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A summary of Friday's action in the Ranji Trophy matches across the country.
Mumbai piled up a massive 585 runs first-innings lead before making early inroads against Meghalaya, while Jammu and Kashmir grabbed a crucial 205-run advantage against Baroda in their Group A Ranji Trophy matches on Friday.
Mumbai skipper Ajinkya Rahane missed a century, but maiden First Class tons from Akash Anand (103) and Shams Mulani (100 not out), Siddhesh Lad's 145 and fifties from Shardul Thakur (84) and Suryansh Shedge (61) powered the hosts to a massive 671 for 7 declared in the first innings, in Mumbai.
Meghalaya, who were shot out for 86 in the first innings, were reduced to 27 for 2 at stumps on the second day, trailing by 558 runs, as Mumbai took big strides towards a massive win to ensure qualification for the quarter-finals.
With a quarter-final berth at stake, the defending champions opted for a no-risk approach by batting through the second day to push for an outright win.
The day, however, began on a disappointing note for the hosts as Rahane fell four runs short of his first century this season.
He edged one behind to Arpit Subhas off M D Nafees after being troubled on a few occasions.
Lad brought up his second century of the season, finishing with 145 off 250 balls, including 17 fours and a six. Lad had himself to blame as he hit an innocuous delivery from Anish Charak (2/185) straight into the hands of Kishan Lyndoh at short mid-wicket.
The 196-run association between Rahane and Lad was followed by an 87-run stand between Lad and Anand for the fourth wicket and another 123 runs between Suryansh Shedge and Anand for the fifth.
Thakur then produced a brutal 42-ball 84, inclusive of five sixes and nine fours, while adding 156 runs for the seventh wicket from only 99 balls with Mulani.
Mumbai declared after Mulani scored his ton, reaching 100 not out off 86 balls.
In another Group A clash at Vadodara, J&K took control against Baroda, whom they had displaced from the top of the points table with a win over Mumbai last week.
J&K came up with a fine bowling display to dismiss Baroda for 166 and take an 80-run first-innings lead.
At stumps, J&K's lead had swelled to 205, with opener Shubham Khajuria, who had earlier taken 3/47, reaching 67 not out off 115 balls.
In Cuttack, Odisha conceded a 19-run first-innings lead but reached 167 for three at stumps to be ahead by 148 runs against Services with Aashirwad Swain batting on 64.
In Solapur, Siddhesh Veer's unbeaten 93 and Yash Kshirsagar's 71 took Maharashtra to 235/3 against Tripura who were bowled out for 270 in the first innings.
Brief scores:
At Mumbai: Meghalaya 86 & 27/2 vs Mumbai 671/7 decl. in 140.5 overs (Siddhesh Lad 145, Ajinkya Rahane 96, Akash Anand 103, Suryansh Shedge 61, Shams Mulani 100*, Shardul Thakur 84; Himan Phukan 3/144).
At Vadodara: Jammu and Kashmir 246 & 125/1 in 41 overs (Shubham Khajuria 67*) vs Baroda 166 in 62.1 overs (Shivalik Sharma 64; Sahil Lotra 4/26, Abid Mushtaq 3/56, Shubham Khajuria 3/47).
At Cuttack: Odisha 180 & 167/3 (Aashirwad Swain 64*; Pulkit Narang 1/22) vs Services 199 (Ravi Chauhan 120; Rajesh Mohanty 5/68, Tapas Kumar Das 3/57, Sunil Kumar Roul 2/57).
At Solapur: Tripura 270 in 101.2 overs (S Sharath 71; Rajneesh Gurbani 4/37, Hitesh Walunj 4/67) vs Maharashtra 235/3 in 72 overs (Siddhesh Veer 93*; Yash Kshirsagar 71).
Dagar, Negi share 7 wickets but Gujarat take slender lead
Ahmedabad: Jaymeet Patel scored a fine half-century but Mayank Dagar (4/62) and Mukul Negi (3/71) shared seven wickets to leave the contest evenly poised as Himachal Pradesh restricted Gujarat for 247 and reached 63 for 2 at stumps, on Day 2 of their final Ranji Trophy round-robin clash.
Resuming at 44 for 2, Gujarat managed a 32-run first-innings lead with useful contributions from Jaymeet (55), Manan Hingrajia (45) and Hemang Patel (41).
In response, Himachal Pradesh, who were bowled out for 215 in the first innings, reached 63 for 2 with Prashant Chopra (29) and Innesh Mahajan (11) at the crease.
Himachal Pradesh lead by 31 runs and with two days remaining a result is likely in favour of both the teams who are competing for the second quarter-final spot in the group.
Earlier, Gujarat failed to build steady partnerships. Overnight batter Hingrajia added 47 runs with Jaymeet after the early dismissal of Umang Kumar (11), but once the former was dismissed by Negi, wickets continued to fall at regular intervals.
Urvil Patel (22) was trapped by Dagar, Jaymeet was caught by Rishi Dhawan off Bedi, and Vishal Jayswal (23) was adjudged leg-before by Negi.
Hemang Patel then provided some resistance, hitting two fours and four sixes in an entertaining 41 off 46 balls, helping boost Gujarat's total.
Hyderabad in control against Vidarbha
In Nagpur, opener Tanmay Agarwal's magnificent century put Hyderabad in control as they took a 136-run first-innings lead while posting 326, and reduced Vidarbha to 56 for 2 on Day 2.
Vidarbha, who had already secured their quarter-final spot, were bowled out for just 190 in 55.5 overs. Tanmay's 136-run knock, which included 13 boundaries and a six, anchored the Hyderabad innings and dashed Vidarbha's hopes of making a comeback.
At stumps, Atharva Taide (20) was at the crease after Aditya Thakare's dismissal on the last ball of the day.
Vidarbha still trail by 80 runs with eight wickets remaining.
Prithvi gives Andhra hope, Rajasthan still lead by 133
In Vizianagaram, Andhra conceded a 38-run first-innings lead after being dismissed for 220 but Rajasthan were left struggling at 95 for 7 in their second innings at stumps, courtesy a four-wicket haul from Prithvi Raj Yarra.
Resuming at 49 for no loss in reply to Rajasthan's 258, Andhra could not capitalise on their strong start, with KS Bharat's 52 being the only significant contribution.
Prithvi Raj (4/34), Satyanarayana Raju (1/20) and Tripurana Vijay (2/17) raised their game when it mattered and Andhra will hope for early breakthroughs on Saturday to stay in the contest.
At stumps, Ajay Kookna (17) and Arafat Khan (12) were at the crease with Rajasthan leading by 133 runs.
Brief scores:
In Ahmedabad: Himachal Pradesh 215 & 63 for 2 in 22 overs (Prashant Chopra 29*; Vishal Jayswal 2/24) lead Gujarat 247 all out in 90.2 overs (Jaymeet Patel 55; Mayank Dagar 4/62) by 31 runs.
In Nagpur: Vidarbha 190 & 56 for 2 in 19.5 overs (Atharva Taide 20; Mohammed Siraj 1/11) trail Hyderabad 326 all out in 91.4 overs (Tanmay Agarwal 136; Parth Rekhade 3/51) by 80 runs.
In Vizianagaram: Rajasthan 258 & 95 for 7 in 35 overs (Abhijeet Tomar 31; Prithvi Raj Yarra 4/34) lead Andhra 220 all out in 57.1 overs (S Bharat 52; Manav Suthar 4/65) by 133 runs.
In Puducherry: Puducherry 427 all out in 151.5 overs (Mohit Kale 202*; Deepak Dhapola 5/71) lead Uttarakhand 77 for 1 in 28 overs (Ravikumar Samarth 37*; Sagar Udeshi 1/27) by 350 runs.
Haryana, Kerala seal QF berths from Group C; heartbreak for Karnataka
Bengaluru: Karnataka's tiny hopes of entering the Ranji Trophy knock-outs from the Elite Group C dissipated along with Haryana skipper Ankit Kumar's smooth hundred.
Ankit's 118 (154b, 19x4) guided Haryana to 232 for five at close on Day 2 at the M A Chinnaswamy Stadium, leaving them trailing the hosts by 72 runs.
Earlier, Karnataka, starting from overnight 267 for 5, lost five wickets quickly and were bowled out for 304 in their first innings on a rather placid pitch.
In fact, once Haryana avoided the follow-on mark of 154, they were assured a berth in the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals for the first time since the 2016-17 season, when they lost to Jharkhand.
This is the first time Karnataka are missing a place in the knock-outs since the 2015-16 season.
Karnataka can still force a favourable result against Haryana, but stand no chance of gaining a bonus point, which was crucial to their progress to the quarter-finals.
The eight-time champions will end up with 25 points in the event of a win, but Haryana already have 26 points.
Kerala, the other team to advance to the quarter-finals from the group, have 28 points.
Even after getting bundled out for 304, Karnataka may have hoped for a miracle but their bowlers, who kept them afloat with a lion-hearted effort, could not rise to the occasion.
They found a strong-willed rival in Ankit, who nullified the Karnataka bowlers rather easily.
On their part, the home side’s bowlers, though they tried gamely, were not at their accurate best, often giving the batters enough chances to score easily.
That rare laxity, which haunted them at the most inappropriate time, pruned their dreams.
Kerala trounce Bihar to enter QF
Thumba: Kerala walloped Bihar by an innings and 169 runs inside two days to go on top of Group C with 28 points.
Kerala began the match on 21 points and they gained seven points, including one bonus, for an innings victory.
After amassing 351, Kerala bundled out Bihar for 64 in their first innings and for 118 in their second dig to celebrate a massive win.
Spinner Jalaj Saxena was their lead cast with a match haul of 10 for 53.
At Bengaluru: Karnataka 304 all out in 101 overs (Mayank Agarwal 91, Devdutt Padikkal 43, KL Shrijith 37; Anshul Kamboj 4/32, Anuj Thakral 4/88) vs Haryana 232/5 in 66 overs (Ankit Kumar 118, Nishant Singh (batting) 35; Yashovardhan Parantap 2/42).
At Thumba: Kerala (351 all out) beat Bihar (64 all out in 23.1 overs) (Jalaj Saxena 5/19) and 118 all out in 41.1 overs (S Gani 31, Veer Pratap Singh 30; Jalaj Saxena 5/34, Adiya Sarvate 3/27) by an innings and 169 runs.
Kerala: 7 points, Bihar: 0.
At Kolkata: Punjab 191 all out and 64/3 in 21 overs (Anmolpreet Singh (batting) 28) vs Bengal 343 all out in 92.4 overs (Suraj Singh Jaiswal 111, Sumant Gupta 55, Abhishek Porel 52; Gurnoor Brar 4/74, Sahil 3/105).
At Indore: Madhya Pradesh 670/7 declared in 160 overs (Harsh Gawli 258, Shubham Sharma 208, Sagar Solanki 72, Himanshu Mantri 52; Vijay Kumar 3/94, Kuldeep Singh Yadav 2/124) vs Uttar Pradesh 95/0 in 15 overs (Abhishek Goswami (batting) 66).
Kohli falls for 6; Badoni's 99 ensures first innings lead for Delhi
New Delhi: Skipper Ayush Badoni's audacious 99 helped Delhi take the first innings lead against Railways after pacer Himanshu Sangwan got the coveted wicket of Virat Kohli on Day 2 of their Group D Ranji Trophy match.
Resuming the day at 41/1, Delhi were able to get past Railways' 241, courtesy a 133-run stand between Badoni (99 off 77) and Sumit Mathur (78 not out off 189). At stumps, Delhi had taken a 93-run lead by reaching 334/7.
Badoni put the opposition bowlers under pressure with a fearless display of stroke-making before falling to a slog sweep of leg-spinner Karn Sharma in the 56th over.
Railways pacers were a tad unlucky in not getting a breakthrough in the first hour of play with Yash Dhull (32 off 69) and Sanat Sangwan living dangerously. After a few streaky boundaries, Dhull played a copybook cover drive before being adjudged leg before wicket off left-arm pacer Rahul Sharma.
Dhull's dismissal brought Virat Kohli to the middle, drawing a loud roar from the fans. However, the joy of fans was short-lived as the superstar went for an expansive drive off Himanshu Sangwan but the missed the ball completely and saw his off-stump uprooted.
Kohli had drilled a straight boundary the ball before but standing outside the crease, he went for the attack again only to miss a delivery that seamed back in slightly.
Sangwan also breached the defenses of opener Sanat Sangwan (30 off 81) in the following over leaving Delhi at 97 for four in the 30th over.
Delhi captain Badoni then led from the front to put his team in a strong position. He took the attack to Railways especially left-arm spinner Ayan Chaudhari, dispatching him for three sixes.
He entered into his 90s with back-to-back sixes before mistiming a sweep off Karn Sharma to be caught at short fine-leg on 99. The sweep yielded him the desired results until his dismissal in the 56th over.
Badoni's innings comprised 12 fours and three sixes. It was an innings that underlined his contribution to Delhi's campaign this season. He is both the leading run-getter and leading wicket-taker for his team in Ranji Trophy.
Tamil Nadu inch closer to quarter-finals
Jamshedpur: Tamil Nadu took control of their fate as they inched closer to the quarter-finals, needing 97 runs to win their match against Jharkhand.
After sizzling with a six-wicket haul on the opening day, spin all-rounder Utkarsh Singh made a crucial contribution with the bat, scoring 35 runs in Jharkhand's second innings, as the hosts set Tamil Nadu a 233-run target for the win.
Resuming at 5/1, Utkarsh and Aditya Singh were the joint top-scorers for Jharkhand in their second innings, both scoring 35 each.
Tamil Nadu lost five wickets in their chase with Vijay Shankar and Ajith Ram batting on 33 and 5 at stumps.
Tamil Nadu, who currently lead the group with 25 points, need just a draw to secure a quarter-final spot.
Pujara misses out on century as Saurashtra dominate
Veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara fell agonisingly short of a century, scoring 99, as Saurashtra strengthened their grip over Assam by enforcing a follow-on in their Ranji game.
After adding 114 runs to their overnight score, Saurashtra posted a commanding total of 474.
Their bowlers then delivered a dominant performance, bundling Assam out for just 164 in 41 overs. With a massive lead, Saurashtra enforced the follow-on, putting Assam under further pressure.
At stumps, Assam reached 67/1 but still trailed by 243 runs, facing an uphill battle to avoid defeat.
Saurashtra will look to wrap up the game quickly on Saturday with a bonus point victory.
In Delhi: Railways 241 all out. Delhi 334/7 in 96 overs (Ayush Badoni 99, Pranav Rajuvanshi 39, Sumit Mathur 78 not out; Himanshu Sangwan 2/46.
In Rajkot: Saurashtra 474 in 117 overs (Cheteshwar Pujara 99, Harvik Desai 130, Gajjar Samar 60 not out). Assam 164 all out in 41 overs (Riyan Parag 51, Mukhtar Hussain 46 not out; Dharmendra Sinh Jadeja 4/61) and 67/1 in 18 overs.
In Jamshedpur: Jharkhand 185 and 154 (Utkarsh Singh 35; Aditya Singh 35; Sai Kishore 5/43) lead by 96 runs over Tamil Nadu 106 all out and 137/5 (Mohamed Ali 44, Vijay Shankar 33 not out; Manishi 3/36).