Ranji Trophy Quarterfinals Day 5 Highlights: Saurashtra beats Punjab by 71 runs, to face Karnataka in semis

Madhya Pradesh vs Bengal

Karnataka vs Saurashtra

A no brainer! With Saurshtra 140/8 in the first innings, Bhut’s unbeaten 111 led Saurashtra past 300. He again knocked a crucial 51 runs as Saurashtra overcame a 128-run deficit and set a target of 250 plus. With the ball, Bhut prised out eight wickets, including a maiden First Class fifer in the second innings.

Jadeja gets Anmol Malhotra caught behind. The batter was in two minds and decided to leave it at the eleventh hour. Got a faint edge and that’s the end for Punjab. A remarkable comeback win for Saurashtra.

Baltej Singh is caught at slips and that is the Punjab innings done and dusted. The umpires are not sure and refer the decision upstairs. Replays show that the fielder had grassed it. The soft signal was out but third umpire differed.

Vinay is OUT! He finally decides to free his arms on a short, wide delivery but snicks it to the keeper. Jadeja strikes! He had simply blocked deliveries untill his dismissal. Vinay falls for 3 off 34 deliveries.

Saurashtra takes the new ball and Jadeja will wield it. Three off the first delivery for Anmol. Vinay adamant on defending.

Pressure getting to Punjab. Anmol completes a risky single. He’s been on the edge for a couple of deliveries in order to get off strike. Vinay is blocking all deliveries falling on the stump-to-stump line, and doing it well too.

A challenge at hand for Anmol Malhotra. He has Vinay Choudhary with him who can hold a bat. Will Anmol aggress or try to take the game long? He’s 8 off 17 at the moment.

WICKET! Markande goes for a cut on a wide delivery and hands an edge to Prerak Mankad at first slip. Bhut completes a fifer. He now has eight wickets in the match.

Mandeep Singh is OUT! That is a big wicket! He is caught at gully! He was going for a cover drive but gets an edge. Parth Bhut is having the match of his life.

Anmol closes the face early and gets a leading edge. It falls safe as it threads gully and silly point. He’s solid in defence off the remaining Parth Bhut over. Dodiya continues from the other end. Mandeep misses a sweep and loud appeals follow but the impact was outside off. A single to long off next.

Anmol Malhotra off the mark on his first delivery with an edge to third man. Mandeep defends the lasy delivery off Dodiya. Punjab 95 runs away.

Yuvrajsinh Dodiya is brought into the attack. Mandeep gets a single off the first ball. Anmolpreet then threads the on side field and finds the rope for four runs. That brings the target within 100 runs. Anmolpreet GONE! Right after the boundary. A flat delivery which gets bat-pad and goes to the short leg fielder.

Mandeep is surprised by the bounce on Bhut’s delivery and gets a leading edge. The silly point fielder, however, was just removed on the previous delivery and the ball goes begging. Another chance gone. Another edge on the fourth ball but it stays low and a single off the final delivery to keep strike. Bhut troubled him in this over.

Put down! Anmolpreet is dropped at gully! That could be costly. Another one from Jadeja kept low and the batter was beaten. Strayed clear off the stumps, though. Mandeep looking solid with his defence. He sees out all six off Parth Bhut’s next over.

Anmolpreet misreads the line off Jadeja and the ball thuds on to his front pad. Lucky that it was going down leg. The batter is now at 22 off 55 with Mandeep on 37 at the other end. The captain collects a single with a tap to long off in Parth Bhut’s over. Anmolpreet goes for a big sweep but misses it completely.

A four for Anmolpreet through covers off Bhut. Mandeep is then beaten by Jadeja’s turn. Mandeep late cuts for a single next up. Shouts of LBW but the ball was going down leg. Another one for a caught behind but the umpire says no. Anmolpreet survives.

Sharp turn in this over from Jadeja. Anmolpreet beaten on the second delivery but then pushes a delivery straying down the leg stump to fine leg for two runs. Another loose delivery on the pads and a trickle down to mid wicket fetches two runs for Anmolpreet. Lucky escape on the last delivery. The batter left the ball expecting it to turn. It stays straight and misses the bails by a whisker.

Parth Bhut to Anmolpreet from the other end. Again probing at the fourth-stump line from good length. The batter is able to hold his defence firm. A single run from the over.

Dharmendrasinh resumes play in the second session and is disciplined with his line. Mandeep finds four runs with a sweep through mid-wicket which forces Saurashtra to spread the field out on the on side.

If Mandeep Singh & Co manage to pull off the 252-run target, it will be the highest successful run chase at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot.

Saurashtra spinners - Parth Bhut and Yuvrajsinh Dodiya - made an impact in the first session of final day’s play as Punjab found itself in a spot of bother, going into lunch at 129 for 5.

Chasing 252 - a tricky task on a surface that aided the spinners as the day progressed - Punjab resumed the proceedings at 52 for 2 with debutant Pukhraj Mann and nightwatchman Siddharth Kaul around.

But on the last ball of the fifth over, Bhut pitched it fuller outside off and even though Kaul defended it on the front-foot, he ended up getting an outside edge and was caught by Vishvarajsinh Jadeja at slip.

Though captain Mandeep Singh (29 not out) tried forging a stand with Mann, Dodiya and the seasoned Dharmendrasinh Jadeja troubled them. Soon after the visiting team crossed the 100-run mark, Mann was trapped in front by Dodiya. The young batter pressed forward to defend but was beaten by the turn as the ball thudded into his pad, and in the next over, Dharmendrasinh dented Punjab’s hopes further as Nehal Wadhera fell to a poor umpiring decision.

Dharmendrasinh got the ball to bounce unexpectedly and Wadhera shouldered arms, and the ball shot up. While it looked to have gone off his elbow on the way to the wicketkeeper, the on-field umpire raised his fingers, much to Punjab’s surprise.

The visiting team still needs 123 runs, while Saurashtra is just five wickets away from setting up a semifinal date with Karnataka.

- Shayan Acharya

Captain Mandeep Singh and Anmolpreet Singh trying to rebuild after the fall of those two quick wickets. The runs have dried up a bit and the chatter around the batters now much loud. Saurashtra has its tail up and Punjab faces an uphill task from here on.

Now a mistake from the umpire goes in Saurashtra’s favour. Dharmendrasinh Jadeja gets a ball to bounce unexpectedly and Nehal Wadhera shoulders arms. The ball shoots up and looks to have gone off his elbow on the way to the wicketkeeper but the umpire gives it out.

Pukhraj Mann finally goes for 42, trapped in front by Yuvraj Dodiya. He presses forward to defend but is beaten by the turn as the ball thuds into his pad.

Pukhraj Mann is lucky to get a reprieve. He looks to fend the ball with his pads but the ball goes off the flap and hits the glove before settling into the hands of the slip fielder. Dharmendrasinh Jadeja is livid as the umpire gives it not-out and then has a word or two with the batter too.

Mandeep Singh picks the length of this Dharmendrasinh Jadeja delivery to perfection and sweeps to the square-leg boundary to bring up the hundred for Punjab. Forty-three overs bowled in the innings and time for drinks.

Change of ends for Dharmendrasinh Jadeja as he replaces Parth Bhut and starts off with a maiden to Mandeep Singh.

Yuvraj Dodiya replaces Dharmendrasinh Jadeja. Pukhraj Mann lofts one over the covers with the turn for a boundary.

Mandeep Singh goes on the backfoot and whips a Parth Bhut delivery through midwicket and along the ground to the boundary. He moves to 13 off 29.

Mandeep Singh and Pukhraj Mann are knocking off the runs slowly as Parth Bhut and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja are operating at tight lines and lengths and not giving much away.

Pukhraj Mann is confident about leaving the ball outside off and has shown good judgement while doing so.

Mandeep Singh sweeps a cracking four off Dharmendrasingh Jadeja to collect his first boundary. Pukhraj Mann is looking at steady at the other end.

Saurashtra gets another close-in fielder at short mid-on and Pukhraj Mann responds by smashing a huge six over long-on off Parth Bhut.

Dharmendrasinh Jadeja troubles Punjab captain Mandeep Singh. He beats his outside edge a couple of times.

Siddharth Kaul gets an outside edge to the slip fielder. Parth Bhut pitched it fuller outside off, Kaul defended it on the front-foot but got an outside edge. Kaul will be disappointed as he had smashed a four off the previous delivery.

An outside edge for Pukhraj Mann off Parth Bhut and it trickles to the third man boundary. Dharmendrasinh Jadeja keeping it tight from the other end.

Siddharth Kaul gets the first runs of the day for Punjab as Parth Bhut darts in a loose ball down leg and the batter gets enough bat on it to find the fine-leg boundary.

When the fourth day’s action resumed at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Friday, with the home team enjoying a slender lead of 10 runs, not many imagined that it would set up a 252-run target for Punjab, despite left-arm Vinay Choudhary claiming a seven-wicket haul (7 for 179).

But Saurashtra’s lower middle-order batters - Prerak Mankad (88, 137b, 8x4, 2x6) and Parth Bhut (51, 68b, 4x4, 2x6) - battled the odds in a Ranji Trophy quarterfinals clash and helped the team reach 379 in its second innings to put up a stiff challenge for Punjab, which ended the day at 52 for the loss of two wickets.

On the final day, Punjab needs 200 runs, while Saurashtra is in search of eight wickets to reach the semifinals.

- Shayan Acharya

Karnataka stormed into the Ranji Trophy semifinals with a thumping innings and 281-run victory over Uttarakhand at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday.

Resuming day four on 106 for three, the visitors needed 384 more runs to make Karnataka bat again. But they folded for the addition of just 103 runs, lasting a little over two-and-a-half hours.

Karnataka will meet either Saurashtra or Punjab, at home, in the last-four clash starting February 8.

- N. Sudarshan

Defending champion Madhya Pradesh survived a late scare to reach the Ranji Trophy semifinal, ending Andhra’s dream run with a five-wicket win in the quarterfinal at the Holkar Stadium on Friday.

Put on the backfoot for nearly two days, a resurgent MP finally walked into the fourth day with the edge of not losing its openers overnight while adding 58 in a 245-run chase.

-Lalith Kalidas

Bengal defeated Jharkhand by nine wickets on the fourth day of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal match at the Eden Gardens here to advanced to the semifinals.

Jharkhand, resuming its second innings from 162 for seven, resisted Bengal’s push for victory for about 90 minutes. It managed an aggregate of 221 to set a target of 67, which the home side chased down in about an hour. Bengal will meet defending champion Madhya Pradesh in a repeat of the previous season’s last-four clash.

-Y.B. Sarangi