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Sunil Joshi knocks the door with 6-wkt haul

Sunil Joshi sent a timely reminder to the Indian selectors, fortifying his credentials as the best left-arm spinner in the country with a haul of six-wickets which helped defending champions Karnataka save face against unfancied rivals Rajasthan in the Ranji Trophy Super League encounter.

The hosts, bowled out for a paltry 243 in their first essay, took a crucial 32-run lead on Thursday, thanks mainly to Joshi’s demolition job. At close of play on day two of the four-day engagement, Karnataka were 77 for one, with Mithun Beerla (37) and Rahul Dravid (11) at the crease.

However as long as the 19-year-old Nikhil Doru was at the crease, Karnataka seemed headed for disgrace. The young lad from Udaipur, playing in his first Ranji season, braved the star Karnataka bowling quartet of Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, Anil Kumble and Joshi for a stoic though polished knock of 66. He was involved in two partnerships of over 50 with Anshu Jain (20) for the second wicket and Kuldeep Singh (33) for the fifth wicket, and the Karnataka camp would have surely heaved a sigh of relief as B. Akhil held on to the offering off Joshi.

Scoreboard
Karnataka (1st innings): 243

Rajasthan (1st innings; overnight 24 for 1): Anshu Jain c B. Akhil b S. Joshi 20, Gagan Khoda c V. Prasad b J. Srinath 3, Nikhil Doru c B. Akhil b S. Joshi 66, Rahul Kanwat c R. Dravid b D. Ganesh 6, P. Krisha Kumar c A. Vijay b S Joshi 19, Kuldeep Singh c B. Akhil b S. Joshi 33, Rohit Jhalani c A. Kumble b S. Joshi 13, Gaurav Sharma lbw V. Prasad 0, Devender Pal Singh not out 20, Anup Dave c R. Dravid b S. Joshi 1, Shamsher Singh lbw A. Kumble 5.

Extras (b-10, lb-6, nb-9) 25. Total (all out, 79.5 overs) 211.

Fall of wickets: 1-05, 2-55, 3-74, 4-105, 5-165, 6-176, 7-180, 8-180, 9-187.

Bowling: J. Srinath 16-3-50-1; V. Prasad 17-4-42-1; A. Kumble 14.5-4-31-1; S. Joshi 26-12-48-6; D. Ganesh 6-0-24-1.

Karnataka (2nd innings): Rowland Barrington c&b Rahul Kanwat 22, Mithun Beerala batting 37, Rahul Dravid batting 11.

Extras (b-4, lb-2, nb-1) 7. Total (for one wicket, 21 overs): 77.

Fall of wicket: 1-52.

Bowling: Shamsher Singh 4-2-5-0; P. Krishna Kumar 2-0-15-0; Devender Pal Singh 6-1-20-0; Anup Dave 1-0-12-0; Rahul Kanwat 7-1-19-1; Anshu Jain 1-1-0-0.

CALCUTTA: A brilliant 92 by the stylish southpaw Nikhil Haldipur and his 123-run association with Rohan Gavaskar (53) put Bengal in the driver’s seat against Delhi as insufficient light played spoilsport on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Super League tie at the Eden Gardens on Thursday. The day’s play had to be aborted 35 minutes after tea with the hosts comfortably placed at 194 for four in reply to Delhi’s first innings total of 236 and the crucial first inning’s lead looks well within Bengal’s grasp.

Earlier, resuming at 200 for 6, Delhi could add just 36 more runs to their aggregate, bundled out 70 minutes after the start of play. Opener Akash Chopra, who resumed on 79, was unlucky to miss out on the century, snapped up by the Bengal skipper Saurav Ganguly off Utpal Chatterjee when five short of the coveted mark.

Scoreboard
Delhi (1st innings; overnight 200 for 6): Akash Chopra c S. Ganguly b U. Chatterjee 95, Ashu Dani c S. Karim b S. Ganguly 21, Akash Malhotra b U. Chatterjee 34, Ajay Sharma c R. Gavaskar b S. Ganguly 11, V. Sehwag lbw L.R. Shukla 5, Mithun Manhas lbw L.R. Shukla 0, Vijay Dahiya c Ganguly b U. Chatterjee 17, Nikhil Chopra c S. Karim b S. Panda 25, Rahul Sanghvi c Haldipur b L.R. Shukla 9, Sanjay Gill b L.R. Shukla 3, Robin Singh (Jr) not out 4.

Extras (lb-5, nb-6, w-1) 12. Total (all out, 105.3 overs): 236.

Fall of wickets: 1-45, 2-107, 3-125, 4-137, 5-137, 6-171, 7-203, 8-218, 9-224.

Bowling: Laxmi Ratan Shukla 28-8-70-4; Sumit Panda 12-2-39-1; Saurav Ganguly 18-1-50-2; Utpal Chatterjee 38.3-14-47-3; Wrichik Majumdar 3-0-11-0; Saurasish Lahiri 6-2-14-0.

Bengal (1st innings): Nikhil Haldipur c Sanjay Gill b Rahul Sanghvi 92, Debang Gandhi c Vijay Dahiya b Sanjay Gill 0, Rohan Gavaskar c N. Chopra b Rahul Sanghvi 53, Srikant Kalyani batting 23, Saurav Ganguly c Gautam Gambhira (sub) b. N Chopra 5, Syed Saba Karim batting 11. Extras (b-5, lb-3, nb-2) 10. Total (for 4 wickets, 53.3 overs) 194.

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-127, 3-166, 4-173.

Bowling: Robin Singh 15.4-2-55-0; Sanjay Gill 8-1-22-1; Akash Malhotra 1-0- 8-0; Nikhil Chopra 14-1-50-1; Rahul Sanghvi 15-3-51-2.

KANPUR: Veteran Rizwan Shamshad slammed a timely unbeaten century (106) and added 196 runs in an unbroken fourth-wicket stand with skipper Gyanendra Pandey (90) as Uttar Pradesh took the vital first innings lead against Orissa, on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Super League cricket match in Kanpur on Thursday. The hosts were 299 for three at close of play, in reply to Orissa’s 241, a lead of 58 runs.

Shamshad and Pandey were in complete command of the proceedings, flogging the Orissa bowlers all over the park. Shamshad scored his century off 182 balls, hitting 12 boundaries while while Pandey’s 161-ball knock included a grand six and 14 boundaries.

Scoreboard
Orissa (1st innings): 241.

Uttar Pradesh (1st innings): Manoj Mudgal st Y. Mohanti b S. Satpathy 62, Jyoti Yadav lbw S. Satpathy 32, Akhil Tyagi c Jaychandra b S. Satpathy 2, Rizwan Shamshad batting 106, Gyanendra Pandey batting 90.

Extras (b-1, lb-1, nb-5) 7. Total (for 3 wickets, 94 overs): 299.

Fall of wickets: 1-70, 2-86, 3-103.

Bowling: Ajay Barik 16-5-47-0; Robin Morris 11-1-43-0; P. Jaychandra 14-7-31-0; Sanjay Satpathy 33-6-92-3; Jagannath Das 8-1-60-0, Sanjay Raul 7-2-17-0, P. Mullick 5-1-7-0.

HYDERABAD: Openers Nanda Kishore (74) and in-form batsman V.V.S. Laxman (59) plundered the poor Bihar bowling attack, helping hosts Hyderabad reach 140 without loss at draw of stumps on day two of the the four-day Group ‘B’ Ranji Super League, in reply to Bihar’s first inning aggregate of 381.

Earlier, resuming at their overnight total of 225 for 6, Bihar added 156 runs from 58.1 overs thanks to a fine batting performance by Mahir Diwakar, a member of the victorious Indian under-19 World Cup team. Diwakar stole the limelight as he hit a brisk 86 which included nine fours and four huge sixes - one each off Shivaji Yadav and Venkatpathi Raju and two of mediumpacer Narenderpal Singh. He put on 126 invaluable runs in an eighth-wicket association with Manish Kumar (63) helping the visitors post a respectable 381.

Scoreboard
Bihar (1st innings): N. Ranjan lbw Satwalkar 10, Ratan Kumar c Nandakishore b Satwalkar 12, Amir Hashmi c Y. Singh b N.P. Singh 4, Rajiv Kumar run out 85, Sunil Kumar c&b V. Raju 80, Manish Kumar c Sridhar b N.P. Singh 63, M.S. Dhoni c Y. Singh b Kanwaljit 18, Vikas Kumar lbw P. Satwalkar 3, Mahir Diwakar c V. Raju b K. Singh 86, Syeed Khan lbw N.P. Singh 0, Dheeraj Kumar not out 0.

Extras (b-7, lb-9, nb-4) 20. Total (all out, 148.1 overs): 381.

Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-26, 3-30, 4-183, 5-200, 6-225, 7-234, 8-360, 9-360.

Bowling: Narenderpal Singh 29-11-78-3; Parth Satwalkar 17-6-42-3; Vanka Pratap 6-2-14-0; Kanwaljit Singh 33.1-7-88-2; Venkatpathi Raju 39-14-66-1; Shivaji Yadav 24-5-77-0.

Hyderabad (1st innings): Nanda Kishore batting 74, V.V.S. Laxman batting 59.

Extras (b-4, lb-1, nb-2) 7. Total (for no loss, 30 overs) 140.

Bowling: Dheeraj Kumar 8-0-37-0; Mahir Diwakar 7-2-29-0; Vikas Kumar 8-2-37-0; Syeed Khan 5-0-30-0; N. Ranjan 2-0-2-0.

NEW DELHI: Yere Goud and Sudhir Wankhede crafted splendid centuries, adding 255-runs in a record sixth wicket association as the hosts piled on the runs against Baroda on Thursday, the second day of the Ranji Trophy Super League encounter at the Karnail Singh stadium. At draw of stumps, Railways were 448 for six, with Yere Goud and Zakir Khan batting on 161 and 11 respectively.

Scoreboard
Railways (1st innings; overnight score 194 for 5): Sanjay Bangar c Indulkar b Buch 11, Vishal Sharma b Buch 43, Abhay Sharma c&b Buch 1, Yere Goud bating 161, Prahlad Rawat lbw Zaheer Khan 18, Deevendra Singh c Jadhav b Buch 47, Sudhir Wankhede b Zaheer Khan 139, Zakir Hussain batting 11.

Extras 17. Total (for six wickets) 448.

Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-53, 3-59, 4-86, 5-179, 6-434.

Bowling: Zaheer Khan 30-10-95-2; Rakesh Patel 21-2-63-0; Valmik Buch 63-31-104-4; R. Swaroop 41-4-78-0; Ajit Bhoite 16-2-61-0; Tushar Arothe 9-0-38-0.

ROHTAK: Hosts Haryana were in trouble at 184 for four at draw of stumps on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Super League match as they replied to Saurashtra’s first innings aggregate of 405.

Haryana made a solid start to their reply with Jitender Singh and Parinder Singh putting on 99 runs for the opening wicket partnership. But a collapse followed as Haryana, losing their first wicket at 99, lost the fourth on 102. However Rajesh Puri (batting 62) steadied the innings in the company of Ajay Ratra (batting 13) in an unfinished fifth-wicket stand of 82.

Earlier, resuming on 285 for five, Saurashtra lost three quick wickets before Dhiraj Prasanna and Manoj Parmar added 56 vital runs for the eighth wicket.

Scoreboard
Saurashtra (1st innings): Vasant Kumar c Parinder Sharma b Feroze Ghyas 14, Altaf Merchant c Sanjay Dalal b Vineet Jain 8, Sitanshu Kotak b Pankaj Thakur 83, Prakash Bhatt b Vineet Jain 110, Bimal Jadeja c Jitender b Shakhalkar 20, Firoz Bambhania lbw Pankaj Thakur 7, Niraj Odedara c Dalal b Ghyas 16, Hitesh Prasanna c Pankaj b Jain 43, Manoj Parmar b Jain 34, Narendra Rana run out 12, Dharmendra Chudasama not out 4.

Extras (b-12, lb-7, nb-29, w-6) 54. Total (all out): 405.

Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-53, 3-238, 4-263, 5-281, 6-288, 7-314, 8-370, 9-393.

Bowling: Vineet Jain 27-7-96-4; Feroze Ghyas 26-9-105-2; Manish Shakhalkar 24-6-61-1; Pankaj Thakur 36-13-74-2; Sanjay Dalal 13-3-40-0; Parinder Sharma 2-0-10-0.

Haryana (1st innings): Jitender Singh run out 51, Parinder Sharma st Parmar b Kotak 43, Jasvir Singh c Parmar b Hitesh 2, Sanjay Dalal c Altaf b Hitesh 1, Rajesh Puri batting 62, Ajay Ratra batting 13.

Extras (b-4, lb-4, nb-4): 12. Total (for 4 wickets): 184.

Fall of wickets: 1-99, 2-101, 3-101, 4-102.

Bowling: Narendra Rana 9-3-37-0; Altaf Merchant 6-1-25-0; Niraj Odedara 6-2-9-0; Firoz Bambhania 5-0-18-0; Hitesh Prasanna 12-4-41-2; Dharmendra Chudasama 9-3-42-0; Sitanshu Kotak 3-0-4-1.

First day's play