Ranji wrap, Round 2, Day 4: Punjab move up to second; Tamil Nadu off the mark

GROUP A

Punjab vs Madhya Pradesh, Lahli

Punjab beat Madhya Pradesh in Lahli on the final day by 126 runs to register their first win of the new Ranji season. They have now picked up six points courtesy of the result after picking only one in their opener against Railways.

MP made a decent start to the final day in pursuit of 281 but lost three wickets in the final session. Manpreet Singh Gony and Siddarth Kaul then finished the proceedings post lunch as MP kept losing wickets at regular intervals to be bowled out for 180. Gony finished with a match haul of ten wickets.

Punjab skipper Yuvraj Singh was named man of the match for his century in the first innings and half-century in the second. Punjab will now face Bengal in their next game while MP come up against defending champions Mumbai.

Brief scores: Punjab 378 (Yuvraj Singh 177, Gurkeerat Singh Mann 103; Ishwar Pandey 8-102) & 175/9 decl. (Yuvraj Singh 76; Ishwar Pandey 3-25) beat Madhya Pradesh 247 (Shubham Sharma 53; Manpreet Gony 6-36) & 180 (Shubham Sharma 37; Manpreet Singh Gony 4-41) by 126 runs.

Tamil Nadu vs Railways, Bilaspur

Tamil Nadu sealed a magnificent come-from-behind win by 174 runs against Railways at the Luhnu Cricket ground in Bilaspur on Sunday (October 16). Set a target of 401, Railways folded for just 226 with Saurabh Wakaskar's 233-ball 120 going in vain. With six points from the game, Tamil Nadu are currently placed at the fourth position on the points table.

At the start of the final day of the Ranji Trophy encounter, Railways were in a comfortable position with 106 runs on the board without the loss of a wicket. However, Malolan Rangarajan's four-wicket haul dismantled the Railways batting line-up to seal an impressive win.

Tamil Nadu had been shot down for just 121 in the first innings and then were at the receiving end of some controversy with Abhinav Mukund being adjudged run out. They did well to put that behind and seal an impressive win, especially after the lows in Lahli against Mumbai.

Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 121 (Malolan Rangarajan 36*; Deepak Bansal 4-48) & 452/8 (Dinesh Karthik 163, Abhinav Mukund 100; Karn Sharma 4-109) beat Railways 173 (Mrunal Devdhar 47, Arindam Ghosh 46*; T Natarajan 4-51) & 226 (Saurabh Wakaskar 120, Malolan Rangarajan 4-37) by 174 runs.

Bengal vs Uttar Pradesh, Jaipur

Bengal managed to bag three points on the basis of first innings lead against Uttar Pradesh at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur after the match, on a flat track, ended in a tame draw.

Starting the day on 30 for no loss, Bengal managed to reach 115 for no loss. However, Kuldeep Yadav managed to spin a web around them as they slipped to 129 for 4 with four wickets going to the left-arm spinner.

In serious need of a partnership, Abhimanyu Easwaran (110 not out) and Shreevats Goswami (100) rebuild the innings with some attacking strokeplay. Easwaran became the fourth Bengal batsman to score a century in both innings. The last such instance came in 1993-94 when Sourav Ganguly scored 148 and 100 not out. Soon after Goswami's century, Bengal declared on 274 for 6, setting UP a target of 331.

Tanmay Srivastava (31 not out) and Almas Shaukat (30 not out) then put on an unbeaten 70-run stand before both teams decided to settle for a draw.

Brief scores: Bengal 466 (Abhimanyu Easwaran 142, Manoj Tiwary 110; Kuldeep Yadav 5-115) & 274/6 decl. (Abhimanyu Easwaran 110*, Shreevats Goswami 100; Kuldeep Yadav 4-107) drew with Uttar Pradesh 410 (Umang Sharma 136, Sarfaraz Khan 85; Aamir Gani 3-72) & 70/0 (Tanmay Srivastava 31*, Tanmay Srivastava 30*).

Mumbai vs Baroda, Delhi

The clash between Mumbai and Delhi at the Airforce Complex Ground in Delhi ended in a draw with the former taking three points on the basis of a first innings lead. Mumbai are currently at the top of the Group A table, two points clear of the second placed Punjab.

Set a target of 366, Mumbai ended the final day on 224 for 5 with Aditya Tare top scoring with an unbeaten 63. Mumbai made a brisk start with Jay Bista (49) trying to take on the bowlers. However, once Shreyas Iyer (46), Suryakumar Yadav (8) and Akhil Herwadkar (20) were dismissed, they decided to settle for a draw.

Brief scores: Baroda 305 (Pinal Shah 66, Deepak Hooda 46; Vijay Gohil 3-70) & 383/5 (Kedar Devdhar 145, Deepal Hooda 100*, Aditya Waghmode 77) drew with Mumbai 323 (Akhil Herwadkar 106, Balwinder Sandhu 64; Irfan Pathan 3-30) and 224/5 (Aditya Tare 63*; Murtuja Vahora 2-32).

GROUP B

Maharashtra vs Delhi, Mumbai

Rishabh Pant's stunning triple ton was the highlight of the final day's play between Delhi and Maharashtra as the game ended in a tame draw on a batting paradise. Despite his efforts, Delhi conceded the first innings lead to Maharashtra, who batted for 15 overs in the second innings before the players shook hands.

Resuming at 376 for 5, Pant continued from where he left on the third day to send the Maharashtra bowlers on a leather hunt even though Manan Sharma fell early at the other end.

Pant added 182 for the seventh wicket in which the majority of the runs came from his bat. He reached his triple ton off just 320 deliveries before getting out for 308. The knock contained 42 fours and nine sixes in it.

Brief scores: Maharashtra 635/2 decl. (SM Gugale 351*, AR Bawane 258*) & 58/0 (Harshad Khadiwale 38*) drew with Delhi 590 (Rishabh Pant 308; MM Sayyad 3-121)

Odisha vs Saurashtra, Hyderabad

The closely fought contest between Odisha and Saurashtra ended in Odisha's favour on the final day in Hyderabad as they won by 32 runs. The victory helped Odisha move up to the third spot on the Group B table.

Resuming at 96 for 5, Saggar Jogiyani and AV Vasavada added 60 more runs to put Saurashtra on course for the win before Deepak Behera bagged the big wicket of Jogiyani for 68. That dismissal opened the floodgates as the last four wickets fell in quick succession.

Suryakant Pradhan finished with five wickets to add to the three he picked up in the first innings. Saurashtra will now face Maharashtra in their next match while Odisha take on Delhi.

Brief scores: Odisha 228 (Sandeep Pattanaik 123; DA Jadeja 4-67) & 169 (Subhransu Senapati 57; Deepak Punia 5-39) beat Saurashtra 186 (Jaydev Shah 64; Basant Mohanty 4-64) & 179 (Sagar Jogiyani 68; Suryakant Pradhan 5-69) by 32 runs.

Jharkhand vs Karnataka, Noida

Karnataka began their campaign with a draw against Jharkhand in Noida. They picked up three points after gaining a massive 203-run first innings lead. Overnight centurion Ishan Kishan remained unbeaten at one end on 159 but the rest fell quickly at the other end as Jharkhand were all out for 374 in the first innings.

K Gowtham and Shreyas Gopal picked up three wickets each for Karnataka. Despite fetching a massive lead, Karnataka opted to bat again to give their batsmen more time out in the middle. Karun Nair and Kaunain Abbas hit unbeaten half-centuries but Robin Uthappa and Mayank Agarwal were dismissed early yet again in the match.

Brief scores: Karnataka 577/6 decl. (R Samarth 235; Ashish Kumar 3-78) & 162/3 (Karun Nair 54*; Samar Quadri 3-62) drew with Jharkhand 374 (Ishan Kishan 159*; K Gowtham 3-97).

Team Rajasthan vs Assam, Visakhapatnam

On Saturday, Rajasthan completed a thumping innings win over Assam in Vizag on the third day of their Group B clash. Rajasthan, who won with a bonus point, are now at the top of the Group B table with eight points.

Brief scores: Assam 195 (Rishav Das 93; Pankaj Singh 5-39) & 69 (Rishav Das 16; AV Choudhary 5-35, Pankaj Singh 4-26) lost to Team Rajasthan 272 (MK Lomror 89, Ashok Menaria 44; Arup Das 4-53) by an innings & 8 runs.

GROUP C

Hyderabad vs Haryana, Jamshedpur

Haryana cruised to an eight-wicket win over Hyderabad at the Keenan Stadium in Jamshedpur on the final day of the Ranji Trophy match. Yuzvendra Chahal was named the Man of the Match for bagging six wickets in the first innings and putting his side in command early on in the match. He finished with eight wickets in the match.

Led by Mohit Sharma's fifer in the second innings, Hyderabad were bowled out for 224, having resumed Day 4 on 102 for 5. Needing 85 runs to win, Nitin Saini, who had scored a half century in the first innings, backed it up with a 45 in the second to ensure a smooth chase for Haryana.

With this win, Haryana have moved to the second position in the Group C points table with nine points. Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh have slipped to number three with seven points.

Brief scores: Hyderabad 191 (Bavanaka Sandeep 44; Yuzvendra Chahal 6-44) & 224 (Balchander Anirudh 33; Mohit Sharma 5-26, Sanjay Pahal 3-49) lost to Haryana 331 (Chaitanya Bishnoi 73; Mehdi Hassan 6-93) & 85/2 (Nitin Saini 45) by 8 wickets.

Andhra vs Chhattisgarh, Kalyani

Murumulla Sriram's defiant batting, with able support from Hanuma Vihari, Dwaraka Ravi Teja and Ashwin Hebbar helped Andhra get away with a draw in their clash against Chhatisgarh.

Resuming their second innings on 122 for 4, Andhra were trailing Chhattisgarh by 73 runs at the start of the day. However, the four batsmen showed great application on the final day to score 160 runs for the loss of only four wickets. Ajay Mandal bowled as many as 35 maidens in his 48 overs on Day 4, and bagged four wickets. But couldn't do enough to help his team push for an outright win.

While Chhattisgarh remain on top of the points table with nine points, Andhra have only two from as many games - leaving them third last on the table.

Brief scores: Chhattisgarh 394 (Amandeep Khare 143, Abhimanyu Chauhan 123; Duvvarapu Siva Kumar 4-61) drew with Andhra 199 (Prasanth Kumar 62; Pankaj Rao 4-70, Ajay Mandal 2-39) & 282/8 f/o (Srikar Bharat 57, Hanuma Vihari 51; Ajay Mandal 3-30)

Tripura vs Services, Guwahati

Tripura registered their maiden outright win since the 2012/13 season as they handed Services a 219-run hammering in Guwahati. The win helped Tripura get their first points of this season and move to No. 6 on the table. Services languish in the second last position with only one point to their credit.

Having resumed Day 4 on 280 for 1, Udiyan Bose and Smit Patel's centuries helped them reach 240 for 3, before they declared their innings.

Needing 383 runs to win, Services skipper Soumik Chatterjee was dismissed for a duck, and his team never recovered from there. Rahul Singh struck a half century, but his efforts could do little to save them from a massive defeat. Gurinder Singh starred with the ball for Tripura as he returned with figures of 4 for 25.

Brief scores: Tripura 275 (Bishal Ghosh 49, Yashpal Singh 41; Muzzaffaruddin Khalid 4-61, Diwesh Pathania 3-71) & 340/3 decl. (Udiyan Bose 152*, Smit Patel 104*) beat Services 233 (Shamsher Yadav 101*; Rana Dutta 3-48, Manisankar Murasingh 3-58) and 163 (Rahul Singh 51; Gurinder Singh 4-25, Manisankar Murasingh 3-54) by 219 runs.

Kerala vs Himachal Pradesh, Kolkata

On Saturday, Himachal Pradesh came up with a strong all-round show to secure a six-wicket victory against Kerala at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Himachal, with 7 points briefly occupied the top position before moving to third after Sunday's results.

Brief scores: Kerala 248 (Sachin Baby 61; Rishi Dhawan 4-66) & 115 (Rohan Prem 20; Gurvinder Singh 5-37, Mayank Dagar 3-25) lost to Himachal Pradesh 261 (Prashant Chopra 60, Sumeet Verma 50; Jalaj Saxena 5-76) & 103/4 (Paras Dogra 27*) by 6 wickets.

Goa vs Jammu & Kashmir, Surat

Goa were well short of their target of 412 as Jammu & Kashmir secured a comfortable 116-run victory at the Lalabhai Contractor Stadium in Surat on Saturday. After today's results, J&K moved down to the fourth spot from second while Goa are languishing at the bottom.

Brief scores: Jammu & Kashmir 227 (Parvez Rasool 82, Ian Dev Singh 67; Shadab Jakati 4-48) & 261 (Puneet Bisht 87, Ian Dev Singh 64; Amulaya Pandrekar 3-39) beat Goa 77 (Swapnil Asnodkar 18; Ram Dayal 4-15, Umar Nazir 3-10) & 295 (Samar Dubhashi 79*, Swapnil Asnodkar 47; Parvez Rasool 5-89) by 116 runs.