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Pacer Ishant Sharma bowled an inspired spell in the post lunch session as Delhi beat a dogged Haryana side by 105 runs in their fourth round Ranji Trophy Group A encounter in Delhi.
Chasing a target of 376, Haryana were all out for 270 in 70 overs.
Sachin Rana produced a gutsy effort of an unbeaten 86 but Ishant dismissed the tail-enders in the post lunch session to seal the match in favour of the home side. Ishant got four for 76 in the second innings as his match haul was 9/109.
However, credit should be given to Haryana for making a match out of it starting the day at 63 for five.
Rana, who played 124 balls, hit eight boundaries and two huge sixes off Rajat Bhatia. He had a fruitful partnership with Jayant Yadav which produced 117 runs. Yadav was more attacking of the two, scoring 60 off 62 balls with nine boundaries.
It was Varun Sood who dismissed Yadav who was bowled while dancing down the track. In came Joginder Sharma (35), who added 63 runs for the seventh wicket.
Joginder's 35 came off 52 with five fours. It was 256 for seven when Ishant did the trick with old ball.
He first got Joginder bowled and then bowled a couple of back of length deliveries to dismiss Harshal Patel and Sanjay Badhwar to bring an end to the match.
Brief Scores:
Delhi 201 and 312/7 decl.
Haryana 138 and 270 in 70 overs (Sachin Rana 86 not out, Jayant Yadav 60, Ishant Sharma 4/76, Varun Sood 4/49).
Rahul's 158 helps Karnataka get three points against Vidarbha
Nagpur: Lokesh Rahul cracked a brilliant 158 as Karnataka overhauled Vidarbha's first innings total of 542, scoring 549 for nine on the final day in their drawn Group A match.
After Vidarbha posted 542 yesterday, it turned out to be a battle for the first innings lead as Karnataka today resumed from their overnight score of 252-2 to eventually surpass the hosts' score in the dying moment of the match.
Karnataka thus registered three valuable points due to their first innings lead, while Vidarbha had to settle for one point.
Resuming at an individual score of 59 on day 4, Rahul kept Karnataka in the hunt as he added 132 runs for the third wicket with Manish Pandey (67).
Once Pandey was dismissed by S B Wagh with wicketkeeper A V Ubarhande taking the catch in the 87th over, Rahul continued the fightback adding valuable runs with KR Kapoor (5) and CM Gautam (28).
When Rahul was cleaned up by Umesh Yadav in the 123th over, Karnataka were still 68 runs behind with four wickets remaining.
Karnataka then lost Ganesh K S Satish (42) and Abhimanyu Mithun (2) in the next successive overs as they were reduced to 477 for eight.
Tail-enders Abrar Kazi (25) and KP Apanna (32) then added 72 runs for the ninth wicket to take Karnataka across Vidarbha's 542, reaching 549 in 148.1 over when the latter lost his wicket to Ruikar.
Brief Score:
Vidarbha 1st innings: 542
Karnataka 1st innings: 549-9 in 148.1 overs (KL Rahul 158; Umesh Yadav 3/121, Akshay Wakhare 3/113).
Samit, Rujul tons help Gujarat earn a draw
Mohali: Samit Gohel and Rujul Bhatt struck unbeaten centuries in their 210-run partnership to help Gujarat eke out a draw against Punjab in their Ranji Trophy Group A match.
Chasing 355 runs for win but with only seven wickets in hand, Gohel and Bhatt resumed Gujarat second innings and batted through the day to save the match.
Gujarat had ended third day at a precarious 33 for three and all the responsibility to save the match was on them and did not disappoint the visitors, who ended at 224 for three.
Gohel remained unbeaten on 102 and Bhatt on exactly 100.
Gohel's knock came off 280 balls with 10 boundaries while Bhatt faced 284 balls and hit 16 shots to the fence.
They shared an unbeaten 210-run stand for the fourth wicket.
It was a much better batting show by the visitors, who were bundled out for a mere 127 in their first essay.
Punjab on the basis of their first innings lead, earned three points while Gujarat pocketed one.
Brief Scores:
Punjab: 172 and 309
Gujarat: 127 and 224 for 3 in 101.5 overs (Samit Gohel 102 not out, Rujul Bhatt 100 not out; Sandeep Sharma 2/43).
Odisha thrash Jharkhand by 9 wkts
Cuttack: Opener Girjia Rout slammed an unbeaten 67 as Odisha thrashed Jharkhand by nine wickets on the final day of their Ranji Trophy Group A fourth round match.
After Basant Mohanty grabbed all the nine Jharkhand wickets that fell on Saturday, it was the turn of medium-pacer Alok Chandra Sahoo to take all the four remaining wickets on the fourth day morning to help Odisha dismissed the visiting side for 194 in their second innings.
Chasing 109 for a win, Odisha overhauled the target with ease as only one wicket fell, when Varun Aaron had Vikas Pati caught for 11.
Rout hit 11 boundaries in his 98-ball unbeaten 67 as he took Odisha to 109 for one in 30 overs. Odisha walked away with all the six points by virtue of the win.
Jharkhand started the day at 149 for six but Sahoo struck on the second ball of the day, dismissing Bhavik Thaker for nine.
Six overs later, Sahoo sent a well-set Pappu Singh back to the pavilion for 61. Shahbaz Nadeem and Shankar Rao resisted with scores of 20 and 10 but both fell soon, giving Sahoo figures of 4 for 42.
Brief Scores:
Odisha: 307 and 109 for 1 (Girija Rout 67 not out) beat
Jharkhand 221 & 194 all out in 73.4 overs (Pappu Singh 61, Basant Mohanty 6/88, Alok Sahoo 4/42) by nine wickets.
Bengal get three points vs Saurashtra despite Jaydev ton
Kolkata: Hosts Bengal employed negative tactics in the final two sessions to ensure three points by virtue of first innings lead against Saurashtra in a Ranji Trophy group B encounter at the Eden Gardens.
Chasing a victory target of 273, Saurashtra scored 189 for four in 72 overs when play was called off with skipper Jaydev Shah scoring an unbeaten 104 off 162 balls -- only his fifth century in 82 first-class matches.
Bengal looked good for full points when they reduced Saurashtra to 38 for four at the end of the 15th over with Ashoke Dinda again castling Cheteshwar Pujara (9).
Openers Bhushan Chauhan and Sagar Jogiyani were dismissed by Sourav Sarkar after which Dinda removed Pujara and Sheldon Jackson.
After this Shah and Aarpit Vasavada stuck in for an undefeated 151-run partnership off 57 overs.
Shah, whose career average is below 30 after a decade of first-class cricket got stuck into Bengal bowling as he hit 16 boundaries. Vasavada also proved to be a stubborn customer as he remained undefeated for 188 balls hitting six boundaries.
However there was a point of time after lunch when Shah hit a flurry of boundaries and it looked as if Saurashtra might just go for an improbable win.
Sensing danger the Bengal bowlers resorted to negative tactics bowling to a line where batsmen would find it difficult to go for stroke.
In the end after 72 overs, both captains decided to call off proceedings as an outright result wasn't possible.
Brief Scores:
Bengal 303 & 194.
Saurashtra 225 & 189/4 (Jaydev Shah 104 no, Aarpit Vasavada 50, Ashoke Dinda 2/57).
Services earn three points against MP
New Delhi: Naman Ojha scored his second double-hundred but Services walked away with three points after drawing their Ranji Trophy Group B match against Madhya Pradesh.
Resuming at their overnight score of 127 for three, Madhya Pradesh batted the entire day in their second innings to finish at 385 for seven at Palam A Ground, Model Sports Complex.
Services earned three points on first-innings lead and are placed third from bottom in their group while the visitors took one to be placed fourth.
Starting the day, Ojha and Devendra Bundela added another 83 runs to stretch their fourth-wicket partnership to 109 before the latter was run-out for 40.
Udit Birla did not last long as he was caught off Rahul Kanojia for 8.
At 227 for five, Ojha had two fruitful partnerships with Rameez Khan (21) and Jatin Saxena (19 not out). He first added 85 with Khan for the sixth wicket and 72 with Saxena for the seventh wicket.
Khan was dismissed by Kanojia while Ojha brought up his double-hundred and finally fell for 211, during which he faced 345 deliveries and hit 21 fours and five sixes.
For Services, Koteshwar Rao picked up three wickets for 82 runs while Kanojia chipped in with two wickets.
Brief Scores:
Madhya Pradesh 239 and 385 for 7 in 128 overs (Naman Ojha 211, Koteshwar Rao 3/82)
Services 391 (Yashpal Singh 142, Rajat Paliwal 99; Jatinb Saxena 4/47, Jalaj Saxena 4/83).
Uttar Pradesh earn three points against Tamil Nadu
Meerut: Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla showcased his batting abilities with an impressive 153 as hosts Uttar Pradesh earned three vital points on the basis of their first innings lead against Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy Group B match which ended in a tame draw.
Skipper Chawla scored his fifth first-class century, during which he faced 279 deliveries and hit 14 fours and six sixes, as Uttar Pradesh stretched the score from overnight 411 for seven to 500 for nine declared at Bhamashah Stadium.
Tamil Nadu scored 128 for two in their second innings with opener Abhinav Mukund hitting an unbeaten 149-ball 56 while Test specialist Murali Vijay contributing 38 off 52 balls before being trapped lbw by Chawla.
The bowler struck soon when he had S Badrinath bowled for 16, but Mukund and Baba Aparajith (15 not out) prevented any further damage.
Earlier, Chawla continued from where he had left on Saturday as he launched Aushik Srinivas for three huge sixes in an over, the third of which took him past his 150.
However, Chawla was soon dismissed by Srinivas for his career-best 153. He added a record 177 runs for the eighth wicket with Amit Mishra, the other overnight batsman, who also scored a gritty 143-ball 59.
Brief Scores:
Tamil Nadu 1st innings: 297 & 128 for 2 in 48 overs (Abhinav Mukund 56 not out; Piyush Chawla 2/17)
Uttar Pradesh 1st innings: 500 for nine decl in 183 overs (Piyush Chawla 153, Eklavya Dwivedi 70; R Aushik Srinivas 4/168).
Hyderabad register 185-run win over Himachal
Dharmasala: M Ravi Kiran returned with a four-wicket haul to led a disciplined bowling attack as Hyderabad shot out Himachal Pradesh for a paltry 111 in their second innings to notch up a convincing 185-run victory in their Group C Ranji Trophy match.
Resuming at their overnight score of 319-7, Hyderabad declared their second innings at 355-8 in 113.5 overs.
The visitors then produced a spectacular bowling attack to annihilate the hosts in 35.5 overs, courtesy Kiran (4/42), Alfred Absolem (2/27) and Pragyan Ojha (2/8).
Pagadala Naidu (1/20) and Hanuma Vihari (1/11) also accounted for one wicket each at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association stadium.
With this outright victory, Hyderabad registered six points, while HP had to return empty handed.
Earlier, resuming his innings at 77, Syed Quadri completed his century in 154 balls, scoring 101, which was laced with 17 hits to the fence.
Himachal could hardly provide a fight in their second innings as they lost wicket regularly. Opener Prashant Chopra was the first to be dismissed in the sixth over by Naidu, Sangram Singh too lost his wicket soon in the 12th over when Vihari trapped him infront of his wicket as HP slipped to 30 for two.
Spinner Ojha then weaved his magic, dismissing Abhinav Bali (15) and Maneik Mohil (0) in the 19th over.
Kiran then joined the party and got rid off highest-scorer Paras Dogra (37) and skipper Rahul Dhawan (0) in the 30th over as the hosts slumped to 73 for six.
In the next six overs, HP lost their remaining four wickets as Hyderabad celebrated.
Brief Score:
Hyderabad: 237 & 355/8d (SA Quadri 101; AN Chauhan 5/98)
Himachal Pradesh: 296 & 111 all out in 35.5 overs (P Dogra 37; M Ravi Kiran 4/42).
Tripura suffer innings defeat against Assam
Agartala: An improved batting performance from Tripura was not enough to save their Ranji Trophy Group C match against Assam as they crashed to an innings and 55-run defeat on the final day.
Tripura, who had conceded a huge 389-run first innings lead to Assam, had a bad start after resuming the day at 156 for three as they lost overnight batsmen Abbas Ali (12) and Samrat Singha (79) to pacer Abu Nechim.
Yogesh Takawale scored 68 off 109 balls and was well supported by Timir Chanda as the pair added 72 for the seventh wicket.
However, once Takawale fell, Nechim and Jamaluddin Syed Mohammed combined to take regular wickets and dismiss Tripura for 334.
Nechim finished with 4 for 78 to add to his three-wicket haul in the first innings. Arup Das, Pritam Das and J Syed Mohammad took two wickets each.
Assam secured seven points for winning the match by an innings while Tripura got none.
Brief Scores:
Assam: 525 for 5 dec
Tripura 136 and 334 all out in 120.5 overs (Samrat Singha 79, Yogesh Takawale 68; Abu Nechim 4/78)
J&K beat Andhra by 17 runs
Anantapur: Jammu Kashmir completed the formalities by dismissing the two remaining Andhra Pradesh batsmen to notch up a 17-run win on the fourth and final day of their low-scoring Ranji Trophy Group C match.
Reduced to 79 for eight yesterday, Andhra folded for 124 while chasing a meagre 142 for victory.
Marripuri Suresh was the lone Andhra batsman to put up a semblance of fight against J&K with a 104-ball 50, which included seven hits to the fence.
For J&K, all their bowlers delivered with Ram Dayal and Mohammed Mudhasir bagging three wickets each. Samiullah Beigh picked up two wickets.
Brief Score:
Jammu & Kashmir: 225 and 121
Andhra Pradesh: 205 and 124 all out in 44.4 overs (Marripuri Suresh 50, Ram Dayal 3/31, Mohammed Mudhasir 3/19).
Image: Ishant Sharma
Photograph: Mike Hutchings/Reuters