Pujara slams record-extending 13th first class double hundred in Ranji match against Karnataka
Prolific India Test batsman Cheteshwar Pujara on Sunday slammed 248, his 13th first-class double century to help Saurashtra post a massive 581 for 7 declared on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Group B match against Karnataka in Rajkot.
Pujara, who on Saturday joined a select group of cricketing greats by smashing his 50th first-class century, is already the Indian player with most first class double centuries when he scored his 12th double ton in 2017 to go past Vijay Merchant.
With his 248 on Sunday, Pujara also became only the third player to record seven double centuries in Ranji Trophy. He is at joint second with Ajay Sharma two behind Paras Dogra, who played most cricket for Himachal Pradesh.
Pujara also completed 6000 runs in Ranji Trophy during the course of his marathon knock.
He and senior batsman Sheldon Jackson (161) rescued Saurashtra with a massive 394-run stand for the third wicket after they lost their two openers for only 33 runs on the board on Saturday.
Pujara resumed the second day on 162 and raised his double ton on Sunday before being eventually dismissed for 248 off 390 deliveries with help of 24 fours and a six.
In reply, Karnataka were 13 for 1 in eight overs.
Brief Scores:
Saurashtra 581 for 7 declared in 166 overs (Cheteshwar Pujara 248, Sheldon Jackson 161, Perak Mankad 86; Pravin Dubey 2/80, J Suchith 2/129) vs Karnataka 13 for 1 in 8 overs.
Tare hits 154, helps Mumbai post 488 vs TN in Ranji Trophy fixture
Skipper Aditya Tare struck 154 to lead a fine lower-order rally and put Mumbai in command by posting 488 in their first innings on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Group 'B' match against Tamil Nadu in Chennai.
Tare, who resumed the days on his individual score of 69, was involved in a 123-run stand for the eight wicket with Shashank Attarde (58).
Tare hit 19 fours and 2 sixes during his 253-ball knock as Mumbai added 204 runs from 59 overs on Sunday from overnight 284 for 6.
In reply, Tamil Nadu were 66 for no loss with experienced opener Abhinav Mukund batting on 52.
The Tamil Nadu bowlers toiled for five sessions before wrapping up the Mumbai innings with ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (3/121) and left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore (4/125) sending down 47 and 46 overs respectively.
Ashwin could not add any wicket on Sunday after he took three on Saturday and found himself being carted for a few sixes.
The Mumbai lower-order continued to make things difficult for the home side bowlers with Tushar Deshpande (39) smashing Ashwin for three huge sixes while No.11 Royston Dias too joined the fun, hoisting B Aparajith for a big one over long-on.
Tare, who had started slowly on the opening day, hit some superb shots as the Tamil Nadu bowlers proved to be ineffective. There was turn for the spinners but the home side bowlers could not quite exploit it as they were not consistent.
Left-arm paceman T Natarajan, after a wicketless opening day, managed to pick up two scalps on Sunday, including that of Tare to a superb catch by Aparajith.
When Tamil Nadu batted, Mukund and L Suryapprakash (11 batting) were off to a cautious start with the latter being ultra-defensive.
However, Mukund found his rhythm as he cracked some lovely shots on both sides of the wicket.
Speaking at the end of the day's play, Tare said the best he could do was to lead from the front and he was happy to have done it.
"I have been given the responsibility of leading the side and I had to lead from the front. Either me or (Siddhesh) Lad had to play a bigknock. Unfortunately, Lad could not. I felt I needed to be calm at the crease," he said.
"When you are not doing well, you tend to get tight at the crease. I just wanted to keep myself calm at the crease and take it one ball at a time," Tare said about his ninth first-class hundred.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai 488 all out in 148.4 overs (Aditya Tare 154, Shams Mulani 87, Shashank Attarde 58, Jay Bista 41; R Sai Kishore 4/125, R Ashwin 3/121) vs Tamil Nadu 66 for no loss in 31 overs (Abhinav Mukund 52 batting).
At Rajkot: Saurashtra 296 for 2 in 90 overs (Cheteshwar Pujara 248, Sheldon Jackson 161, Perak Mankad 86; Pravin Dubey 2/80, J Suchith 2/129) vs Karnataka 13 for 1 in 8 overs.
At Kanpur: Uttar Pradesh 431 all out in 124.2 overs (Mohd Saif 123, Upendra Yadav 100, RK Singh 62, Almas Shaukat 48; Swapnil K Singh 3/47, Anureet Singh 2/77) vs Baroda 82 for 1 in 25 overs (Aditya Waghmode 34 batting, Vishnu Solanki 34 batting).
At Delhi: Madhya Pradesh 124 all out in 55 overs (Rajat Patidar 38; Himanshu Sangwan 6/33) and 47 for 2 in 19 overs vs Railways 244 all out in 29 overs (Dinesh Mor 45, Mrunal Devdhar 44; Kuldeep Sen 3/36, Mihir Hirwani 3/64).
Kundu triggers Odisha collapse, Haryana bounce back
Left-arm spinner Tinu Kundu grabbed five wickets as Haryana staged a remarkable comeback to take an upper hand in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match against Odisha in Rohtak.
Haryana, who were bundled out for a paltry 90 after electing to bat, bowled out Odisha for 160 and then replied strongly in their second essay by posting 218 for five, taking an overall lead of 148 going into the penultimate day.
Overnight 141 for five, Odisha lost their remaining five wickets with the addition of just 19 runs inside nine overs this morning at the Chaudhary Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium in Lahli.
Kundu triggered the collapse by dismissing Sujit Lenka for 26, while skipper Harshal Patel (3/52) removed the set batsman Biplab Samantray (52) who got out immediately after scoring his half century.
Haryana batted sensibly in their second innings with openers Shubham Rohilla (48) and Ankit Kumar (46) putting up a 101-run stand. Himanshu Rana also contributed at number five before Pramod Chandila and Patel saw through the day.
At the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati, Assam replied strongly with 209 for three after Chhattisgarh posted 318 in their first innings, trailing the visitors by 109 runs with seven wickets intact.
Resuming on 276 for seven, Chhattisgarh got past the 300-run mark with Shashank Singh steering the lower middle order.
Ranjit Mali (4/80) gave the breakthrough and, along with Riyan Parag (3/60), he ran through the tail to wrap the visitors' first innings in 105.3 overs in the first session.
Assam overcame a shaky start after opener Rahul Hazarika was trapped lbw for one by Veer Pratap Singh, with Rishabv Das (99) and Gokul Sharma (50) taking the team forward in a 100-run partnership.
Number three Das was, however, unlucky to miss his second first-class hundred as he was dismissed by Sumit Ruikar in the nervous 99.
Thereafter, it was the skipper Gokul Sharma who led from the front with an unbeaten 50 with Assam's IPL recruit Riyan Parag at the crease on 24.
Brief Scores:
In Guwahati: Chhattisgarh 318 from 105.3 overs (Amandeep Khare 105, Shashank Singh 71, Harpreet Singh 50; Ranjit Mali 4/80) vs Assam 209/3 from 72 overs (Rishav Das 99, Gokul Sharma 50 not out, Riyan Parag 24 not out).
In Agartala: Uttarakhand 90 from 45 overs (Manisankar Murasingh 4/24, Ajoy Sarkar 4/19) vs Tripura 104/2 from 29 overs.
In Rohtak: Haryana 90 and 139/3 from 48 overs (Shubham Rohilla 48, Ankit Kumar 46, Himanshu Rana 40) vs Odisha 160 from 61.1 overs (Biplab Samantray 52; Tinu Kundu 5/25, Harshal Patel 3/52).
In Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir 360 from 93.1 overs (Parvez Rasool 182, Shubham Khajuria 55; Diwesh Pathania 4/103, Sachidanand Pandey 3/85, Poonam Poonia 3/99) vs Services 238/9 from 76.1 overs (Arun Bamal 48, Arjun Sharma 47, Pathania 41).
In Nagothane: Maharashtra 434 from 172.3 overs (Azim Kazi 140, Vishant More 120; Utkarsh Singh 5/130, Rahul Shukla 3/63) vs Jharkhand 2/2 from 1 over.
