Riding on their team’s good bowling show, Assam outplayed table-toppers Delhi by five wickets in a >low-scoring Group A encounter to notch up their third win of the Ranji Trophy season in Guwahati today. Chasing 165 for a win, Assam, who started the fourth and final day on 70 for three, achieved their target in the second session with Man of the Match Arun Karthick unconquered on 55. Delhi slumped to their first loss of the season.
The victory, though, was set up by their bowlers, who bundled the visitors for 149 after putting the Gautam Gambhir-led side into bat. New-ball bowlers Krishna Das (4 for 38) and Arup Das (4 for 49) shared seven wickets each to rattle the Delhi top order.
Assam, then, took a slender lead after posting 157 in their first innings. Karthik top-scored with a gritty 81. Delhi’s second batting outing was also a short affair after the Assam bowlers once again made life difficult for the visiting batsmen, who could only muster 172.
Assam are closing the gap on Delhi (24 points in seven matches) with 22 points in six games with third-placed Vidarbha also having the same number of points but a game more in their bucket. There are two more rounds to go and both the teams have put themselves in a strong position to secure quarter-final berths from Group A.
RP Singh’s five-for helps Gujarat beat MP by 153 runs
Paceman R. P. Singh’s five-wicket haul on the final day helped Gujarat secure a >153-run victory over Madhya Pradesh in their Group B match at Surat.
R. P. Singh ran through Madhya Pradesh’s batting line-up in their chase of 314 as the visiting side were shot out for 160 in 49.5 overs. His five for 33 in the second innings — and match figures of seven for 74 — earned him the Man of the Match award. Gujarat collected six points from the win while MP got none.
Abhinav, Aparajith secure a point for TN
Tamil Nadu openers Abhinav Mukund and Baba Aparajith got their highest scores of the season in the Ranji Trophy to help their team salvage some pride and secure a point in its >Group B match against Uttar Pradesh at the Green Park here on Wednesday.
Facing an imposing target of 391 to win, Tamil Nadu, who resumed at five for no loss, batted through the final day to score 212 for four in 84 overs in their second innings before both captains agreed for the draw. Uttar Pradesh picked up three points on the basis of first innings lead to collect 17 after six matches. Tamil Nadu, too, had 17 off six.
Mumbai notch up six-wicket win over Railways
Hosts Mumbai took up the challenge set by Railways to score at above four an over and notched up a comprehensive >six-wicket victory to move to the top of the table again. Set a stiff task of scoring 295 in a minimum of 70 overs after Railways declared their second innings closed at 408 for 4, the 40-time champions raced to victory with six overs to spare.
Opener Akhil Herwadkar (75), who scored 145 in their first essay, and in-form batsman Shreyas Iyer (91) laid the platform with a fourth-wicket stand of 143 in 183 balls that brought down the asking rate to less than four.
Haryana draw against Odisha
Forced to follow on, Haryana managed to >sneak away with a draw after scoring 250 for four on the fourth and final day of their Ranji Trophy match against Odisha. Overnight 42 for one in the second innings after being bowled out for 216 in the first essay, Haryana’s batsmen put up an improved show to hold on to a draw.
This was in reply to Odisha’s mammoth first innings total of 529 for 6 declared. Nitin Saini (64), Chaitnya Bishnoi (86), and Rohit Sharma (42) were the notable performers for the home side, helping them notch up a point from the match. Saini and Bishnoi put together a partnership of 86 runs for the second wicket to give a sound foundation before the Haryana middle-order chipped in with useful contributions.
Scores:
Group A
Delhi 149 and 172 (Unmukt 44) lost to Assam 157 and 168 for 5 (Rahul Hazarika 59, Arun Karthick 55 not out; Manan Sharma 2 for 51) in Guwahati
Odisha 529 for 6 decl. drew with Haryana 216 (Saini 51, Yadav 46) and 250 for 4 (Nitin Saini 64, CK Bishnoi 86 not out, RP Sharma 42) in Rohtak
Bengal 528 for 8 decl. & 101 for 1 (AR Eswaran 53 not out) drew with Maharashtra 406 (Atitkar 69, Tripathi 132, Bawane 65; Pragyan Ojha 3 for 71) in Pune
Team Rajasthan 216 and 226 (Saxena 54, Menaria 76, Sarvate 5 for 58) lost to Vidarbha 247 & 199 for 2 (Ganesh Satish 61 not out, Subramanium Badrinath 70 not out) in Nagpur
Group B
Uttar Pradesh 348 and 273 for 5 decl. (Shaukat 75, Raina 145 not out) drew with Tamil Nadu 231 & 212 for 4 (Abhinav Mukund 71, Baba Aparajith 71) in Kanpur.
Gujarat 311 for 9 decl. and 202 for 9 decl. (Juneja 41, Saxena 6 for 60) beat Madhya Pradesh 200 & 160 (Ankit Sharma 55; RP Singh 5 for 33) in Surat.
Baroda 475 beat Punjab 212 (Uday Kaul 58, Yuvraj Singh 43) and 147 (Siddharth Kaul 40 not out) in Vadodara. Points: Baroda 7 (16), Punjab 0 (17)
Railways 217 and 408 for 4 decl. (Saurabh 185, ARB Singh 44, Cheluvaraj 133 not out) lost to Mumbai 331 & 295 for 4 (Herwadkar 75, Iyer 91, Aditya Tare 71 not out, Siddhesh Lad 41 not out) in Mumbai.
Group C
Tripura 166 and 161 (Singh 52, Nadeem 6 for 50) lost to Jharkhand 394 for 4 decl. (Anand Singh 91, Tiwary 94, Jaggi 102 not out, Kumar Deobrat 63) in Agartala
Himachal 551 drew with Saurashtra 437 (Dodia 43, Jaydev Shah 142, Jani 56, Unadkat 54; AP Vaishisht 3 for 101) in Rajkot
Services 353 and 217 for 7 decl. drew with Hyderabad 272 & 140 for 3 in New Delhi
Kerala 441 beat Goa 191 (Warrier 6 for 44) and 167 in Porvorim. Points Kerala 7 (19), Goa 0 (15).
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