Ranji: Himachal in command vs Haryana; Vidarbha in control

A summary of all the action from Day 2 of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Wednesday.

Raghav Dhawan completed his maiden first-class century as Himachal Pradesh declared their first innings at a massive 487 for four on day two of their Ranji Trophy Group A match against Haryana in Rohtak.

The 35-year-old Dhawan, unbeaten on 86 on the opening day, scored 182 runs as Himachal piled on the misery of Haryana, who were bundled out for just 46 runs on Tuesday.

Haryana were 72 for 1 at stumps in their second innings and they trail their opponents by 369 runs at the Chaudhary Bansi Lal Stadium.

With two full days of play left, Himachal would be fancying their chances of a bonus point should they score an innings win.

The hero of the day, however, was Dhawan whose workman-like 182 and his mammoth 219-run opening stand with Prashant Chopra (137) laid the platform for the huge score.

Dhawan hit 22 boundaries and two sixes and consumed a staggering 359 balls for his 182. Chopra, on the other hand, played a more entertaining knock scoring his 137 off 181 balls at a strike rate of nearly 76.

Dhawan was finally dismissed by off-spinner Jayant Yadav at the fag end of the day with Yuvraj Singh taking the catch. The declaration came soon after with Yuvraj again taking a catch, this time off left-arm spinner Chaitanya Bishnoi's bowling, to dismiss Amit Kumar, who missed a century by just 19 runs.

Haryana, after the pain of a sub-50 score in the first innings, started confidently in the second innings with Bishnoi unbeaten on 41, though he lost his partner Yuvraj on 21 with pace bowler Sidharth Sharma getting an LBW decision in his favour. Skipper Himanshu Rana (6) was the other batsman at the crease.

Brief scores:

At Rohtak: Haryana 46 and 72/1 in 23 overs (Chaitanya Bishnoi 41 batting) vs Himachal Pradesh 487/4 decl in 130.2 overs (Raghav Dhawan 182, Prashant Chopra 137, Amit Kumar 81; Chaitanya Bishnoi 2/15). Haryana trail by 369 runs.

At Cuttack: Odisha 457 in 154.2 overs (Shantanu Mishra 61, Abhishek Raut 70, Debabrata Pradhan 89, Subham Nayak 82; Bhargav Bhatt 3/116, Ninad Rathva 5/106) vs Baroda 77 for no loss in 25 overs (Jyotsnil Singh 43 batting, Pratyush Kumar 31 batting). Baroda trail by 380 runs.

At Kolkata: Uttar Pradesh 198 and 122/4 in 36 overs (Rinku Singh 44 batting, Akshdeep Nath 47 batting) vs Bengal 169 in 43.3 overs (Abishek Porel 33, Akash Deep 41; Shivan Mavi 6/55). UP lead by 151 runs.

At Sovima: Uttarakhand 282 in 78 overs vs Nagaland 280/3 in 97 overs (Yugandhar Singh 73, Shrikant Mundhe 109 batting). Nagaland trail by 2 runs.

Kazi, Ashay script remarkable recovery for Maharashtra

Pune: Azim Kazi hit a patient hundred and was beautifully complemented by Akshay Palkar with an unbeaten 94 which put Maharashtra in a winning position from a near hopeless situation against Delhi on the second day of their Ranji Trophy group B match here on Wednesday.

At stumps, Maharashtra were 305 for 7 with a lead of 114 runs after Delhi were bowled out for 191 on the first day. The 211-run stand for the eighth wicket between Kazi (119 batting, 260 balls) and Palkar (94 batting, 240 balls) could prove to be a match-winning one for Maharashtra as Delhi have been hurt by pacer Mayank Yadav's injury.

Starting the day at 80 for 5, Maharashtra were quickly reduced to 94 for 7 within first hour by pacers Simarjeet Singh (3/58 in 31 overs) and Mayank (2/46 in 17.2 overs) but left-handed Kazi and Palkar frustrated the Delhi bowlers no end for nearly 78 overs (77.5) and plan to bat for a few hours more on the third day.

Mayank's injury -- hamstring pull -- after first hour also meant that Delhi skipper Yash Dhull was a specialist bowler short.

But no credit is enough for Kazi and Palkar, who played each ball on its merit and didn't lose hope with only three wickets left and 98 runs required to take the first innings lead.

Left-arm spinner Vikas Mishra (0/75 in 23 overs) wasn't potent enough and the off-spinners Nitish Rana (0/48 in 14 overs) and Lalit Yadav (0/22 in 11.4 overs) also couldn't make any decisive inroads.

Dhull's strategy to use two off-break bowlers to tackle Kazi didn't work.

Both hit a couple of sixes each apart from 12 fours from Kazi and 11 from Palkar.

Ishant Sharma (1/46 in 20 overs) might not have been expensive but didn't look much threatening towards his latter spells.

Brief Scores

In Pune: Delhi 191. Maharashtra 305/7 (Azim Kazi 119 batting, Ashay Palkar 94 batting, Simarjeet Singh 3/58, Mayank Yadav 2/58).

In Hyderabad: Hyderabad  395 (Tanmay Agarwal 135, Mickil Jaiswal 137, Ravi teja 72, L Vignesh 4/91, Sandeep Warrier 5/83). TN 203/0 (Sai Sudharshan 87 batting, Natayn Jagadeesan 116 batting)

In Vizianagaram: AP 238. Mumbai 290/6 (Arman Jaffer 116, Yashashvi Jaiswal 45,  Ajinkya Rahane 44, KV Saiskanth 3/50).

In Guwahati: Assam 286 (Rahul Haarika 90, Riyan Parag 72, Chetan Sakariya 5/40). Saurashtra 313/3 (Harvik Desai 108, Jay Gohil 177 batting).

Tendulkar Jr scores century on first class debut

Porvorim (Goa): Emulating his legendary father Sachin Tendulkar, Arjun on Wednesday slammed a century on first-class debut on the second day of Goa's Group C Ranji Trophy match against Rajasthan here.

The feat came exactly 34 years after Sachin, then 15, began his journey to greatness with an unbeaten 100 against Gujarat at the Wankhede Stadium.

Late Lala Amarnath and one of his three sons Surinder had made hundreds on their Test debuts, making them the only father-son duo to achieve the feat in the 145-year history of traditional international format.

Batting at No. 7, Tendulkar junior, who had moved to Goa from Mumbai earlier this season in search of more playing opportunities, hit two sixes and 16 fours in his knock of 120 from 207 deliveries.

Along with No. 3 Suyash Prabhudessai (212; 416 balls, 29x4), Tendulkar junior put together 221 runs for the sixth wicket to take Goa to a mammoth 493/8 at close on day two.

Primarily, a left-arm fast medium, Arjun had come out to bat at the fag end of the opening day n Tuesday after the departure of wicketkeeper-batter Eknath Kerkar with Goa precariously placed at 201 for 5.

He started cautiously, seeing off 12 deliveries to be on four overnight in the company of RCB player Prabhudessai (81).

The 23-year-old started his innings afresh and saw off the Rajasthan attack boasting of seasoned duo of Aniket Choudhary and Kamlesh Nagarkoti to complete his maiden half-century off 86 balls.

He got to his maiden century off 177 deliveries to emulate his father, who holds the record of all-time highest run-scorer in international cricket.

The medium-pacer took eight wickets in eight List A games. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he took four wickets in three T20 matches for Goa.

Arjun had made the cut for the India Under-19 team and was bought by Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Mumbai Indians. But he has never played an IPL match for the most successful IPL side.

Brief Scores:

At Porvorim: Goa 493/8; 163.2 overs (Suyash Prabhudesai 212, Arjun Tedulkar 120, Snehal Kauthankar 59; Arafat Khan 2/70, Aniket Choudhary 2/87, Manav Suthar 2/111, Kamlesh Nagarkoti 2/113) vs Rajasthan.

At Ranchi: Kerala 475; 146.4 overs (Akshay Chandran 150, Sijomon Joseph 83; Shahbaz Nadeem 5/167, Utkarsh Singh 2/75, Manishi 2/115) vs Jharkhand 87/3; 33 overs. Jharkhand trail by 388 runs.

At Bengaluru: Karnataka 304; 74.4 overs (BR Sharath 77, Krishnappa Gowtham 48; Diwesh Pathania 5/86, Pulkit Narang 3/40) vs Services 96/4; 28 overs (Rajat Paliwal 42 batting). Services trail by 208 runs.

At Puducherry: Chhattisgarh 162 and 184; 42.1 overs (Harpreet Singh 63, Shashank Singh 56; Sagar Udeshi 7/50, Ankit Sharma 3/86). Puducherry 37; 23.2 overs (Ajay Mandal 7/7, Sumit Ruikar 3/30) and 96/5; 38 overs (Neyan Shyam Kangayan 49; Sumit Ruikar 2/21, Shubham Agarwal 2/25). Puducherry need 214 runs.

Vidarbha take control against Railways

Nagpur: Leg-spinner Karn Sharma's sensational eight-wicket haul on day one was not backed by the Railways batters as they conceded a 52-run first innings lead to Vidarbha after getting bundled out for 161 on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Group D match here.

Resuming the day on 22 for 1 in reply to Vidarbha's 213, Railways batters fell to the guile of spinners -- left-arm orthodox Aditya Sarwate (5/53) and offie Akshay Wakhare (5/60), who both came up with five-wicket hauls.

Only opener B Vivek Singh (81) could give some sort of resistance to the Vidarbha spin duo. Seven Railways batters, including captain Sharma (2) himself, were out in single-digit scores. Three of them were out on nought.

The 35-year-old Sharma, who had played one Test in 2014, had ripped apart the Vidarbha batting line-up with figures of 8/38 on Tuesday.   

Vidarbha reached 161 for 2 at stumps on the second day to extend the lead to  213 and take control of the match.

Captain Faiz Fazal, who had made 112 in the first innings, was batting on 82 when stumps were drawn.

Brief Scores:

 At Nagpur: Vidarbha: 213 and 161 for 2 in 39 overs (Faiz Fazal 82 batting) vs Railways 161 all out in 55.2 overs (Vivek Singh 81; Aditya Sarwate 5/53 and Akshay Wakhare 5/60).

At Mohali: Punjab: 586 for 4 declared in 141.1 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 202, Abhishek Sharma 100, Mandeep Singh 128 not out, Anmolpreet Singh 86; Rohit Dhanda 3/100) vs Chandigarh 62 for 2 in 31 overs.

At Agartala: Gujarat: 271 vs Tripura 244 for 6 in 83 overs (Sankar Paul 57, Sudip Chatterjee  58).

At Jammu: Madhya Pradesh: 308 all out in 111.2 overs (Yash Dubey 81, Rajat Patidar 62, Shubham Sharma 52; Auqib Nabi 4/65) vs J&K 98 all out in 38.5 overs (Vivrant Sharma 34; Avesh Khan 5/33) and (f/o) 54 for 7 in 24 overs.

Manipur 16-year-old becomes fourth Indian to take nine wickets on debut

Gangtok: Sixteen-year-old Manipur medium pacer Pheiroijam Singh on Wednesday became the fourth Indian to grab nine wickets on first-class debut in their Ranji Trophy plate group match against Sikkim at Rangpo near here.

The teenager who returned with figures of 22-5-69-9 to join an elite list that has Vasant Ranjane (9/35, 1956-57), Amarjith Singh (9/45, 1971-72) and Sanjay Yadav (9/52, 2019-20), all of whom have claimed nine wickets on their first-class debut.

Manipur bowled out Si-t-class cricket history and the fourth best by an Indian on debut.

It was a one-way traffic for Pheiroijam who triggered the collapse on the second day as Sikkim continued to lose wickets from being 58 for no loss overnight.

He nearly became the first Indian to take all 10 wickets on first-class debut but it was Rex Rajkumar who dismissed Anwesh Sharma (39) to fold Sikkim's innings in 73.1 overs. Pheiroijam, albeit, played a role in the dismissal -- by taking the catch of Sharma.

Englishman Albert Moss (10/38 in 1889-90) and Fitz Hinds (10/36; 1900-01) are the only two in the history of cricket to bowl all 10 wickets in an innings on first-class debut.

Sikkim however had the upper hand and took a slender first innings lead and reduced Manipur to 59/4 at stumps on day two. Overall, Manipur lead by just 25 runs with six wickets intact.

Sumit Singh returned with figures of 3/23 as Manipur batters struggled to get a partnership going.

Brief Scores:

At Rangpo: Manipur 186 and 59/4; 19 overs (Basir Rahman 23 batting; Sumit Singh 3/23). Sikkim 220; 73.1 overs (Sumit Singh 47, Arun Chettri 41; Pheiroijam Singh 9/69). Manipur lead by 25 runs.

At Patna: Arunachal Pradesh 212. Bihar 367/4; 103 overs (Adhiraj Johri 118, Yashasvi Rishav 65, Sakibul Gani 66 batting). Bihar lead by 155 runs.

At Nadiad: Mizoram 252 and 37/3; 23 overs. Meghalaya 171; 67.4 overs (Kishan Lyngdoh 40, Rajesh Bishnoi 35 batting; Avinash Yadav 6/39). Mizoram lead by 118 runs. Match to continue.k