A round-up of all the Ranji Trophy matches played on Monday.
Senior batsman Manoj Tiwary cracked his maiden first-class triple century to put Bengal in the driver's seat against Hyderabad in their Ranji Trophy Group A clash in Kalyani, West Bengal on Monday.
The 34-year-old, who has played 12 ODIs and 3 T20 Internationals, was at his sublime best, smashing 30 fours and five sixes, en route his unbeaten 303 from 414 balls at a strike rate of 73.19. His marathon knock lasted 10 hours and 30 minutes.
His final 50 came off just 37 balls as he got to the landmark in the fourth ball of the final session of the second day, gliding part-timer Buddhi Rahul through the cover boundary. Bengal immediately declared their first innings at 635 for seven.
Tiwary, who last played for India in 2015, also became the only second batsman from Bengal to hit a triple ton -- Devang Gandhi was the first, having scored 323 against Assam at Guwahati in 1998-99 season.
Tiwary’s previous best was 267 as Bengal skipper against Madhya Pradesh in a drawn encounter in Kolkata in 2011-12 season.
His brilliant innings on Monday came at a time when he is going through difficult times, having remained unsold in the IPL auctions last month before getting embroiled in a controversy when he asked national selector Devang Gandhi to leave the Bengal team dressing room for his "unauthorised" entry.
He was also axed from captaincy in the beginning of the season, with the selectors opting for 24-year-old Abhimanyu Easwaran.
After Tiwary's sensational innings, it was time for Bengal pace duo of Akash Deep (3/46) and Mukesh Kumar (2/29) to wreak havoc as they reduced Hyderabad to 83 for five in the final session. Hyderabad still trail Bengal by 552 runs with two days left.
Bengal’s No. 9 batsman, Arnab Nandi also contributed to the team with an unbeaten 65 from 83 balls (8x4, 1x6) in an 159-run unbroken stand with Tiwary.
Shahbaz Ahmed (49 from 79 balls; 5x4, 1x6) also stitched a 108-run stand with Tiwary but the number eight batter missed his fifty with a suicidal run-out.
Overnight on 156, the seasoned Tiwary continued from where he left off on Day 1. He also had luck favouring him when he was let off at first slip on 166 off the bowling of Ravi Kiran (3/74).
From there on, he paced his innings beautifully and reached to his double century with a boundary against off-spinner Saketh Sairam in third man region.
"He paced his innings brilliantly. He was aggressive initially and then settled into his zone. He is a champion player, only second batsman from Bengal to score a triple," Bengal coach Arun Lal said, hailing Tiwary's knock.
"It was a magnificent innings. I'm just amazed that he has done it more often. Our pace bowling was also lethal. We should have had three seamers on this wicket. I think we misread it by picking three spinners."
Rookie pacer Akash Deep gave Bengal the first breakthrough with an unplayable rising delivery as Akshath Reddy (2) failed to duck and edged it to Arnab Nandi at the gully in the fourth over.
In his next over, he dismissed Tanay Thyagarajan (7) taken by Abhimanyu Easwaran at the slip before Mukesh opened his account, knocking off T Ravi Teja's off stump in the ninth over.
Jaweed Ali (19) and Tanmay Agarwal (10) were at the crease at stumps on day two as Hyderabad have a tough task to avoid a fifth defeat from six matches.
Slipped to 10th position in the Elite cross pool, Bengal will look for a bonus point victory to remain in the hunt.
Brief Scores:
Bengal: 635/7 declared from 151.4 overs (Manoj Tiwary 303 not out, Shreevats Goswami 95, Arnab Nandi 65 not out, Shahbaz Ahmed 49; Ravi Kiran 3/74) vs Hyderabad 83/5 from 20 overs (Akash Deep 3/46, Mukesh Kumar 2/29).
Ishant injury adds to Delhi woes as Vidarbha take complete control
New Delhi: Delhi's miserable season just got worse as premier speedster Ishant Sharma twisted his ankle while the batsmen had another woeful outing against defending champions Vidarbha in a Ranji Trophy group A encounter on Monday.
On a helpful track, former India U-19 seamer Aditya Thakare's career-best 7 for 55 restricted Delhi to 163 in reply to visitors' first innings score of 179.
By the time, play was called off due to bad light, Vidarbha were 35 for no loss as the track got easier for batting.
Vidarbha now have an overall lead of 51 but more importantly, the pitch has eased out. With a bowler short and the wily artist Wasim Jaffer longing for an easy second innings pitch, Delhi at the moment is looking down the barrel.
It didn't help Delhi's cause that Ishant's 15th delivery saw him sustain a freak injury while appealing for a leg-before against rival skipper Fazal beaten by a fuller delivery. The senior speedster twisted his ankle while back pedalling and was seen writhing in pain.
"We are awaiting his MRI report. There is swelling and it looks pretty bad at the moment. We hope that it's pure swelling and not a fracture," a source in the Delhi team management said.
The first two sessions belonged to Vidarbha as Delhi's youngsters’ inept technique against incisive swing bowling was exposed again.
IPL specialist Nitish Rana became Thakare's fifth victim of the innings giving a catch to skipper Fazal.
Only keeper Anuj Rawat (37 off 101 balls) showed some stomach for fight adding 36 for the ninth wicket with Simarjeet Singh (23) even as Umesh Yadav (2/45) removed all-rounder Lalit Yadav (7) and Kunar Bidhuri (19).
Brief Scores:
In Delhi: Vidarbha 179 and 35/0. Delhi 163 (Aditya Thakare 7/55).
In Kalyani: Bengal 635/7 decl (Manoj Tiwary 303, Shreevats Goswami 95, Arnab Nandi 65) vs Hyderabad 83 for 5 (Akash Deep 3/46, Mukesh Kumar 2/29)
In Valsad: Gujarat 281 & 23/0. Punjab 229 (Mandeep Singh 56, Anmol Malhotra 119).
In Thumba: Kerala 90 and 82 (Shubham Sharma 6/48). Rajasthan 268 all out (Yash Kothari 92, Rajesh Bishnoi 67).
Yadav's double ton floors Mumbai as UP pile on the runs
Mumbai: Wicketkeeper-batsman Upendra Yadav's maiden double ton propelled Uttar Pradesh to a
mammoth 625/8 declared on the second day of their Elite Group B Ranji Trophy game against Mumbai on Monday.
Twenty-three-year-old Yadav took a listless Mumbai attack to the cleaners at the Wankhede, first in the company of Saurabh Kumar (44 off 47 balls; 8x4) and then with skipper Ankit Rajpoot (32 off 63 balls; 5x4) and Yash Dayal (41 not out).
Yadav (203 not out off 239 balls) conjured 72 runs for the seventh wicket with Saurabh to take the game away from Mumbai, and then forged a 119-run eight-wicket stand with Rajpoot, as Uttar Pradesh took complete control.
Adding to Mumbai's woes, Yadav and Dayal put up an unbroken 131-run stand for the ninth wicket.
Yadav, who registered the highest score by a number 7 batsman against Mumbai, smashed 27 fours and one six in his 239 balls unbeaten knock.
UP declared the innings as soon as Yadav reached his double hundred.
Mumbai will rue the missed chances.
Stumper Aditya Tare failed to pouch a thick edge off Saurabh's bat when he was on nine as Akash Parkar missed his third wicket.
He got another reprieve on 15, when Bhupen Lalwani dropped a sitter at first-slip.
Saurabh made most of it as he played perfect second fiddle to Upendra, who was going all guns blazing.
Saurabh was finally caught by Sarfaraz Khan off Royston Dias with UP at 375-7.
However, then Rajpoot, who survived for 62 balls, held one end allowing Yadav to play his shots.
The duo was almost at the crease for three hours.
Offie Shashank Attarde broke the stand after Rajpoot nudged to Tare even as UP had raced to 494.
It was a valiant knock from Rajpoot, who was hit a couple of times on the helmet.
After Rajpoot's dismissal, Dayal and Yadav kept inflicting more agony.
Earlier, resuming at 281/4, overnight centurion Aksh Deep Nath (115) was dismissed on the second ball after being yorked by medium-pacer Tushar Deshpande.
Deshpande gave UP another blow after he trapped Rinku Singh (84) in front of the wicket, leaving it at 6-303.
However, Mumbai bowlers failed to make inroads as the UP lower-middle order batsmen made merry.
In reply, Mumbai were teetering at 20-2 when stumps were drawn, trailing by 605 runs.
Rajpoot praised Yadav for his knock, saying being a wicket-keeper he reads the game well.
"Yadav has been playing with us (at the Ranji Trophy level) for 2-3 years. Earlier we had a keep named Amir Khan. Yadav has the ability to bat along with the tail. As a stumper he reads the game well," said Rajpoot, who himself made a handsome contribution with the bat.
Asked whether UP would aim to give Mumbai a follow-on, Rajpoot crptic response was, "Let's first bowl them out".
Brief Scores: Uttar Pradesh 625/8 declared (Upendra Yadav 203 not out; Akshdeep Nath 115; Royston Dias 3-103) vs Mumbai 20/2.
Mumbai trail by 605 runs.
At Chennai: Railways 76 all out and 90 all out (Arindam Ghosh 22; R Sai Kishore 5-16, R Ashwin 3-26) vs Tamil Nadu 330 (Abhinav Mukund 100, Dinesh Karthik 58; Harsh Tyagi 5-98)
Tamil Nadu won by an innings and 164 runs.
At Dharamshala: Himachal Pradesh 496 (A P Vashisht 86, A R Kumar 80; Swapnil Singh 3/80) vs Baroda 150/2 (Vishnu Solanki 85 not out; Vaibhav Arora 1-42). Baroda trail by 346 runs.
At Indore: Saurashtra 344 (Sheldon Jackson 186, Cheteshwar Pujara 47; Gaurav Yadav 5/105) vs Madhya Pradesh 183/5 (Yash Dubey 50 not out; Venkatesh Iyer 50 not out; Jaydev Unadkat 2-27). MP trailed by 161 runs.
TN thrash Railways by an innings and 164 runs for 1st win of season
Chennai: Tamil Nadu thrashed Railways by an innings and 164 runs on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Group B match on Monday, to register its first win of the season.
The home side made 330 all out after bundling out Railways for 76 in the first innings before dismissing the opponent for 90 to secure seven points.
Left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore did the star turn, picking up five wickets, conceding just 16 runs to rout Railways.
Resuming at the overnight score of 236 for 4, Tamil Nadu suffered an early jolt when the experienced Dinesh Karthik fell to left-arm spinner Harsh Tyagi, adding just one run to his 57.
Baba Indrajith (58, 118 balls, 8 fours) held firm and guided the team to 330, a massive 154-run first innings lead.
Young left-arm spinner Tyagi bowled well to finish with figures of 5 for 98.
The Railway batsmen fared worse in the second innings, being shot out in 36.4 overs after having capitulated in 39.1 overs in a session on Sunday.
Lanky spinner Sai Kishore ran through the Railways middle and lower order after pacer T Natarajan struck the first two blows by dismissing openers Mrunal Devdhar (4) and A G Sehrawat (8).
Sai Kishore got rid of skipper Arindam Ghosh (22) and later added four more wickets. Experienced Test spinner R Ashwin chipped in with three wickets-that of Vikrant Singh (17), Saurabh Singh (4) and Dinesh Mor (3).
The match ended with Himanshu Sangwan (1) being run out by M Siddharth.
It was a morale-boosting win for Tamil Nadu after a poor run so far. Left-handed opener Abhinav Mukund starred with the bat, scoring a ton in his 100th Ranji game.
It was a dampener for the Railways team which had recorded a superb innings win over Mumbai earlier in the tournament.
Brief scores: Railways 76 all out in 39.1 overs (Saurabh Singh 22; R Ashwin 4/26, M Siddharth 4/32) and 90 all out in 36.4 overs (Arindam Ghosh 22; R Sai Kishore 5/16, R Ashwin 3/36) vs Tamil Nadu 330 all out in 91 overs (Abhinav Mukund 100, Dinesh Karthik 58, B Indrajith 58, L Suryapprakash 50; Harsh Tyagi 5/98, Avinash Yadav 3/107).
TN: 7 points, Railways: 0.
Odisha nose ahead against J&K as bowlers shine
Cuttack: Odisha enjoyed a slight advantage in their Ranji Trophy Group C match against Jammu and Kashmir by taking an overall lead of 173 runs on the second day of the match on Monday.
Fourteen wickets fell on the day after the bowlers had picked up 13 scalps on day one.
The home side, who were sent in to bat by J&K on Sunday, were bowled out for 161 in the first essay.
The Odisha bowlers, led by right-arm medium-pacers Basant Mohanty (4 for 42) and Debabrata Pradhan (3/12), sent the opposition batsmen packing for 124 in 45 overs to ensure a first innings lead of 37 runs.
However, the Odisha batsmen did not fare too well in the second innings as none of them could build on the starts they got. Odisha were 136 for 7 in their second innings from 62 overs at the draw of stumps.
The openers -- Shantanu Mishra (26) and AR Sarangi (26) -- put on 52 for the first wicket before J&K captain Parvez Rasool dismissed the latter.
The visiting team bowlers struck at regular intervals to claw their way back into the match.
The Odisha batsmen will look to increase the lead when play resumes on the third day on Tuesday.
In Raipur, Chhattisgarh trounced Tripura by an innings and 28 runs to bag seven points.
Brief Scores:
Odisha 161 all out in 64.3 overs (Shubhranshu Senapati 42; Aquib Nabi 5/39) and 136 for 7 in 62 overs (Shantanu Mishra 26, Anurag Sarangi 26; Auqib Nabi 2/40) vs J&K 124 all out in 45 overs (Shubham Khajuria 40; Basant Mohanty 4/42).
At Ranchi: Uttarakhand 227 all out in 53.2 overs (Saurabh Rawat 66, Tanmay Srivastava 49; Ajay Yadav 6/55, Ashish Kumar 4/52) and 4 for no loss vs Jharkhand 298 all out in 87 overs (Kumar Deobrat 85, K Suraj 57; Mayank Mishra 5/100).
At Guwahati: Maharashtra 175 all out in 43.4 overs (Ankit Bawane 75, SS Bachhav 40; Arup Das 4/66, Ranjeet Mali 4/55) and 106 for 2 in 36 overs (JS Pande 52 batting) vs Assam 244 all out in 78.1 overs (Rishav Das 94; SS Bachhav 4/44).
At Raipur: Tripura 53 for 9 in 18.1 overs (Pankaj Rao 5/11, Veer Pratap Singh 3/53) and 144 all out in 42 overs lost to Chhattisgarh 225 all out in 50 overs (Shashank Singh 73, Veer Pratap Singh 40; Abhijit Sarkar 3/57, Ajoy Sarkar 3/62) by an innings and 28 runs.
Manipur fold for 27 as Meghalaya secure innings win
Manipur were shot out for 27 by Meghalaya, narrowly avoiding the lowest Ranji Trophy total on their way to an innings and 116-run defeat in a Plate group match in Mangaldoi, Assam, on Monday.
Resuming the day on 18 for seven, the tail-enders barely managed to take the team past Hyderabad's lowest total of 21.
It was left-arm spinner Sanjay Yadav, who was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for IPL 2020 for a base price of Rs 20 lakh, who did the star turn, grabbing a match haul of 11/47 to demolish Manipur inside two days.
The 24-year-old from Uttar Pradesh claimed 6/12 to skittle out Manipur for 27 in reply to Meghalaya's 235 at the Mangaldoi Sports Association Ground in Darrang.
Six of their batsmen failed to open their account. Following on, Manipur folded for 92, handing Meghalaya a bonus point win.
Man-of-the-match Yadav went on to take 5/35 in Manipur's second essay.
The win took Meghalaya to 20 points from six matches.
Meanwhile, in a top of the table clash, centuries from opener Shivam Bhambri and skipper Manan Vohra put Chandigarh in command as they took a first-innings lead against leaders Goa.
Playing in his sixth first-class match, the 24-year-old Bhamri remained unbeaten on a career-best 148, while Vohra slammed 102 in a 230-run second-wicket partnership to take Chandigarh to 310 for three, a lead of 59 runs at the close of play on day two.
Bhambri hit 16 fours and one six in his vigilant knock from 260 balls, while Vohra smashed 12 fours and two sixes as Chandigarh replied strongly to the home side's first innings total of 251.
Having done all the hard work, the skipper got out in the second over after tea with 20 runs left to match Goa's first innings total.
Bhambri remained calm and took the team past Goa, even as they lost another wicket in the form of Raman Bishnoi.
Third-placed Chandigarh are six points behind Plate group leaders Goa.
Brief Scores
At Mangaldoi: Meghalaya 235 vs Manipur 27 in 18.1 overs (Sanjay Yadav 6/12, Abhay Negi 4/5) and following on 92 in 27 overs (Sanjay Yadav 5/35, Aditya Singhania 4/30). Meghalaya won by an innings and 116 runs. Points: Meghalaya 7, Manipur 0.
At Povorim: Goa 251 vs Chandigarh 310/3 in 92 overs (Shivam Bhambri 148 batting, Manan Vohra 102).
At Puducherry: Puducherry 209 and 264/7 in 54 overs (Paras Dogra 61, Damodaran Rohit 46; Nabam Tempol 5/75) vs Arunachal Pradesh 192 in 60.5 overs (Samarth Seth 67, Rahul Dalal 51; Vinay Kumar 6/51).
At Sovima: Nagaland 166 vs Bihar 244/5 in 64 overs (Babul Kumar 95, Shasheem Rathour 81).
At Bhubaneswar: Mizoram 201 and 179 in 39 overs (Taruwar Kohli 55, KB Pawan 51; Ishwar Chaudhary 5/70) vs Sikkim 139; 40 overs (G Lalbiakvela 8/56) and 112/5 in 31 overs (Taruwar Kohli 3/34).
