Ranji: Bengal lose three in chase of 177 against Baroda

A round-up of Ranji matches played on Thursday.

Bengal will have to show a lot of composure if they hope to defeat Baroda with the hosts -- three down for 53 in their pursuit of a tricky target of 177 in a Ranji Trophy Group A match at the end of third day in Kalyani.

On an eventful third day when 14 wickets fell, Bengal's first innings wound up at 191 after just two runs were added to their overnight score.

They then had their seamers Mukesh Kumar (4/43) and Ishan Porel (3/22) to thank for dismissing Baroda for a paltry 98 in the second innings.

Coming in to bat for the second time, Bengal found themselves in hot water, losing the entire top order comprising opener Abhishek Das (7), India A skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran (9) and Anustup Majumdar (9) cheaply, leaving them in a precarious situation of 53 for three, and a target of 187 looking like an insurmountable task.

With skipper Manoj Tiwary -- a veteran of 135 first-class games, who is nearing the 10,000-run milestone -- still to come and Sudip Gharami holding one end up with an unbeaten 28, Bengal can still turn around their reverses but they will have to bat with a lot of conviction on the final day.

Earlier, Baroda, following their 269 in the first innings, found the going tough in the second essay managing just one score in double digits. Pratyush Kumar's workman-like unbeaten 62 off 149 deliveries and the diligence he showed while facing Mukesh and Porel was the talking point at the Bengal Cricket Academy Ground.

The 27-year-old opener, playing only his eighth first-class game, kept his attacking instinct in check to reach his half century and remained unbeaten till he ran out of partners.

Brief scores:

At Kalyani: Baroda 269 and 98 in 44 overs (Pratyush Kumar n.o.; Mukesh Kumar 4/43, Ishan Porel 3/22) vs Bengal 191 in 59.3 overs (Anustup Majumdar 90; Soyeb Sopariya 3/43, Sahejadkhan Pathan 5/48) and 53 for 3 in 28.3 overs (Soyeb Sopariya 2/15).

At Rohtak: Nagaland 88 and 72 in 23 overs (Amit Rana 7/24) lost to Haryana 229 for 7 decl in 49 overs (Yuvraj Singh 75, Rohit Sharma 38; Imliwati Lemtur 4/76) by 69 runs.

At Nadaun: Odisha 191 and 374 in 95.5 overs (Govinda Poddar 135, Prayash Singh 73, Suryakant Pradhan 50 n.o.) vs Himachal Pradesh 258.

At Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh 142 in 67.5 overs (Sameer Choudhary 49, Agrim Tiwari 4/27, Abhay Negi 3/47) vs Uttarakhand 65 for 2 in 19 overs (Karthikeya Jaiswal 2/21).

Shorey shines bright for Delhi, Andhra players resort to face masks on field amid air pollution

New Delhi: Dhruv Shorey continued to be the shining light in an otherwise dull Ranji Trophy campaign for Delhi as the opener struck his third hundred of the season to put his side on course towards gaining a potentially decisive first innings lead against Andhra here on Thursday.

Shorey (142 batting) put his team in a solid position with the help of Hrithik Shokeen (45) and Himmat Singh (45 batting).

Shorey is now leading the run-scorers chart this season with 744 runs and a few more expected to come on fourth morning.

Fading light forced an early stumps as Delhi reached 300 for four in 93 overs, trailing Andhra by 159 runs. The visitors had made 459 for nine in their first innings.

It was another cold morning at the Arjun Jaitley Stadium and the air pollution made matters worse, especially for Andhra. Two of their players, Ricky Bhui and C R Gnaneshwar were wearing masks on the field.

As a smoggy sky made way bright sunshine, Shorey came into his elements. The 30-year-old, who had made 252 and 150 against Assam, played some exquisite shots on way to reaching three figures.

He was guilty to being stuck on 99 for a bit too long which also led to the run out of Vaibhav Rawal (25). Shorey finally reached the milestone with a flick off left-arm spinner Lalith Mohan. His unbeaten effort comprised 12 boundaries and a six.

With only one day left, getting the first innings lead will be decisive in the game and Delhi would be hoping that Shorey and Himmat extend their unbeaten 90-run partnership.    

Delhi, who have witnessed frequent breakdown of their players this season, are already out of contention for a spot in the knock-out phase.

The other problem has been young skipper Yash Dhull's complete reluctance to either open and even at times come in at No. 3 in testing conditions. For a player, who is considered to be an India prospect, the propensity to shy away from potentially challenging situations will not hold him in good stead as selectors look for fearless players.

Andhra wicketkeeper batter K S Bharat said his team would be eyeing early breakthroughs on Friday.

"If we would have taken one more wicket before stumps, it would have been good. If we can get early wickets tomorrow, scoring 140 odd runs on this wicket is a challenge," said Bharat

He also praised a heavily depleted Delhi's bowling attack for not allowing them to change gears on a flat pitch.

"They did not give us any loose balls. Only option was go over the top against the spinners but we were not in a situation to do that, we were just trying to build those partnerships," added Bharat.

Brief scores: Andhra 459 for 9 decl vs Delhi 300/4 in 93 overs (Dhruv Shorey 142 batting; Shoab MD Khan 2/69).

At Mumbai: Mumbai 687 for four declared vs Assam 370 all out and 36/5 f/o (Swarupam Purkayastha 12 batting; Shardul Thakur 3/12). 

At Pune: Maharashtra 446 and 104/3 in 26 overs (Rahul Tripathi 61; Sandeep Warrier 3/37) vs Tamil Nadu 404 (Vijay Shankar batting 107; P C Dadhe 3/67).

Vijay, Gowtham ensure bonus points as Karnataka all but assured of QF berth

Alur: Seamer Vijaykumar Vyshak and off-spinner Krishnappa Gowtham shared bulk of the spoils as Karnataka thrashed Rajasthan by 10 wickets inside three days to earn bonus points in their Ranji Trophy Group C game, here on Thursday.

Karnataka with 26 points from five matches are almost through to the quarter-finals while Rajasthan stay on 14 points from five games.

They are set to be displaced from their second position once all group matches end on Friday.

Having bowled out Rajasthan for 129 in the first innings, Karnataka scored a healthy 445 in their first innings with veteran Manish Pandey (101) scoring his 23rd first-class hundred.

Pandey, who was batting on 75 overnight, had 10 fours and four sixes in his 131 ball innings and added 57 runs for the ninth wicket with Vidwath Kaverappa (37) as they added 65 runs to their second day's score of 380 for 8.

With a lead of 316, it was always a catch up game for Rajasthan, who did perform better in the second innings but a total of 330, curtesy Mahipal Lomror's 99 and Aditya Garhwal's 66 was never going to be enough.

Seamer Vijay (4/73) did get a bit of pasting from Lomror but got his man in the end.

Gowtham (3/72) caused the damage towards the latter part of the innings by removing in-form Samarpit Joshi (63) and followed it up with wickets of Kunal Singh Rathore and Arafat Khan.

Left to score only 15 runs with more than a day's play left, Ravikumar Samarth and skipper Mayank Agarwal knocked it off in five overs to log home seven points from the game.

Brief Scores:

In Alur: Rajasthan 129 and 330 in 65.4 overs (Mahipal Lomror 99, Vijaykumar Vyshak 4/73, Krishnappa Gowtham 3/72) vs Karnataka 1st Innings 445 in 132.1 overs (Manish Pandey 101, Shreyas Gopal 95).

Points: Karnataka 7. Rajasthan 0.

In Jamshedpur: Jharkhand 103 and 366 in 100.3 overs (Saurabh Tiwary 78, Virat Singh 63, Ravi Kiran 4/60) vs Chattisgarh 113 and (target 357) 139/4 (Amandeep Khare 40 batting, Anukul Roy 2/15).

In Thumba: Kerala 327 and 242/7 decl (Sachin Baby 93, Salman Nizar 40, Mohit Rathee 2/69). Services 229 and (Target 341) 20/0 vs Goa 223 and 167 (Snehal Kauthankar 49, Arjun Tendulkar 20, Ankit Sharma 6/61). Puducherry 347 and (target 44) 46/1. Puducherry won by 9 wickets.

Points: Goa 0. Puducherry 6.

Mandeep, Gurnoor ensure first innings lead for Punjab against J&K

Valsad: Veteran skipper Mandeep Singh and young Gurnoor Brar hit half centuries as Punjab took a vital first innings lead of 46 runs against Jammu and Kashmir in a Group D Ranji Trophy match here on Thursday.

 Jammu and Kashmir started the third day's play at 176 for six and their first innings folded for 212 in 54.1 overs. The first two days of the match were heavily affected by poor weather.

Baltej Singh, who had taken a match haul of 11 wickets against Gujarat in an earlier game, once again was the pick of bowlers with figures of 5 for 47 in 15.1 overs while veteran Siddarth Kaul grabbed 4 for 82.

Jammu and Kashmir bowlers did put the hosts in trouble by reducing them to 147 for seven but Mandeep (69 off 104 balls) and Gurnoor (64 off 60 balls) added 100 runs to ensure at least three points for Punjab from the game. Their first innings ended at 268.

Gurnoor took the attack back to J&K camp, with five fours and three sixes.

At the end of the day, J&K had lost senior opener Shubham Khajuria to Baltej with the scorecard reading 18 for 1.

J&K are now 38 runs behind with a day's play left.

Brief Scores:

In Mohali: J&K 212 in 54.1 overs (Abdul Samad 46, Baltej Singh 5/47, Siddarth Singh 4/82) & 18/1. Punjab 268 in 61.2 overs (Gurnoor Brar 64, Mandeep Singh 69, Rohit Sharma 3/63).

In Surat: Tripura 96 and 304/4 (Sudip Chatterjee 104 batting, Rajat Dey 77 batting, Karn Sharma 2/67). Railways 1st Innings 337.

In Indore: MP 312 and 189/2 (Himanshu Mantri 65, Rajat Patidar 33 batting) vs Gujarat 211 in 79.2 overs (Priyank Panchal 71, Kumar Kartikeya 2/39).

In Chandigarh: Vidarbha 307/6 decl (Sanjay Raghunath 133, Atharva Taide 77) vs Chandigarh 16/1 (Nachikete Bhute 1/1).