Mumbai registered their first victory of the season, thrashing Odisha by 120 runs in a Group ‘C’ Ranji Trophy match, at the KIIT Stadium in Bhubaneshwar, on Saturday.
Resuming at the overnight score of 93 for 4, Odisha capitulated in less than two sessions as Akash Parkar and Dhawal Kulkarni finished with three wickets each.
Chasing 413 for an unlikely win, the home side was never in the hunt, losing wickets at regular intervals. Only captain Govind Poddar offered resistance, with a knock of 87.
Poddar put on 90 runs with Shantanu Mitra (49) before falling to Abhishek Nayar, who also ended Biplab Samantaray's doughty resistance, by having hom bowled for 31.
Some lower-order resistance delayed the visitors' victory, with Suryakant Rawat hitting three sixers in his 21-ball 32.
Following the victory, the 41-time Ranji champion moved to 10 points in the group.
Mumbai next meets Baroda at home in what will be their 500th Ranji Trophy game, beginning November 9.
Odisha will take on Tamil Nadu in its next fixture at Cuttack from November 9.
In other Group ‘C’ games, Andhra Pradesh cruised to an eight-wicket win over Madhya Pradesh at Vizianagaram to gain six points.
Subsequently, Andhra moved to the top of the points’ table with 15, one more than MP.
Brief Scores, Group ‘C’:
At Bhubaneshwar: Mumbai 289 all out in 99.5 overs (Prithvi Shaw 105)and 268 for 9 declared in 71 overs (Siddhesh Lad 117, Prithvi Shaw 46, Suryakant Pradhan 3 for 106) beat Odisha 145 all out in 50.5 overs and 292 all out in 85.1 overs (Govind Poddar 87, Shantanu Mishra 49, Akash Parkar 3 for 40, Dhawal Kulkarni 3 for 74).
Points: Mumbai 6; Odisha 0.
At Vizianagaram: Madhya Pradesh 321 all out in 122.5 overs (Harpreet Singh Bhatia 88, Prithvi Raj Yarra 4 for 55) and 119 all out in 51.1 overs (Devendra Bundela 38, Bandaru Ayyappa 5 for 34) lost to Andhra Pradesh 376 all out in 115.2 overs (G Hanuma Vihari 77, Ashwin Hebbar 77, D B Ravi Teja 58, B Sumanth 57, Mihir Hirwani 5 for 82) and 65 for 2 in 13.1 overs.
Points: Andhra Pradesh: 6; MP: 0.
At Vadodara: Baroda 521 all out in 152.2 overs (Vishnu Solanki 116, A Sheth 95 not out, Abhijit Karambelkar 86, A S Sarkar 3 for 88) and 85 for 6 in 35 overs drew Tripura 436 all out in 156.3 overs (Smit Patel 158, Yashpal Singh 90, S M Singha 41, SS Mangalorkar 2 for 70).
Points: Baroda: 3; Tripura: 1.
Bengal settle for 3 points after frustrating draw vs HP
Rishi Dhawan's fine all-round show enabled Himachal Pradesh to prevent hosts Bengal from logging full points at home in a Group ‘D’ encounter, in Kolkata.
Having conceded a huge 213-run lead, Himachal Pradesh gave a better account of themselves, scoring 353 in the second innings, courtesy contributions from Priyanshu Khanudri (95), Prashant Chopra (81), Nikhil Gangta (57) and Dhawan (51 not out).
Mohammed Shami (5/109) and Ashok Dinda (3/74) could not recreate the magic of the first innings as Dhawan played 90 balls and, more importantly, had a ninth-wicket stand of 39 with Sidharth Sharma (1) which consumed an hour-and—a-half's play.
A target of 141 in the final session under fading light was next to impossible and Dhawan's four-wicket burst ensured that the captains decided to shake hands when Bengal were 65 for 4 in 15 overs.
India pacer Shami wrapped up the tail en route his sixth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket but by then HP had done enough to get a point.
Bengal took it up positively, promoting Wriddhiman Saha to open the innings but first innings centurion Raman (0) was out first ball -- a mistimed pull-shot off Dhawan. India A batsman Sudip Chatterjee (6) and skipper Manoj
Tiwary (2) were sent back in successive overs before Dhawan
also accounted for Shreevats Goswami (11).
Chatterjee (6) edged one to gully while skipper Tiwary was cleaned up with an inside edge as the dismissal forced Saha (34 not out) to play for a draw and secure three points.
It was a moral victory for Himachal having bounced back from being followed-on.
Punjab now lead Group ‘D’ with 15 points while Vidarbha, with 14, are second.
Bengal, who were second, had a definite chance to take the lead but the draw meant they slipped to third place with 13 points.
Bengal have three more matches, against Punjab, Vidarbha and Goa.
Brief Scores, Group ‘D’:
At Kolkata: Bengal 419 and 65/4; 15 overs; Himachal Pradesh 206 and f/o 353; 115 overs, (Priyanshu Khanduri 95, Prashant Chopra 81, Nikhil Gangta 57, Rishi Dhawan 51 not out; Mohammed Shami 5/109, Ashok Dinda 3/74).
Match drawn.
Points: Bengal 3; Himachal Pradesh 1.
At Nagpur: Vidarbha 385 and 223/6 declared; 44 overs. (Akshay Karnewar 48, Faiz Fazal 46, Sanjay Ramaswamy 42). Services 317 and 99; 28.1 overs (Akshay Wakhare 5/16, Karn Sharma 3/42).
Vidarbha won by 192 runs.
Points: Vidarbha 6; Services 0.
At Raipur: Chhattisgarh 238 and 297; 102.4 overs (Ashutosh Singh 119, Vishal Kushwah 45; Sandeep Sharma 4/89, Barinder Sran 3/65). Punjab 653/9 declared.
Punjab won by an innings and 118 runs.
Points: Punjab 7; Chhattisgarh 0.
Nitish, Milind steer Delhi past UP
Nitish Rana's fluent 67 and a patient unbeaten 48 from vice-captain Milind Kumar saw Delhi chase down a tricky target of 252 on the final day against
Uttar Pradesh in their Group A encounter in Delhi.
Delhi, with 16 points from three games, are now second in the group behind leaders Karnataka, who have 20 from an equal number of games.
Starting the day at 224 for 7, UP lasted only 4.5 overs as Navdeep Saini (4/46) polished off the remaining three wickets as the visitors’ second innings ended at 229.
With a minimum of 83 overs to reach the target, Delhi knocked off the runs in 72.1 overs with minimum fuss.
Unmukt Chand (49, 100 balls) and first innings hero Dhruv Shorey (32) added 53 for the second wicket after Gautam Gambhir's early departure.
But it was the partnership between Chand and Nitish Rana that yielded 71 runs for the third wicket before the former was dismissed in the 36th over.
He was one short of his first 50 of the season.
Rana, who hit eight boundaries and a six added another 52 runs with Milind, who was a picture of concentration during his undefeated 109-ball knock.
Once Rana was out in the 55th over, Rishabh Pant (26) hit a quickfire 26 off 34 balls to take the team closer before Navdeep Saini smashed three fours and a six in 12 balls to close the match.
Brief Scores, Group ‘A’:
At Delhi (Palam): UP 291 and 229 (Akshdeep Nath 110, Navdeep Saini 4/46, Ishant Sharma 3/38). Delhi 269 and (target 252) 256/6 (Nitish Rana 67, Milind
Kumar 48 n.o).
Delhi won by 4 wickets.
Points: Delhi 6; UP 0.
At Delhi (Karnail Singh Stadium): Hyderabad 474/9 and (Target) 23 for no loss; Railways 246 and 250 (f/0) (Manish Rao 85, Mehdi Hassan 4/35).
Points: Hyderabad 7; Railways 0.
At Pune: Maharashtra 245 and 247 (Ruturaj Gaikwad 65, Abhimanyu Mithun 5/66). Karnataka 628/5 decl.
Points: Maharashtra 0; Karnataka 7.
Saurashtra beat Jharkhand by 6 wkts
Saurashtra beat Jharkhand by six wickets in a Group ‘B’ encounter, bagging six points and move to third in the points’ table.
After following-on, Jharkhand scored 341 in their second innings, courtesy a whirlwind 99 off 75 balls by Nazim Siddiqui, who hit 13 boundaries and two sixes.
Wicketkeeper Sumit Kumar scored 108 off 147 balls, with 12 boundaries and five sixes.
Dharmendra Jadeja took 4 for 108.
Chasing a meagre target of 59, Saurashtra achieved it in 14 overs despite losing four wickets, including Cheteshwar Pujara (3).
Brief Scores, Group ‘B’:
At Pune: Saurashtra 553/9 decl and (target 59) 59/4. Jharkhand 270 and (following on) 341 (Sumit Kumar 108, Nazim Siddiqui 99).
Saurashtra won by 6 wickets.
Points: Saurashtra 6; Jharkhand 0
At Valsad: Gujarat 236 and 281/9 decl; Harayana 157 and (target 361) 122 (Suddharth Desai 5/46, Piyush Chawla 5/44).
Gujarat won by 238 runs.
Points: Gujarat 6; Haryana 0.
At Thumba: Kerala 219 and 191. Jammu and Kashmir 173 and (target 238) 79 (KC Akshay 5/21).
Kerala won by 158 runs.
Points: Kerala 6; Jammu and Kashmir 0.
