Ranji Trophy roundup: Swapnil Gugale, Ankit Bawane set partnership record; Manish Tiwary scores ton

Here’s a roundup of all the Ranji Trophy action from across India:

Gugale, Bawane set first class all-wicket partnership record Mumbai: Swapnil Gugale and Ankit Bawane on Friday broke a 70-year-old partnership record for all wickets in the Ranji Trophy championship when they stitched a massive, unfinished stand of 594 for Maharashtra against Delhi in a Group B match at the Wankhede Stadium. When Maharashtra applied closure to their first innings, Gugale was unbeaten on a career-best 351, that contained 5 sixes and 37 fours off 521 balls, while his third wicket partner Bawane remained unconquered, also on a career-best 258 laced with 2 sixes and 18 fours. The duo, who had come together within 45 minutes of play starting on the first day yesterday, were unseparated after breaking the previous all-time best fourth wicket partnership record of 577 set by Vijay Hazare and Gul Mohammed for Baroda against Holkar way back in 1946-47 in Baroda.

Maharashtra declared their first innings closed at 635 for 2 to which Delhi replied with 21 without loss in five overs before stumps with openers Unmukht Chand (4) and Mohit Sharma (14) at the crease. Delhi, at close, were 614 runs adrift of the huge total put up by Maharashtra. Delhi used as many as nine bowlers to break the stand between the 25-year-old Pune-born Gugale and 23-year-old Aurangabad-born Bawane and all came to nought. Gugale, dropped on 38 and 105 yesterday, had another slice of luck when on 262 as he was let off by Parwinder Awana off left arm spinner Varun Sood. The duo had resumed the innings at the overnight 290 for 2 with Gugale on 152 and Bawane on 120. Sood and Manan Sharma were the most expensive Delhi bowlers, giving away 107 and 148 runs without taking a wicket. Delhi were also without the services of their lone wicket taker Navdeep Saini who left the field early in the morning after pulling a stomach muscle and did not bowl again. Brief scores:

Maharashtra 635 for 2 decl. (Swapnil Gugale not out 351, Ankit Bawane not out 258; Navdeep Saini 2 for 44) v Delhi 21 for no loss (Unmukht Chand batting 4, Mohit Sharma batting 14).

Yuvraj Singh’s 177 takes Punjab to a strong position Lahli: Punjab suffered a batting collapse but still enjoyed an upper hand courtesy impressive knocks from captain Yuvraj Singh and Gurkeerat Singh and superb bowling from pacer Manpreet Gony on the second day of their Ranji Trophy match against Madhya Pradesh. Punjab resumed the day at 347 for 3 but could add just 31 runs from 19.2 overs at the expense of seven wickets to be all out at 378 in the morning session. They are still in a strong position after restricting MP to 182 for 5 at stumps on Friday. Yuvraj, who is out of favour as far as national team is concerned, could add just 13 runs to his overnight 164 while another centurion Gurkeerat, who resumed the day at 101, scored just two runs more before being the first man out at the Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium. Pacer Ishwar Pandey (8/102) rocked the Punjab innings with six more wickets today in addition to the two he already had on Thursday. He scalped the six of the last seven Punjab wickets, including that of Yuvraj who was the eighth batsmen out. Five Punjab batsmen were out in single digit scores on Friday. Yuvraj ended his innings of 177 after facing 295 balls from which he hit 14 boundaries. In reply, MP were 182 for five in 62 overs with Punjab pacer Manpreet Gony grabbing four wickets for 25 runs. None of the MP batsmen could score substantial runs. Shubham Sharma was batting on 48 and he was being given company by Ankit Dane (14 batting) at stumps. Brief Scores: Punjab: 378 all out in 108.2 overs (Yuvraj Singh 177, Gurkeerat Singh 103; Ishwar Pandey 8/102). Madhya Pradesh: 182/5 in 62 overs (Shubham Sharma 48 batting; Manpreet Gony 4/25).

Ton-up Tiwary takes Bengal to 466 against UP Jaipur: Manish Tiwary cracked a superb century as Bengal posted 466 in their first innings and then reduced Uttar Pradesh to 126-3 on day two of their Ranji Trophy Group A match. Starting at an individual overnight score of 1, Tiwary produced 15 boundaries in his 150-ball innings and was the last man to be dismissed as he batted with the lower-order batsmen to take Bengal across the 450-mark. Abhimanyu Easwaran and Tiwary started the proceedings at Bengal’s overnight first innings score of 288 for 3 and added another 50 runs before the opener was dismissed by Imtiaz Ahmed at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. Easwaran’s 285-ball 142-run innings was studded with 21 hits to the fence. Tiwary then took the onus on himself and kept the scoreboard ticking even as wickets kept tumbling at the other end with Pankaj Shaw (20) and Aamir Gani (12) being the only batsmen to reach double scores. For UP, Kuldeep Yadav (5/115) completed a five-wicket haul, while AS Rajpoot (4/119) scalped four. In reply, Uttar Pradesh found themselves tottering at 49-3 with Ashok Dinda removing Tanmay Srivastava (2) and Samarth Singh (13) cheaply after Sayan Ghosh drew the first blood dismissing Almas Shaukat (1). However, Umang Sharma (57) and Sarfaraz Khan (43) arrested the slide with a 77-run unbeaten partnership and remained at the crease when the stumps were drawn. Brief Score: Bengal 1st innings: 466 all out in 139.2 overs (Manish Tiwary 110; Kuldeep Yadav 5/115) Uttar Pradesh 1st innings: 126 for 3 in 35 overs (Umang Sharma 57; AB Dinda 2/27).

Jammu and Kashmir set Goa 412 to win on day 2 of Ranji Trophy **Surat:**Jammu and Kashmir put themselves at the driver’s seat by setting Goa an improbable 412 to win on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Group C match at the Lalabhai Contractor Stadium. Starting at an overnight score of 43 for 5, Goa’s first innings folded for 77 with Samiullah Beigh (1/26), Ram Dayal (4/15) and Umar Nazir (3/10) being the wicket takers. Jammu and Kashmir then quickly amassed 261 in 61.3 overs, riding on half-centuries by Ian Dev Singh (64), Puneet Bist (87) and a 57-ball 48 by opener SP Khajuria (48), to set Goa a victory target of 412. Chasing the target, Goa were 22-0 in 10 overs, still needing 390 runs with 10 wickets remaining and two days to go. For Goa, Amit Yadav (3/70) and AG Pandrekar (3/39) were the top wicket-takers, while SS Bandekar (2/33) and SB Jakati (1/70) and DW Misal (1/21) were the other contributors. Earlier, Gao lost their sixth wicket when Bandekar was dismissed by Beigh. In the next over, Amit yadav was caught by Khajuria of Dayal’s bowling. SB Jakati (3) and SS Dubhashi (15) then batted for seven overs before the former was sent packing by Nazir and after three balls, Pandrekar too was removed. Dubhashi was the last man dismissed in the 31st over by Dayal. J&K also didn’t have a good start in their second innings as opener Adil Reshi was trapped infront of wicket by Bandekar in the 3rd over. Khajuria and Singh then added 55 runs when the opener was caught by Misal of Amit’s bowling as they slipped to 68-2 in 15.2 overs. Bandeep Singh (6) was the next to go when he was caught by Kamat of Pandrekar. Parvez Rasool too didn’t stay long as he was dismissed for naught by Pandrekar with Dubhashi managing a stumping. Skipper Mithun Manhas (12) was adjudged LBW by Amit just after J&K had crossed the 100-mark. Singh and Bisht then added 81 runs before the the former was removed by Bandekar. In the next over, R Dayal also perished as J&K slumped to 187-7 in 46.3 overs. Bisht took J&K across the 200-mark but lost Beigh (3) in the 52nd over. He also ensured J&K reach 250 when he ended by giving a catch to Alemao off Jakati. Nazir was the last man to be dismissed. Brief Score: Jammu & Kashmir 1st innings: 227 Goa 1st innings: 77 (SA Asnodkar 18; R Dayal 4/15) Jammu & Kashmir 2nd innings: 261 (P Bist 87; A Pandrekar 3/39) Goa 2nd innings: 22/0 in 10 overs.

Tamil Nadu bounce back on day two Bilaspur: Abhinav Mukund led Tamil Nadu’s fightback with an unbeaten 98 after the bowlers dismissed Railways for 173 on day two of the Ranji Trophy Group A match. Railways, who had bundled out TN for 121 on day one, fared marginally better with the bat than the opposition to eke out a 52-run first innings lead. T Natarajan snared up four wickets, helping TN dismiss Railways for 173. Coming out to bat in the second innings, TN put up spirited effort to be 161 for one at stumps with Mukund and Kaushik Gandhi (41 batting) leading the fightback with an unbeaten 124 run stand. Brief Scores:

Tamil Nadu 121 and 161/1 in 60 overs (Mukund 98 batting, Gandhi 41 batting). Railways 173 all out in 64 overs (Devdhar 47; Natarjan 4/51).

Samarth double ton takes Karnataka to mammoth total Greater Noida: Opener Ravi Kumar Samarth smashed a superb double ton to help Karnataka take complete control of their Ranji Trophy Group B match against Jharkhand on the second day. Samarth, who resumed the day at 118, led the batting charge with a 462-ball 235 as Karnataka scored runs at a brisk pace against a listless Jharkhand bowling attack to declare their innings at a mammoth 577 for 6 at Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground. Samarth hit 24 boundaries and two sixes in his marathon innings which lasted more than 11 hours. All-rounder Stuart Binny (97) missed out on a century by three runs while Kaunain Abbas hit 55. The highlight of the Karnataka innings was the 185-run stand between Samarth and Binny for the fifth wicket. In reply, Jharkhand were nine for no loss from five overs. They trail by 568 runs with all the first innings wickets in hand. Jharkhand now face a herculean task of saving the match and their chance of winning it is virtually over. They can hope for a draw and wriggle out of the match with one point by batting sensibly in the remaining two matches. Brief Scores: Karnataka: 577/6 declared (Ravi Kumar Samarth 235, Stuart Binny 97; Ashish Kumar 3/78). Jharkhand: 9 for 0 in 5 overs.

Herwadkar’s ton helps Mumbai take first innings lead New Delhi: Akhil Herwadkar struck a solid hundred to help Mumbai take the first innings lead against Baroda on day two of the Ranji Trophy Group A match. Baroda were all out for 305 after resuming their first innings at 286 for nine. In reply, Mumbai were 313 for eight stumps thanks to Herwadkar’s 106 off 216 balls. The other contributions came from Suryakumar Yadav (54) and Balwinder Sandhu, who remained unbeaten on 56. Sagar Mangalorkar was the stand out bowler for Baroda, taking three wickets for 74 runs. Captain Irfan Pathan, who made 19 with the bat on Thursday, was economical in his 13 overs giving away only 21 runs and took the wicket of talented rookie Armaan Jaffer. Mumbai made a nervy start, losing Shreyas Iyer and Jai Bista cheaply to be 18 for two. Herwadkar held his end and struck an 81-run stand with Yadav, who 10 fours in his attacking knock. Herwadkar himself hit 14 fours in his 216 ball effort. Yadav’s run out resulted in loss of three quick wickets for Mumbai before Sandhu and Abhishek Nayar (38) came to their team’s rescue. Brief Scores:

Baroda 305 all out in 86.1 overs (Pinal Shah 66, Deepak Hooda 46, Yusuf Pathan 41; Vijay Gohil 3/70, Shardul Thakur 2/82). Mumbai 313/8 in 88 overs (Herwadkar 106, Yadav 54, Sandhu 56 batting; Mangalorkar 3/74).

Rajasthan reach 208/3 against Assam Visakhapatnam: Rajasthan produced a solid batting performance to be 208/3 in their first innings on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Group B clash against Assam. After dismissing Assam for 195 yesterday, Rajasthan rode on a fine middle order batting effort to grab the first innings lead. Mahipal Lomror was the star of the show for Rajasthan, unbeaten at 84 along with Rajat Bhatia (28) when stumps were drawn for the day. Lomror’s 239-ball knock was studded with 10 hits to the fence and his partnerships with Vineet Saxena (30) and Ashok Menaria (44) proved crucial in Rajasthan’s steady batting performance. With Saxena, he combined to add 76 runs for the second wicket before forging a 75-run stand with Menaria for the fourth wicket. For Assam, Arup Das and Pallavkumar Das picked up a wicket each. Brief Scores: Assam: 195 all out Rajasthan: 208/3 in 88 overs (Mahipal Lomror 84 batting, Ashok Menaria 44).