Left-arm spinner Vijay Gohil registered his best first-class bowling figures to put defending champions Mumbai in firm control against Hyderabad in the quarterfinal of the Ranji Trophy cricket tournament in Raipur on Monday.
Gohil picked up five wickets giving away just 28 runs from his 10 overs to reduce Hyderabad to 121 for seven while chasing 232 runs for an outright win at stumps on the fourth and penultimate day of the match.
Besides Gohil, Abhishek Nayar (2/27) picked up two wickets for the 41-time winners.
Chasing an achievable target, Hyderabad put up a shoddy batting effort in their second innings with just four willow-wielders -- Balchander Anirudh (40 not out), Tanmay Agarwal (29), Bavanaka Sandeep (25) and Kolla Sumanth (140 -- managing double digit scores.
While nothing is impossible in cricket, still it will be a Herculean task for Hyderabad to score an outright win as the need 111 more runs in the fifth and final day of the match with just three wickets in hand.
The onus is now on Anirudh to take his side past the finishing line but for that to happen he will need able support from his tailenders.
Earlier resuming their second innings at the overnight score of 102 for three, Mumbai were bowled out for 217 in 83.2 overs.
Overnight batsman and skipper Aditya Tare (57) completed his half-century while Siddhesh Lad made a patient 47.
For Hyderabad, medium-pacer Mohammed Siraj turned out to be the pick of the bowlers with figures of five for 52, while Chama Milind (2/25) and Akash Bhandari (2/55) shared four wickets between them.
Brief Scores: Mumbai 294 & 217 all out in 83.2 overs (Aditya Tare 57; Mohammed Siraj 5/55) vs Hyderabad: 280 & 121 for seven in 42 overs (Balachander Anirudh 40 not out; Vijay Gohil 5/28).
Gujarat outbat Odisha in quarterfinal
Samit Gohel (261) struck his maiden double hundred in first class cricket in a dominating batting performance by Gujarat, who have taken an iron grip over their Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Odisha at the end of day four.
Beginning at 246 for three, Gujarat ended the penultimate day at a strong 514 for eight to take their overall lead to 578, a position from where they can't lose and force an outright result on the final day.
26-year old Gohel had started at overnight score of 110 and at close he was unbeaten at 261, which came off 555 balls. Giving him company at close was Hardik Patel (11).
Gohel's knock was studded with 33 shots to the fence and one over it even as his other colleagues got starts but could not convert those into big ones.
Gohel's overnight partner Manpreet Juneja (24) added only 18 more runs to his yesterday's score while skipper Parthiv Patel made 40 before being bowled by Dhiraj Singh, who completed a five-for in Odisha's misery.
Dhiraj also removed Chirag Gandhi (6) and Rush Kalaria (11) to return figures of five for 139.
Gujarat are unlikely to lose from this position and an early declaration tomorrow (Tuesday) morning will give them opportunity to force an outright win. Odisha had scored a mere 199 in their first innings.
Brief Scores: Gujarat 263 and 514 for 8 in 176 overs (S Gohel 261 batting, H Patel 11 batting; D Singh 139/5) vs Odisha 1st innings: 199 all out.
Kishan powers Jharkhand to maiden semis
Former India U-19 captain Ishan Kishan, mentored by none other than MS Dhoni, provided a glimpse of his talent with a power-packed 86 off 61 balls that helped Jharkhand beat Haryana by five wickets to make it to their maiden semi-finals.
Chasing a target of 176, Jharkhand knocked off the runs in only 30.2 overs with Kishan hitting nine boundaries and six sixes as the eastern India state completely dominated proceedings for the entire duration of four days.
While Kishan, who now has 719 runs to his credit, finished with a flourish, left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem (4/78) and leg-spinner Samar Quadri (3/75) were instrumental in dismissing Haryana for 262 in their second innings.
Haryana lost their last eight wickets for 116 runs.
However it was a phase of nine overs between 62nd and 71st that saw Haryana out of the contest losing five wickets for 15 runs. From 178 for 2 as they were consolidating, Haryana were 193 for 7 and they had no chance of a comeback after that.m 178 for 2 as they were consolidating, Haryana were 193 for 7 and they had no chance of a comeback after that.
