Ranji Trophy: Haryana in quarters after beating Tripura

Resuming its second innings on the overnight score of 186 for four, Haryana could not add much before deciding to declare at 261 for nine, which made it a target of 315 runs for Tripura.

Haryana's Harshal Patel celebrates after taking a wicket against Tripura, at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday.

Haryana rode on a fine bowling performance spearheaded by Harshal Patel to beat Tripura by 119 runs in a Group C match at the Eden Gardens and qualified to the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals after a break of five years.

>Scorecard

Resuming its second innings on the overnight score of 186 for four, Haryana could not add much before deciding to declare at 261 for nine, which made it a target of 315 runs for Tripura. Tripura, which did not show much class in the batting department except Smit Patel’s century in the first innings, could never tackle Haryana’s bowling which also had captain Mohit Sharma apart from Patel, who had a five-wicket haul in the first innings.

Tripura got into trouble right from the start and was reduced to 47 for five as Patel and Sharma tore through its top order. Patel, who picked up two in the second innings, finished with a match haul of seven wickets while Mohit Sharma picked up two wickets in the second innings.

The Haryana pace attack came good with Sanjay Pahal picking up three wickets to see Tripura bundled out for 195 in its second innings, sometime after tea. The eighth wicket partnership of 119 runs between Gurinder Singh (62) and skipper Manisankar Murasingh (60) ensured Tripura did not lose by a huge margin. Haryana returned to the quarterfinals after a break of four seasons.