Haryana overcome Vidarbha

Haryana overcame a fighting Vidarbha to register a 41-run victory on the fourth and final day of the Ranji Trophy Plate Group 'B' match at the VCA Stadium at Nagpur on Thursday.

Chasing a huge 328 for victory, Vidarbha lost opener Faiz Fazal (81) with the addition of only four runs to open the floodgates for the visitors.

Middle order batsman Harshal Shittot (53) made a valiant bid in company of tailender Baburao Yadav (33) to force a shock win but lost his way.

All rounder Joginder Sharma (6 for 92) ripped apart the home team batting with a match haul of 14 wickets as the hosts were bowled out 56 minutes after the lunch session.

Vidarbha, who have eight points from four games, play Services in New Delhi next week.

Brief scores:

Haryana first innings: 154 all out

Vidarbha first innings: 57 all out

Haryana 2nd innings: 230 all out

Vidarbha 2nd innings: 286 all out (F Fazal 81, H Shittot 53, A Deshpande 35, B Yadav 33; Joginder Sharma 6 for 92, S Rana 3 for 43).

----------

Jharkhand beat Orissa by six wickets

A cautious unbeaten 61 by Rajiv Kumar helped hosts Jharkhand register an emphatic six-wicket win over Orissa on the final day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Plate Group 'A' match at Keenan Stadium at Jamshedpur on Thursday.

Jharkhand, who bundled out Orissa before the lunch break for 294 in their second innings, needed 137 runs for an outright win which they successfully achieved, losing four wickets in the process.

The home side, which gained a 158-run first innings lead after bowling out Orissa for paltry 110, made 268 in reply.

Chasing a target of 137 for a win, Jharkhand started off disastrously losing three wickets for 24 runs in ten overs and were 34 for three at lunch break.

Rajiv Kumar, who walked in following the dismissal of Mahendra Singh Dhoni (9), steadied the innings with a cautious knock. In the company of Nikhilesh Ranjan (20), who stepped in after opener Ratan Kumar's (6) departure, Rajiv stitched a valuable 72-run stand for the fourth wicket taking the total to 96.

Medium fast bowler Sovan Deb had Ranjan leg before wicket for 20 which was studded with three hits to ropes.

Rajiv Kumar was joined by Sunil Kumar (14 not out) and together they saw the team surpass the target.

Earlier, resuming at the overnight score of 249 for six, Orissa could add only 45 runs to their kitty.

Seamer S S Rao did the damage for Jharkhand dismissing three tailenders in the space of five overs to return with figures of four for 48.

None of the remaining Orissa batsmen could score in double digits after overnight pair of Prabhanjan Mallick (60) and skipper Debashish Mohanty (22) were separated by Rao in the morning.

Mallick and Mohanty put on 49 runs for the seventh wicket before Mohanty sneaked a catch behind the wicket off Rao.

Mallick resisted the Jharkhand attack amid fall of wickets at regular interval at the other end to notch up 60 studded with seven fours and one six. Mallick misjudged a delivery off seamer Mihir Diwakar and tossed the ball in the safe hands of Ranjan.

With this win, Jharkhand have 11 points from three matches and would clash with Himachal Pradesh on December 22.