A round-up of Ranji Trophy matches played across India on Tuesday
It was another Ranji Trophy match at Bansi Lal Stadium that turned out to be farcical contest as Baroda beat Bengal by 21 runs with 40 wickets falling well inside two days.
Baroda went home happy defending a target of 155 as Bengal were all out for 133 in their second innings in Lahli. This was after Baroda also scored an identical 133 in their second essay.
Ironically, the difference of 21 runs in the first innings turned out to be the turning point for Baroda.
In the end, Manoj Tiwary's words turned out to be prophetic as he had clearly stated that any target above 120 will not be practically chaseable on a track where the contest is heavily loaded in favour of bowlers.
Young seamer Atit Seth (10/94) would remember this match for his performance but will certainly not be an indicator of his capabilities in conditions loaded in favour of bowlers.
With six inch grass at three quarter length and damp patches on the pitch, life was made hell for the batsmen.
The highest score in the entire match was Tiwary's 39 in the second innings. In fact, he hit six fours in 48 balls before an incutter from Sagar Manglorkar did him in.
He had added 54 runs for 5th wicket with Pankaj Shaw (16) but once Tiwary was gone, hopes of victory evaporated as the pitch also proved that Bengal's batting is yet to get ready for challenges in adverse circumstances.
The defeat dented Bengal's chances of qualification for knock outs as they are placed fifth now with 16 points.
The 6 points helped Baroda climb to seventh position as of now with other matches still on.
Brief Scores: Baroda 97 and 133 (Mukesh Kumar 5/45) vs Bengal 76 and 133 (Manoj Tiwary 39) Points: Bengal 0; Baroda 6.
Rawat, Samantray hand Odisha 1st innings lead over Karnataka
New Delhi: Wicket-keeper Saurabh Rawat made a career-best 85 while Biplab Samantray hit 58 to help Odisha take the all-important first innings lead over fancied Karnataka in a Group B Ranji Trophy cricket match, in on Tuesday.
Resuming at the overnight score of 42 for two in reply to Karnataka's paltry first innings total of 179, Odisha finished at 318 for nine in 111 overs at stumps on the second day of the four-day match at the Palam.
Odisha lead Karnataka by 139 runs with just a wicket in hand.
At one stage Odisha were in a spot of bother at 79 for five before Samantray and Abhishek Yadav (33) stabilised the innings with a crucial 61-run partnership for the sixth wicket.
After Abhishek's dismissal, Samantray stitched another vital partnership of 106 runs with Rawat to ensure the first innings lead, before both fell to leg-break bowler Shreyas Gopal.
Rawat's runs came off 124 balls with the help of 12 boundaries and one six.
Besides, skipper Govind Podder also played a good hand up the order with a fine 44.
Gopal was the pick of the bowlers for Karnataka with figures of five for 73 from 24 overs.
Brief Scores: Karnataka 179 all out vs Odisha: 318 for nine in 111 overs (Saurabh Rawat 85,
Biplab Samantray 58; Shreyas Gopal 5/73).
Tamil Nadu 218/4 after bowling out Punjab for 284
Nagpur: Tamil Nadu closed in on Punjab's first-innings total of 284 all out in their Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match.
At stumps on the second day, Tamil Nadu were 218/4 in 75 overs, trailing by 66 runs at Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground.
Resuming on 241/6, Punjab added 43 runs for the loss of four wickets, with overnight batsman Gitansh Khera remaining unbeaten on 40.
Medium pacers Krishnamoorthy Vignesh (4/104) and A Aswin Crist (3/73) starred with the ball.
In reply, Tamil Nadu lost skipper Abhinav Mukund and Laxmesha Suryaprakash with 44 runs on the board.
But an 85-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Kaushik Gandhi (75 not out) and the experienced Dinesh Karthik (54) steadied the TN innings. After Karthik's departure made it 156/4, Gandhi put on 62 runs for the fifth wicket with Vijay Shankar, who was batting 32 at close of play.
Gandhi struck nine boundaries in his 206-ball unbeaten knock.
Panchal's double ton takes Gujarat to 437, Mumbai 58/3
Hubli: Opener Priyank Kirit Panchal notched up a double century before Gujarat were all out for 437 in their Group A Ranji Trophy match against fancied Mumbai.
At close of play on the second day, Mumbai were struggling at 58 for three with Shreyas Iyer batting on 27. Night-watchman Dhawal Kulkarni was yet to open his account when the stumps were drawn.
Mumbai skipper Aditya Tare was dismissed for 26 after the openers, Akhil Herwadkar and Jay Bista, perished with just five runs on the board.
Seamer Jasprit Bumrah was the wrecker-in-chief, sending back the Mumbai openers to return figures of 2/11 in five overs, while there was one wicket for Karan Patel.
Resuming on 246/3, Mumbai rode on Panchal's knock to put up a strong total at the KSCA Rajnagar Stadium. Manpreet Juneja got out after scoring 48 but the other overnight batsman, Panchal, almost played through the innings and was the ninth man out.
Overnight on 122, Panchal's innings consumed 434 deliveries. He struck 28 boundaries and two sixes, frustrating the Mumbai bowlers throughout.
Mumbai trailed by 379 runs with seven wickets remaining in the first innings.
Among Mumbai bowlers, left-arm spinner Vishal Dabholkar was the most successful, returning figures of 6/118 in 43.1 overs.
MP 71/3 in reply to Railways 371 all out
New Delhi: Left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma returned with an impressive six-wicket haul to help Madhya Pradesh bowl out Railways for 371 in a Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match.
In reply, Madhya Pradesh were 71 for three in 40 overs at stumps on the second day of the four-day encounter at the Feroze Shah Kotla ground.
Naman Ojha was batting on 9 while giving him company was skipper Devendra Bundela on 13 with Madhya Pradesh still trailing Railways by 300 runs with seven wickets in hand and two full days play remaining.
Earlier, Ankit picked up six wickets giving away 108 runs as Railways' remaining eight wickets could add just 122 runs after resuming at the overnight score of 249 for two.
Overnight batsmen Nitin Bhille (102) and Arindam Ghosh (62) failed to make any impact today departing early on.
While Bhille failed to add to his overnight score, Ghosh could muster just one run on Tuesday morning. Skipper Karn Sharma (44) and tail-ender Anureet Singh (40 not out) made significant scores to prolong Railways innings.
Brief Scores: Railways 371 all out in 139.3 overs (Nitin Bhille 102, Arindam Ghosh 62; Ankit Sharma 6/108) vs Madhya Pradesh: 71 for three in 40 overs (Rameez Khan 24; Avinash Yadav 2/23).
Khurana helps Maharashtra amass 542
Chennai: Chirag Khurana scored an unbeaten 112 as Maharashtra posted a mammoth 542 on day two of their Ranji Trophy Group B against Assam.
Maharashtra, resuming their first innings from 352 for five, ended up with a formidable total thanks to Khurana a day after Kedar Jadhav had smashed a quickfire 115.
Assam were 132 for three at stumps with opener Rishav Das and Kunal Saikia batting on 53 and 38 respectively.
Anupam Sanklecha too all three wickets for Maharashtra, who have firm control on the proceedings going into day three.
Brief scores:Maharashtra 542 in 144 overs (Jadhav 115, Khurana 112 not out). Assam 132/3 in 35 overs (Das 53 batting; Sanklecha 3/45).
Vidarbha openers set up strong reply against Saurashtra
New Delhi: Openers Faiz Fazal (94) and Sanjay Ramaswamy (77) shared a gritty-171 run stand to take Vidarbha closer to Saurashtra's 301 on day two of the Ranji Trophy Group B match.
The openers, starting at an overnight four for no loss, batted for better part of the day to guide Vidarbha to 242 for three at stumps with the team needing another 60 runs for the first innings lead.
Saurashtra had scored 301 on the opening day at the back of Sheldon Jackson's century.
Both Ramaswamy and Fazal were at the crease together for 59.3 overs and both played with patience, consuming 190 and 204 balls respectively.
Shalabh Shrivastava and Jitesh Sharma were batting on 31 and six at close of play.
Brief scores: Saurashtra 301 vs Vidarbha 242/3 in 91 overs (Ramaswamy 77, Fazal 94).
Ghosh hits unbeaten half-ton to keep Tripura in hunt for lead
Mumbai: Young opener Bishal Ghosh kept Tripura in the hunt for the crucial first innings lead against Jammu and Kashmir with a unbeaten half-century on day two of their four-day Ranji Trophy Group C game.
The 20-year-old batted for more than two sessions and faced 195 balls for his unbeaten 86, laced with 12 fours, to help Tripura finish the day at 193 for 6, still 122 runs behind their rivals' first innings total of 315 at the BKC ground.
Ghosh is 14 short of his third first-class hundred while the others came a cropper against the J&K bowling. Captain and off-spinner Parvez Rasool led the charge with 2 for 29.
Tripura, who did well in dismissing the last four J&K batsmen for an addition of 45 runs this morning, plunged into trouble once the opening wicket stand of 51 between Ghosh and Udiyan Bose (33 off 55 balls) was broken by medium-pacer Ram Dayal. They lost wickets steadily, with only Ghosh holding fort at one end.
At close of play, Ghosh was occupying the crease with Gurinder Singh (13).
Brief scores: J&K 1st innings: 315 (Aditya Partap 74, Ian Dev Singh 59, Pranav Gupta 55, S Beigh 54; MB Murasingh 4/75, R Datta 3/74) vs Tripura 1st innings: 193 for six in 70 overs (Bishal Ghosh 86 not out, Udiyan Bose 33; Parvez Rasool 2/29).
Summarised scores of other Group C matches:
Kerala vs Andhra at Guwahati: Kerala 1st innings: 219 all out in 98.4 overs (Mohammed Azharuddeen 82, Rohan Prem 42; DP Vijaykumar 6/47) vs Andhra 1st innings: 173 for six in 77 overs (DB Prasanth 61, KS Bharat 54; Rohan Prem 2/7).
Chhattisgarh vs Hyderabad at Valsad: Hyderabad 1st innings: 351 all out in 127.3 overs (S
Badrinath 134, BP Sandeep 96; Pankaj Rao 5/89) vs Chhattisgarh 1st innings: 124 for one in 49 overs (Sahil Gupta 55, Abhimanyu Chauhan 55 batting).
Goa vs Haryana at Ghaziabad:Goa 1st innings: 413 all out in 144.1 overs (Snehal Kauthankar 225, RJ Pinto 58; Harshal Patel 4/75) vs Haryana 1st innings: 110 for no loss in 35 overs (Nitin Saini 76 batting).
Himachal Pradesh vs Services at Surat: Services 1st innings: 401 all out in 126.2 overs (Ravi Chauhan 149, Nakul Verma 117, VS Hathwala 69; Rishi Dhawan 5/82) vs HP 1st innings: 182 for four in 52 overs (Paras Dogra 70, Prashant Chopra 47).
