Ranji: Bengal trounce UP; Nagaland bowled out for 25!

A summary of all the action from Day 4 of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Friday.

Bengal win while Nagaland go down

Skipper Manoj Tiwary and Anustup Majumdar slammed twin fifties as Bengal trounced Uttar Pradesh by six wickets in a group A match of the Ranji Trophy in Kolkata, on Friday.

Tiwary slammed seven sixes and a maximum in his 108-ball unbeaten 60-run knock, while Majumdar had 10 hits to the fence during his 170-ball 83 as Bengal knocked off the remaining 101 runs in 32.5 overs to complete a successful run chase and gathering all six points.

Resuming at 156 for 2, Bengal lost the wicket of Koushik Ghosh (69) in the third ball of the day with Ankit Rajpoot cleaning up the overnight batter.

However, Majumdar continued from where he had left and along with Tiwary kept Bengal on track, adding 97 runs for the fourth wicket to take them to the brink of victory. Majumdar was dismissed in the 72nd over off Rinku Singh with Akshdeep Nath taking the catch.

Shahbaz Ahmed and Tiwary then scored the remaining six runs to take Bengal home.

Bengal pacer Ishan Porel was adjudged the man of the match for his seven-wicket haul.

Meanwhile, Nagaland on Friday joined an ignominious list of lowest Ranji Trophy totals after being dismissed for 25 in second innings to suffer a 174-run thrashing by Uttarakhand in their Group A home match at Sovima.

Having taken a first innings lead of 107 runs, Nagaland were set a target of 200 after Uttarakhand declared their second essay for 306/7.

In reply, Nagaland lasted just 18 overs with spinners Mayank Mishra (9-7-4-5) and Swapnil Singh (9-5-21-4) running riot.

This was the fourth lowest total in the history of the Ranji Trophy as Nagaland joined the ill-famed list headed by Hyderabad who were skittled out for 21 by Rajasthan in the 2010-11 season.

Southern Punjab's 22 (vs Northern India; 1934-35) is second on the list. Jammu and Kashmir were twice bowled out for 23 (vs Delhi, 1960-61) and Haryana (1977-78), while Sindh also had folded for the same score of 23 (vs Southern Punjab) way back in 1938-39.

Nagaland's number nine batter Nagaho Chishi was their only player to reach a double-digit score as their scorecard resembled a telephone number, 0, 7, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 7, 10, 0 and 0 not out. Their innings lasted a little over an hour in the post-lunch session.

Brief Scores:

At Kolkata: Bengal 169 and 259 for 4 in 74.5 overs (Koushil Ghosh 69, Anustup Majumdar 83, Manoj Tiwary 60 not out; Shivam Mavi 2/65) beat Uttar Pradesh 198 and 227 all out in 65.3 overs by six wickets. Bengal 6 points, Uttar Pradesh 0 points.

At Sovima: Uttarakhand 282 and 306 for 7 in 70 overs (Priyanshu Khanduri 73, Swapnil Singh 88; Akash Singh 3/66) beat Nagaland 389 (Shrikant Mundhe 161, Yugandhar Singh 73; Swapnil Singh 5/47) and 25 in 18 overs (Nagaho Chishi 10; Mayank Mishra 5/4, Swapnil Singh 4/21) by 174 runs. Uttarakhand 6 points, Nagaland 0 points.

At Bhubneswar: Odisha 457 all out in 154.2 overs (Debabrata Pradhan 89, Abhishek Raut 70, Shantanu Mishra 61, Subhranshu Senapati 52; Ninad Rathva 5/106) draws with Baroda 624 for 8 in 172.4 overs (Shashwat Rawat 135, Priyanshu Moliya 118, Abhimanyu Rajput 102; Basant Mohanty 2/31). Odisha 1 point, Baroda 3 points.

At Rohtak: Haryana 46 and 353 all out in 123 overs (Chaitanya Bishnoi 97, Himanshu Rana 87; Rishi Dhawan 3/83, Sidharth Sharma 2/43) beat Himachal Pradesh 487/4 decl in 130.2 overs (Raghav Dhawan 182, Prashant Chopra 137, Amit Kumar 81; Chaitanya Bishnoi 2/15) by an innings and 88 runs. Haryana 0 points, Himachal Pradesh 7 points.

Maharashtra wallop an injury-hit Delhi

Veteran pacer Ishant Sharma didn't bowl a single over in the second innings due to an "unspecified injury" as Delhi, with severely depleted bowling resources, crashed to a nine-wicket defeat against Maharashtra in a Ranji Trophy group B match on Friday.

Ishant bowled 20 overs in the first innings and didn't turn up for the second innings as Maharashtra batters Pavan Shah (87 not out) and Kaushal Tambe (64 not out) easily chased down the target of 178 in little under 46 overs.

This was after another gutsy effort by Himmat Singh (84) took Delhi's second innings score to 310 to bring them back in the game.

However, Delhi's first-innings bowling hero Simarjeet Singh, who was forced to bowl 35 overs, could only bowl two overs in the second innings with a hamstring issue.

The other pacer Mayank Yadav also sustained a hamstring injury while bowling in the first innings.

With all three front-line seamers unavailable, Delhi captain Yash Dhull had to use five spinners in all, including himself.

Vikas Mishra (0/58 in 20 overs), just like in the first innings, was ineffective and Lalit Yadav (1/59 in 14 overs) was equally pedestrian on a track where 17 out of 20 Delhi wickets were picked by Maharashtra seamers.

Brief Scores:

In Pune: Delhi 191 and 310 (Himmat Singh 84, Yash Dhull 57, Rajvardhan Hangargekar 3/75). Maharashtra 324 and 180/1 (Pavan Shah 87 not out, Kaushal Tambe 64 not out). Maharashtra won by 9 wickets. Points: Maharashtra 6 Delhi 0.

In Hyderabad: Hyderabad 395 and 258 (Tanay Thyagrajan 69, R sai Kishore 5/101). Tamil Nadu (Target 144) 510/4 decl and 108/1 in 7 overs (N Jagadeesan 59 not out off 22 balls). Points: TN 3. Hyderabad 1 In Guwahati: Assam 286 and 366/6 (Riyan Parag 95, Sibsankar Roy 75). Saurashtra 492. Points: Saurashtra 3 Assam 1.

Goa draws with Rajasthan

Goa and Rajasthan split points in their Ranji Trophy Group C encounter after the match ended in a tame draw, with both sides managing to complete just one innings each in the four-day contest.

Replying to Goa's mammoth 547 for nine declared, built on a double-century from Suyash Prabhudessai (212) and a century from Arjun Tendulkar (120), Rajasthan virtually batted the entire third and fourth day for their 456 as the match meandered aimlessly at the Goa Cricket Association ground in Porvorim on Friday.

There was hope for Goa at stumps on day three when they reduced their opponents to 245 for six. But after two breakthroughs coming early on Friday, late-order batters Arafat Khan (80 not out) and Manav Sutar (48) dropped anchor and all hopes of enforcing a follow-on faded.

Rajasthan's overnight batters Kunal Singh Rathore and Shubham Sharma, who were on 20 and 2 respectively, finally departed on 31 and 29. But Arafat, a pace bowler, scored an unbeaten 80, his highest first-class score, as the Goa bowlers toiled all day without much success.

Arafat, who had the best bowling figures for Rajasthan in the first innings (3/105), first steadied the innings at the fall of two quick wickets and then forged fruitful partnerships with first Sutar and then Aniket Choudhary (38), before the latter's stint came to an end, clean bowled by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar finished the match with 120 runs and bowling figures of 3/104. though young Goa off-spinner Mohit Redkar was the most successful bowler for the side with figures of 5/113 off 47 overs.

Suyash Prabhudessai was declared 'Player of the Match' for his double century, which along with Tendulkar's century was the highlight of the Goa innings.

Domestic stalwart Jalaj Saxena returned with a match haul of nine wickets while debutant off-spinner Vaisakh Chandran claimed a second innings five-for as Kerala beat Jharkhand by 85 runs in their Ranji Trophy Group C match in Ranchi, on Friday.

After the impressive figures of 5/75 in the first innings, the 36-year-old medium pacer returned with 4/56 in the second essay.

It complemented Chandran's splendid show of 5/57 as Jharkhand folded for 237 in 61.2 in their tall chase of 323. It was the 26-year-old off-spinner who ripped the Jharkhand top-five and reduced them to 102/5 inside 27 overs to derail their chase early on.

In-form India batter Ishan Kishan, who scored a century in the first essay, opened the innings for Jharkhand in their big chase.

However, Chandran had his say and revelled on the fourth-day wicket, first inflicting a double blow in Kishan (22) and Kumar Suraj (0) within the span of three deliveries.

Continuing his assault, Chandran cleaned up the other Jharkhand opener Nazim Siddiqui (17), and dismissed Saurabh Tiwary (37) and Utkarsh Singh (0) in four deliveries en route to his splendid figures of 17-1-57-5.

Thereafter, Saxena, the Ranji veteran made his presence felt removing skipper Virat Singh (32) and Shahbaz Nadeem (0) in successive deliveries to further compound Jharkhand's misery.

Needing 211 runs with three wickets in hand, Jharkhand revived their chase with wicketkeeper-batter Kumar Kushagra playing a lone hand in a gritty 92 from 116 balls (12x4, 1x6).

But he ran out of support once Manishi (23) was trapped by Basil Thampi that halted their partnership for 119 runs.

Kushagra also fell eight runs shy of a century as Jharkhand folded in 61.2 overs.

Resuming the day at 60/1, Kerala declared their first innings for 187/7. Rohan Prem scored a brisk 86-ball 74. For Jharkhand Shahbaz Nadeem returned with 5/79.

Brief scores:

At Povorim: Goa 547 for 9 decl draw with Rajasthan 456 in 133.1 overs (Yash Kothari 96, Mahipal Lomror 63, Manav Sutar 48, Arafat Khan 80 not out; Arjun Tendulkar 3/104, Mohit Redkar 5/113). Goa 3 points. Rajasthan 3 points.

At Ranchi: Kerala 475 and 187 for 7 decl in 36 overs beat Jharkhand 340 and 237 in 61.2 overs (Kumar Kushagra 92; Jalaj Saxena 4/56, Vaisakh Chandran 5/57) by 85 runs. Kerala 6 points. Jharkhand Nil.

At Bengaluru: Karnataka 304 and 253 for 4 decl in 56 overs (Ravikumar Samarth 119 not out, Mayank Agarwal 73) draw with Services 261 and 150 for 3 in 39 overs (Ravi Chauhan 66 not out, Anshul Gupta 71 not out). Karnataka 3 points. Services 3 points.

Meghalaya pull a blinker over Mizoram

Veteran Taruwar Kohli's all-around show went in vain as Meghalaya's lower order put up a stunning show to script a dramatic two-wicket win over Mizoram in their Ranji Trophy Plate group match in Nadiad, on Friday. Chasing a stiff 298 on the final day, Meghalaya were 75/3 overnight as skipper Punit Bisht (53) and Swarajeet Das (53) revived their chase with a 90-run stand.

But Avinash Das broke the partnership by dismissing Das, while Bisht was dismissed by Kohli as Mizoram got back into the game with two quick wickets.

But the Meghalaya lower-order kept the scoreboard ticking and it was their No 9 batter Dippu Sangma who finished the chase with an unbeaten 36.

He along with Akash Choudhary (18 not out) put on a match-winning ninth wicket stand of 55 runs to seal the chase just after the tea break as Nagaland failed to make further inroads.

Taruwar returned with a match haul of four wickets to complement his splendid 123 in the first innings to be adjudged the player-of-the-match.

Brief Scores:

At Rangpo:  Manipur 186 and 193 lost to Sikkim 220 and 160/2; 54.2 overs (Nilesh Lamichaney 74 not out, Pankaj Rawat 72 not out) by eight wickets. Points: Sikkim 6, Manipur 0.

At Nadiad:  Mizoram 252 and 216 lost to Meghalaya 171 and 300/8; 105.4 overs (Punit Bisht 53, Swarajeet Das 53, Kishan Lyngdoh 40, Dippu Sangma 36 not out; Avinash Yadav 5/103) by two wickets. Points: Meghalaya 6, Mizoram 0.