Ranji Round-Up: Mumbai, Baroda continue to dominate

Pacer Umar Nazir Mir starred with a six-wicket haul as Jammu and Kashmir secured their first win of the ongoing Ranji Trophy, defeating Services by an innings and 25 runs in a Group A match to take the second place in the points table.

Mir's exceptional bowling performance yielded figures of 12-1-53-6, helping dismiss Services for just 132 runs in 32 overs after J&K had posted 228 in their first innings.

Yudhvir Singh Charak also shone with the ball, claiming five wickets in the first innings (5/29) and adding three more (3/35) in the second, finishing with a match haul of eight wickets.

He was adjudged the Player of the match as J & K wrapped up the game in just two days.

Resuming their innings at 183 for 7, J&K added 45 runs to grab a lead of 157.

For Services, only Shubham Rohilla (47), Jayant Goyat (27), and Arun Kumar (20) managed to reach double digits.

Mumbai in driver's seat against Tripura

In Agartala, defending champions Mumbai took control, amassing a solid 450 in their first innings against Tripura, bolstered by impressive fifties from late-order batsmen -- Shams Mulani (71), Himanshu Singh (59), and Shardul Thakur (62).

At stumps, Tripura were 60 for 1 in response, with Jiwanjot Singh (39) and Parvez Sultan (1) at the crease.

Resuming at 248 for 6, Mulani and Himanshu added 61 runs before Mulani was trapped LBW by Manisankar Murasingh (3/117).

Himanshu then partnered with Thakur to build an 85-run stand before his dismissal shortly after reaching his half-century.

Thakur, who smashed three sixes and four boundaries in just 53 balls, was cleaned up by Sultan, but the last-wicket pair of Mohit Avasthi and Royston Dias frustrated Tripura further, adding 39 runs to Mumbai's total.

Baroda extends lead against Odisha

At Kotambi Stadium in Vadodara, Krunal Pandya scored an unbeaten 88, while Shivalik Sharma (96) and Vishnu Solanki (98) narrowly missed centuries as table-toppers Baroda took firm control of their match against Odisha, reaching 354 for 6 in their first innings.

At stumps, Mitesh Patel (0) supported Pandya, as Baroda extended their lead to 161 runs after dismissing Odisha for 193.

Govinda Poddar was the standout bowler for Odisha, taking four wickets for 96 runs in his 35 overs.

Batters fail again as Delhi trail Assam

Delhi's woes with the willow continued as the team struggled to 214 for six after the likes of Yash Dhull and Himmat Singh failed to convert their starts into substantial knocks in their Ranji Trophy match against Assam on Sunday.

Resuming at their overnight score of 264 for six, Assam's first innings innings ended at 330 with wicketkeeper Sumit Ghadigaonkar making 162 off 237 balls. Ghadigaonkar was overnight 120, having seen his colleagues blown away by Harshit Rana's excellent bowling.

Delhi were 214 for six at stumps on day two, trailing Assam by 116 runs.

Having received his maiden Test call-up, Rana ended with fine figures of 5/80 in 19.3 overs, wrapping up Assam's innings with the wicket of Mrinmoy Dutta.

When their turn to bat came, Delhi lost Gagan Vats for a duck but Sanat Sangwan (47 off 88 balls) and Dhull (47 off 44 balls) added 66 runs for the second wicket to stead the innings.

Dhull's wicket signalled the arrival of skipper Himmat, who added 81 runs for the third wicket with Sangwan before the latter was out leg before.

Madhav Kaushik's unbeaten 128 gives UP upper hand against Punjab

Opening batter Madhav Kaushik's unbeaten 128 handed Uttar Pradesh an upper hand against Punjab as they reached 293 for 3 on Day 2 of their Ranji Trophy Group C match on Sunday.

UP resumed the day at 8/0 after the hosts made 210 in their first innings, and they are ahead by 83 runs at stumps with seven wickets in hand.

After 34 runs were added in the day, Punjab got the breakthrough as UP skipper Aryan Juyal (16) fell to Gurnoor Brar.

The Kaushik and Priyam Garg (27) pair added 43 more to the UP total before the latter became Brar's second victim.

As the score read 85/2, Kaushik was joined by India international Nitish Rana (66), with the two stitching a partnership of 120 runs for the third wicket.

While Kaushik struck his second First-Class ton during this stand, Rana brought up his 13th fifty in the format.

Samarth hundred guides Uttarakhand to 242/7

Captain Ravikumar Samarth led by example with a fine century to prop up Uttarakhand before Vidarbha nosed ahead with two wickets at the fag end of second day's play in their Ranji Trophy Group B match on Sunday.

Responding to Vidarbha's first-innings total of 326 all out, Uttarakhand managed to reach 242 for seven at stumps thanks to Samarth's innings of 119, which came off 241 balls.
However, the home team trailed Vidarbha by 84 runs despite Samarth's hundred.

The 31-year-old Samarth, who left Karnataka to play for Uttarakhand this season, used his years of experience in first class cricket to keep his side in the game against last season's runners-up.

Having come here with a reputation for being fluent at the top of the order, Samarth struck 12 boundaries during his stay in the middle, helping his team remain in the game.

The problem with Uttarakhand innings was that Samarth did not get enough support at the other end.

Kunal Chandela (19), Yuvraj Chaudhary (28) and Swapnil Singh (27) got starts but could not convert them into big scores. Even opener Avneesh Sudha seemed to have got his eye in but fell after making 30 off 45 balls.