickets that fell while the pacers accounted for two scalps and the other two being run-outs.

Having prepared a bone dry pitch, which showed signs of cracks on the very first day, the strip could be termed as one which borders on being underprepared as some deliveries were turning at right angles, a few jumped viciously off the rough while some of the others kept low.

The testimony to a below standard pitch was the fact that none of the batsmen from either sides got to a half-century and the highest score was Baroda’s 159 in the first innings.

On the third day, Baroda batsmen found it difficult negotiate the spin trio as Deepak Hooda was the top scorer with 32.

Brief Scores: Tamil Nadu 125 & 155.

Baroda 159 & (target 122) 114 all out in 35.4 overs (Deepak Hooda 32, Rahil Shah 5/43, DT Chandrasekhar 2/33, Malolan Rangarajan 3/38). Pts: TN 6; Baroda 0.

Services thrash Jharkhand by 9 wickets

New Delhi: Riding on pace spearhead Diwesh Pathania’s inspired spell of bowling in the three-day match, Services humbled Jharkhand by nine wickets in a low-scoring Ranji Tophy Group C cricket encounter here today.

Pathania, who bagged 6 and 7 wickets in the first and second innings respectively, made things easy for the hosts, who completed the formalities on the final day after racing to their 77-run target with well over two session of play left.

Services though missed out on the bonus point after skipper Soumik Chatterjee was trapped LBW for 37 this morning.

His opening partner Anshul Gupta remained unbeaten on 34 alongwith Ravi Chauhan (4 not out) to see his team through.

But it was Pathania, who hogged the limelight with a Man of the Match effort as his first innings outing at the Palam ground saw him picking 6 scalps and helping the side pack the visitors for 45 runs.

The Pathankot-born player then took 7 wickets bowl out the Kumar Deobrat-led side for 192 after Services also had a mediocre outing in the first innings – 161 all out.

Services were comfortably placed at 5 for no loss at the end of second day’s play, while chasing 77 for win.

Brief Scores:

Jharkhand: 45 and 192 (Saurabh Tiwary 56, Virat Singh 51; Diwesh Pathania 7-64)

Services: 161 and 78/1 in 29.5 overs (Soumik Chatterjee 37, Anshul Gupta 34 not out; Rahul Shukla 1-26).

Mumbai 158-5 on day 3 after dismissing Andra for 244

Vizianagaram: Siddhesh Lad hit a strokeful unbeaten fifty after seamer Balwinder Sandhu completed his five-wicket haul as Mumbai reached 158 for five in their first innings against Andra Pradesh on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Group B match here today.

Siddhesh anchored the Mumbai innings with a 107-ball 68 studded with 10 boundaries and a six after they were reduced to 61-4 in 36.1 overs. The 23-year-old shared a 97-run stand with Nikhil Patil (27) for the fifth wicket.

At the draw of stumps, Siddhesh and Abhishek Nayar (0) were at the crease at the Dr PVG Raju ACA Sports Complex, still trailing by 86 runs with five wickets remaining to surpass Andra’s first innings total of 244.

Cheepurapalli Stephen (2/33) and Bandaru Ayyappa (2/47) took two wickets each and Duvvarapu Siva Kumar scalped one to help Andra Pradesh.

Resuming at 213-4, Mohammad Kaif could add just one run to his overnight score before he was dismissed by Sandhu in the second over of the day. K Ashwin Hebbar (8) too was sent packing by Shardul Thakur in the next over to reduce Andra to 214 for six.

Sandhu then got rid of Murumulla Sriram in the next over to complete his five wicket haul, while Thakur dismissed D Siva Kumar in the 113th over to end with three wickets for 47.

Dhawal Kulkarni (1/30) and Abhishek Nayar (1/32) took one wicket each.

No. 9 batsman Ayyappa (21) was the only Andra batsman to reach double figures today before he was caught by Vishal Dabholkar off Nayar.

In reply, Mumbai too had a difficult time as opener Aditya Tare was sent early in the fourth over by Stephen. SS Iyer too could not stay long and was dismissed in the 14th over by Siva Kumar.

SA Yadav was the next to go when he was trapped in front of wicket by Ayyappa. The 22-year-old pacer then sent AA Herwadkar back to the hut in the 37th over. Patil was the last batsmen to be dismissed when he was cleaned up by Stephen.

Brief Score:

Andra Pradesh 1st innings: 244 all out in 123.2 overs (R Bhui 103, M Kaif 90; BS Sandhu 5/53).

Mumbai 1st innings: 158 for five in 69 overs (S Lad 63 not out; CV Stephen 2/33).

Punjab set for huge innings victory against Railways

Mohali: Railways lost all their 10 wickets in a space of 46 runs after a 150-run opening stand as Punjab look set for an innings victory in the opening Ranji Trophy encounter here today.

After declaring on their mammoth overnight score of 604 for five, Railways were replying well at 150 for no loss as Saurabh Wakaskar (69) and Ashish Singh (90) being well set.

But Brainder Sran (6/61) and Siddharth Kaul (4/53) used reverse swing to good effect as Railways were bundled out for 196 adding just 46 runs more to their opening stand.

As many as five Railways batsman were out without scoring.

Being enforced follow-on, Railways were 125 for five with 283 runs still needed to save the innings defeat. Left-arm spinner Varun Khanna took all five wickets in the second innings.

Brief Scores: Punjab 604/5 decl

Railways 196 (Ashish Singh 90, Brainder Sran 6/61) & (f/o) 125/5 (Varun Khanna 5/51).

PTI