A summary of Thursday's action in Ranji Trophy matches across the country.
Suryakumar Yadav led Mumbai's fightback on the third day of their Elite Group B Ranji Trophy game against Saurashtra blazing his way to 134 after the domestic giants conceded a 73run first innings lead, in Rajkot, on Thursday.
After losing opener Bhupen Lalwani (3) early, Surya (134 off 130 balls, 17x4, 3x6) and Jay Bista (46) wiped out the deficit in just 16 overs to keep Mumbai in the hunt at the SCA Stadium in Khandheri.
Surya notched his 14th first class hundred playing his usual aggressive game, while Bista played second fiddle.
The duo added 119-runs for the second wicket and their partnership brought Mumbai back into the contention in what is a must-win game.
Surya got a life on 44 and he made optimum use of it.
Mumbai went to tea on 120 for 1, 47 runs ahead. But two overs after tea, Bista was dismissed by left-arm spinner Parth Bhut after giving a sitter to Harvik Desai in the slip cordon.
All-rounder Shams Mulani, promoted to number four, added 98 runs for the third wicket with Surya as Mumbai looked to gain the upperhand.
But left-arm orthodox spinner Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, who troubled Surya, won the battle after trapping him in front of the wicket.
In-form Sarfaraz Khan joined Mulani and the two remained unbeaten when stumps were drawn with Mumbai at 285 for 3, extending the lead by 212 runs.
Earlier, resuming at the overnight 257 for 6, Saurashtra overhauled Mumbai's first-innings score of 262.
A gritty unbeaten 84 by Chirag Jani helped the hosts take a 73-run first innings lead.
Jani was hit on the helmet twice, but continued playing and his contribution was valuable.
However, as the game appeared to be slipping away, the Mumbai bowlers did well to bounce back and bowled out Saurashtra for 335.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu defeated Baroda by an innings and 57 runs at Motibaug Ground in Vadodara with right-arm medium pacer K Vignesh taking a fifer in the second essay.
Due to Vignesh's heroics with the ball, Tamil Nadu dismissed the hosts for 259 in their second innings to register an emphatic win and picked up seven points.
His haul included the key wicket of captain Krunal Pandya, who made a defiant 74 (95 balls, 10 fours, 2 sixes), having him caught in the deep by substitute M Siddharth and Deepak Hooda (4).
The 25-year-old medium-pacer, who made a comeback to the team after being dropped for the match against Railways (which Tamil Nadu won comprehensively), said it was good to be back in the squad and among wickets too.
"The wicket was good and we had to really bowl well in the second innings because it slightly eased out after we batted," Vignesh said.
Brief scores:
At Rajkot: Mumbai 262 and 285 for 3 (Suryakumar Yadav 134, Shams Mulani 67 not out) vs Saurashtra 335 (Sheldon Jackson 85, Chirag Jani 84 not out, Royston Dias 4-64). Mumbai lead by 212 runs.
At Vadodara: Baroda 174 and 259 (Krunal Pandya 74; A Sheth 70; K Vignesh 5-62) vs Tamil Nadu 490/7 declared. Baroda lost by an innings and 57 runs. Points: Tamil Nadu 7 points, Baroda 0.
At Shimoga: Karnataka 426 vs Madhya Pradesh 311/4 (Aditya Shrivastava 109 not out, Venkatesh Iyer 80). Madhya Pradesh trail by 115 runs.
At New Delhi (Karnail Singh stadium): Himachal Pradesh 283 and 24/0 vs Railways 545 for 7 declared (Arindam Ghosh 204 not out, Karn Sharma 82, Mahesh Rawat 60; AP Vashisht 3/110, M J Dagar 3/114). Himachal Pradesh trail by 238 runs.
Anuj Rawat’s ton raises Delhi’s slim hopes
New Delhi: Wicketkeeper batsman Anuj Rawat's stroke-filled hundred gave Delhi a slim chance of an outright win after Gujarat got the all-important first innings lead in the Ranji Trophy group A encounter.
In reply to Delhi's 293, Gujarat scored 335 after starting the day on 269 for 4, Manprit Juneja (124, 190 balls) and Dhruv Raval (94)'s 221-run stand for the fifth wicket proving crucial in a 42-run lead.
However left-handed Anuj, a former India Under-19 captain, then took the attack back to the opposition camp with a superb 133 off 194 balls that was studded with 15 fours and two sixes.
Delhi ended the day on 228 for four with a lead of 186 runs going into the final day.
While the chances of an outright win on a good batting track might not be more than 25 percent, Anuj's innings certainly gave Delhi a glimmer of hope if they can get a lead of 275 by lunch and get 60 overs at the opposition.
"That's the plan. The wicket is good for batting but it is slightly up and down at times. But, yes, bowlers need to bend their backs," said the student of Rajkumar Sharma, who is also Virat Kohli's coach.
The feature of Rawat's innings was the punch in his drives; he was severe on pacer A Nagwaswalla (1/62).
He also hooked pacer Chintan Gaja for a six and a pulled one off Axar Patel. He added 106 with Jonty Sidhu (48) for the fourth wicket stand before being holed out trying to hit Rujul Bhatt.
With India's ‘keeping cupboard in red ball cricket bare, Rawat could soon become a serious India A prospect with his stamina (85-plus overs of ‘keeping and 63-plus overs of batting) and skill set.
Brief scores:
At Delhi: Delhi 293 and 228/4 (Anuj Rawat 133, Jonty Sidhu 48) vs Gujarat 335 (Manprit Juneja 124, Dhruv Raval 94).
At Jaipur: Rajasthan 241 and 201 (Nilkantha Das 4/26) vs Bengal 123 and (target 320) 185/4 (Abhimanyu Easwaran 62, Koushik Ghosh 64). Bengal need 135 to win.
J&K thrash Tripura, move to top of Group C
Agartala: Skipper Parvez Rasool returned match figures of 12 for 73 as Jammu and Kashmir thrashed Tripura by 329 runs on third day of their Ranji Trophy Group 'C' encounter.
With the emphatic win, J&K moved to the top of the points table.
Resuming their second innings at 49 for 1, the visiting team batted aggressively to score 306 for 9 and set Tripura a mammoth 489-run target.
The win took J&K to 39 points from eight matches and in contention for qualification for the knock-out phase from the group.
Odisha, who are playing Maharashtra in Pune, has 35 points from seven games while Services are third with 33 points.
Rasool did the star turn, returning a haul of 5 for 28 to add to his first innings figures of 7 for 45 as Tripura were bundled out for 119 in 36.5 in the second innings.
The experienced off-spinner, who has played one ODI and one T20 International for India, bowled superbly and picked the first four wickets to fall to leave Tripura in a spin.
With the home team tottering at 35 for 5 and in danger of capitulating quickly, captain M B Mura Singh, who had earlier claimed six wickets in the second innings to finish with a match haul of 10 for 164, delayed the inevitable with a gritty knock of 58 (78 balls, 10 fours).
In J&K's second innings, Shubham Khajuria (76, 112 balls, 9 fours, 3 sixes), Abdul Samad (56) and Rasool (56) came up with half-centuries to put the team in command.
Brief scores: J&K 329 all out in 95.5 overs (Jiyaad Nazir Magrey 66, Aquib Nabi 46, Abid Mushtaq 76 not out; M B Mura Singh 4/100) and 306 for 9 declared in 65.2 overs (Shubham Khajuria 76, Parvez Rasool 56, Abdul Samad 56; M B Mura Singh 6/64) beat Tripura 187 all out in 60.5 overs (Milind 55, Pratyush Singh 47; Parvez Rasool 7/45) and 119 all out in 36.2 overs (M B Mura Singh 58; Parvez Rasool 5/28) by 329 runs.
Points: J&K 6, Tripura 0.
At Pune: Odisha 293 all out in 101.1 overs (Shantanu Mishra 84, Rajesh Dhuper 110 not out, Anurag Sarangi 41; A Palkar 4/81) and 24 for no loss in 11 overs vs Maharashtra 543 for 5 declared in 149.5 overs (Ankit Bawane 204 not out, Ruturaj Gaikwad 129, N S Shaikh 100; Suryakant Pradhan 2/92).
At Jamshedpur: Chhattisgarh 559 all out in 160.3 overs (Harpreet Singh Bhatia 221, Ajay Mandal 121 not out, Jiwanjot Singh 52; Sahil Raj 3/83, Sonu Kumar Singh 3/158) vs Jharkhand 242 all out in 75 overs (Virat Singh 140; Veer Pratap Singh 3/46, Puneet Datey 3/50) and 51 for no loss in 14 overs (Arnav Sinha 31 batting).
