A round-up of Ranji Trophy matches played across India on Friday
Madhya Pradesh amass 445 against Mumbai on day 2
Madhya Pradesh posted a massive 445 in their first innings and then returned to reduce defending champion Mumbai to 38-2 at stumps on the second day of their Group A Ranji Trophy, in Raipur, on Friday.
It was a superlative batting effort as Rajat Patidar completed a deserving hundred after starting the day at 83, while other overnight batsman Devendra Bundela hit a patient 160-ball 60 which was studded with eight fours and a six.
Shubham Sharma (83 not out) and Ankit Dane (47) also contributed with the bat to frustrate the Mumbai bowlers after MP started their day at an overnight score of 239 for 2.
Sharma hit nine boundaries in his 170-ball unbeaten innings, while Dane had seven fours in his 112-ball stay at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium.
In reply, Mumbai scored 38-2 in 18 overs losing the wickets of Kaustubh Pawar (6) and Balwinder Sandhu (1). Opener Akhil Herwadkar (29) was at the crease and giving him company was Shreyas Iyer (1) at the draw of stumps.
Brief Score:
Madhya Pradesh 1st innings: 445 all out in 160 overs (SS Sharma 83; VKD Gohil 3/87)
Mumbai 1st innings: 38-2 in 18 overs (AA Herwadkar 29 not out; C Sakure 1/8).
Karnataka in driver's seat against Delhi
Karanataka put up a collective batting display to take a massive 324-run lead against Delhi, who face an arduous task to save the match with two days to go in their Ranji Trophy Group B match in Kolkata.
Overnight 131 for three in reply to Delhi's minuscule 90, Karnataka lost night watchman Abhimanyu Mithun in Ishant Sharma's third delivery of the day but from thereon they batted through the day folding for 414 in 141.3 overs.
The second day saw three half-centuries by three Karnataka batsmen -- stand in skipper Karun Nair (53), Mir Kaunan Abbas (52) and CM Gautam 63 not out adding to Mayank Agarwal and R Samarth's fifties yesterday as they stretched the lead past 300.
Left-arm spinner Varun Sood (4/80) was the leading wicket-taker for Delhi, followed by Vikas Tokas' 3-81 on a slow-looking two paced wicket at the Eden Gardens.
Ishant (1/63) looked much better today but could not add to his only wicket of Mithun, having bowled in three short spells of four, four and three overs.
Resuming on three, stand-in skipper Nair made his intention clear earlier in the day hitting Pawan Suyal for a six over third man.
He got to his fifty in 81 balls striking left-arm spinner Manan Sharma over long off but only to be caught by left-arm spinner Sood off his own bowling in the next over.
Nair's 89-run partnership with Abbas was crucial as it helped Karnataka see through the tricky morning session and take the team past 200.
Continuing his impressive form, Abbas struck a second successive half century in his maiden first class season as he ensured that there was no further slip-up in another handy 33 partnership with Stuart Binny (32).
Abbas was dismissed lbw by Sood in the last ball before lunch. With Karnataka 258-6, Gautam came into bat and showed fine composure to bat through the day.
"That was precisely our strategy. We wanted to bat full," the No 8 Karnataka batsman Gautam said after his 77-run partnership with Shreyas Gopal (46).
With Karnataka batsmen ensuring that they bat through the day, it was a hard toil for Gautam Gambhir's bowlers.
Ishant's spells today read: 4-1-10-1, 4-0-9-0, 3-1-10-0 that aptly illustrated the frustrating day for the lanky India frontline pacer.
With a first innings deficit of 324 runs, Delhi who have eight points from two matches are now in danger of facing a humiliating innings defeat with two more days to go.
Brief Scores:
Delhi 1st innings: 90
Karnataka: 1st innings 414 in 141.3 overs (C M Gautam 63 not out, Mir Kaunan Abbas 52, Karun Nair 53; Varun Sood 4/80).
J&K tail steers team to competitive score
The tail of Jammu and Kashmir helped the team post a competitive first innings score of 334 on the second day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Group C match against Andhra in Mumbai.
In reply, Andhra started off well with a brisk 41-run first wicket stand before they lost the wickets of openers K S Bharat for 31 and D B Prashanth Kumar for 24 to end the day at 72 for two, 262 runs behind their rivals' first innings total at the Brabourne Stadium.
Bharat hit six fours before losing his wicket to Umar Nazir, while Kumar batted a bit more patiently in making 24 only to depart at the fag end of the day, dismissed by Parvez Rasool.
The unconquered Andhra batsmen at stumps were captain G Hanuma Vihari (16) and night watchman Bhatt (0).
Earlier, J&K resumed at the overnight 205 for six and with useful contributions from the lower order took the total past the 300 mark.
For Andhra, medium pacer Siva Kumar and left arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt claimed four wickets each, while opening bowler P Vijay Kumar bagged two.
Brief scores:
J&K 1st innings: 334 (S Khajuria 90, P Rasool 45, Bandeep Singh 63, Ram Dayal 42; Siva Kumar 4/49, B Bhatt 4/122).
Andhra 1st innings: 72/2 (K S Bharat 31)
Abdulla steers Kerala to 506/9 against Hyderabad
All-rounder Iqbal Abdulla cracked his second first-class century and first for Kerala to put them on top against Hyderabad in their Ranji Trophy group C match in Bhubaneswar.
Resuming on 223/4, Kerala lost Jalaj Saxena (79) in the 11th over of the day while Mehdi Hasan (3/134) reduced them to 312/7 but the former Mumbai all-rounder spiced it up with an entertaining 141-run partnership with No.9 K Monish (40) to take them past 450.
Abdulla slammed six sixes and 14 boundaries in his knock from 214 balls to steal the show in front of an impressive turnout mainly the university students form KIIT.
Saxena was the first to go when seamer Mohammad Siraj gave the early breakthrough.
Sachin Baby (80), resuming on 51, failed to make it big becoming Hasan's second victim after being dismissed LBW leaving Kerala at 312/7 at lunch and in danger of folding up inside 350.
But Abdulla had other ideas and his counterattacking innings with Monish playing a perfect ally.
Brief Scores:
Kerala: 506/9 in 180 overs (Iqbal Abdulla 157 batting, Sachin Baby 80, K Monish 40).
UP amass 524, TN 34-1
Uttar Pradesh's middle-order fired in unison as they amassed 524 in their first innings and then reduced Tamil Nadu to 34-1 at stumps on the second day of their Group A Ranji Trophy match in Dharamsala.
Starting the day at 115, opener Samarth Singh notched up 150 runs off 271 Balls before being dismissed at the score of 187 in the 114th over by T Natarajan at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium.
Up started their proceedings at an overnight score of 207-1 and it was Umang Sharma (46) who was the first to be dismissed when he was caught by Karthik off Aswin Crist in the 99th over. Sarfaraz Khan then gave company to Samarth as the duo took Uttar Pradesh close to the 350-mark.
UP suffered a mini-collapse when in the space of seven balls, three batsmen -- Khan (40), Samarth (187) and Mohammad Saif (0) were sent back to the pavillion.
But Kuldeep Yadav (29) and skipper Eklavya Dwivedi (60) ensured UP crosses the 400-mark. Yadav was run out by Karthik in the 136th and Dwivedi too was trapped infront of wicket by Natarajan as UP slipped to 447-7.
In reply, Tamil Nadu started positively before opener Washington Sundar (10) was dismissed by Saurabh in the 13th over.
At the draw of stumps, Abhinav Mukund (18) and Kaushik Gandhi (0) were at the crease.
Brief Score:
Uttar Pradesh 1st innings: 524 all out in 158 overs (Samarth Singh 187; T Natarajan 4/83)
Tamil Nadu 1st innings: 34-1 in 15 overs (A Mukund 18; S Kumar 1/2).
