Ranji Roundup: Drama in Agartala as Mumbai escape with a draw

A round-up of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Tuesday

In Agartala, the Group A match between Mumbai and Tripura ended in a draw with the reigning champions earning three points by virtue of the first-innings lead on Tuesday.

Mumbai, who were reduced to 7/2 at close on day 3 on Monday, declared their second innings at 123 for 6 on Tuesday, setting their opponents a 272-run target.

India batter Ajinkya Rahane, who remained unbeaten on 48 off 90 balls, halted Mumbai's slide after they were reduced to 44/5 at one stage.

Tripura were 48 without loss at the end of day's play.

Brief Scores:

Mumbai: 450 & 123 for 6 decl in 43 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 48 not out; Abhijit Sarkar 3/31, Manisankar Murasingh 2/11) drew with Tripura 302 in 95.4 overs & 48 for no loss in 22 overs (Bikramkumar Das 32 not out).

Maharashtra crush Meghalaya by 10 wickets, earn bonus point

Maharashtra inflicted a 10-wicket defeat on Meghalaya as they walked away with a bonus point with openers Murtaza Trunkwala and Siddhesh Vir easily overhauling a 101-run target on the final day of their Ranji Trophy Group A match in Aurangabad.

Murtaza did most of the scoring, notching up an unbeaten 78 off just 73 balls, while Siddhesh (24 not out) played the ideal foil as Maharashtra completed the task in just 21.1 overs after Meghalaya were bundled out for 185 in the morning session.

Meghalaya had scored a modest 276 in the the first innings with Maharashtra responding with a 361 of their own. The team from the northeast then could manage just 185 in the second essay to leave their opponents with an easy task of scoring 100-odd runs, which they managed without much ado.

Earlier in the morning, Meghalaya, who were 157/8 overnight, lost their remaining two batters for the addition of 28 runs with Maharashtra left-arm pacer Mukesh Kumar accounting for four wickets.

Sumit Kumar was the highest run-getter for Meghalaya in the second innings, scoring 45 runs before he was the last man out, dismissed by pacer Rajneesh Gurbani.

Murtaza seemed to be in a hurry to complete the task when Maharashtra padded up the second time. The 28-year-old opener, who has risen through the state's age-group ranks, smashed 13 boundaries even as fellow-opener Siddhesh was reduced to a spectator at the other end.

Brief Scores:

Meghalaya 276 and 185 in 55.5 overs (Balchander Anirudh 36, Sumit Kumar 45, Mukesh Choudhary 4/61, Pradeep Dadhe 2/29, Rajneesh Gurbani 2/33) lost to Maharashtra 361 and 104 for no loss in 21.1 overs (Murtaza Trunkwala 78 not out, Siddhesh Veer 24 not out) by 10 wickets. 

Dubey's six-wicket haul leads Vidarbha to 266-run win over Uttarakhand

Left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey's six-wicket burst propelled Vidarbha to a massive 266-run win over Uttarakhand on the fourth and final day of their Ranji Trophy match in Dehradun.

Tasked with chasing an improbable 338, Uttarakhand succumbed to the guiles of Dubey (6/38) to get bowled out for a mere 71 in a shade over 21 overs.

Veteran off-spinner Akshay Wakhare (3/17) gave Dube excellent support from the other end.

Vidarbha, runners-up to Mumbai last season, received six points for the outright win, and now, have three wins from as many matches and lead Group B with 18 points.

Uttarakhand slipped to fifth place with six points from three matches.

Earlier, Vidarbha, resuming from overnight 255 for six, were bowled out for 300 in their second innings with left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh (5/97) ripping through the lower order of the opposition.

Himachal Pradesh notched their second innings victory of the season to leap to second place in Group B with 14 points.

They defeated Andhra by an innings and 38 runs to go with their innings win over Uttarakhand in the first round.

Brief scores:

In Dehradun: Vidarbha 326 and 300 all out in 75 overs (Dhruv Shorey 59, Danish Malewar 42, Yash Rathod 56; Swapnil Singh 5/97) beat Uttarakhand: 289 and 71 all out in 21.2 overs (Yuvraj Choudhary 38; Harsh Dubey 6/38; Akshay Wakhare 3/17) by 266 runs.

Vidarbha: 6 points.

In Visakhapatnam: Andhra 344 all out & 118 all out in 32.1 overs (SK Rasheed 34; Vinay Galetiya 5/49, Mayank Dagar 4/23) lost to Himachal Pradesh: 500 all out in 158 overs (Ankit Kalsi 53, Akash Vasisht 52, Rishi Dhawan 195, Mukul Negi 42; KV Sasikanth 5/118, PVSN Raju 3/130) by an innings and 38 runs.

Himachal Pradesh: 7 points (including 1 bonus point for innings win).

In Jaipur: Gujarat 335 all out and 314/9 in 101 overs (Umang 153 not out; Jaymeet Patel 82; Ajay Kookna 5/107, AV Choudhary 3/37) vs Rajasthan 319 all out.
Match ends in draw; Gujarat took first innings lead and 3 points. Rajasthan: 1 point.

In Hyderabad: Hyderabad 536/8 declared beat Puducherry 153 all out and 333 all out in 119.3 overs (V Ganga Sridhar 106, Ajay Rohera 69, Akash Kargave 31; Tanay Thyagarajan 7/106) by an innings and 50 runs.

Hyderabad: 7 points (including 1 bonus point for innings win). PTI UNG 7/21/2024

After Sumit's ton on Day 3, pacers power Delhi to 10-wicket win over Assam

Sumit Mathur's batting heroics coupled with pacers brilliant performance powered Delhi to a comprehensive 10-wicket win over Assam in their Ranji Trophy Group A match to notch up their first victory of the season in New Delhi.

Courtesy left-handed batter Mathur's 112 off 230 balls, Delhi posted 454 in reply to Assam's first innings total of 330, and reduced the visitors to 44 for 3 in their second essay on Monday.

On the fourth and final day, Assam were bowled out for 182 in 42 overs with the Delhi pacers doing their job to perfection. The pacers accounted for eight Assam batters in their second innings at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.

Just after the start of the day, Assam lost three quick wickets for the addition of a mere one run. Sibsankar Roy (4), Bhargav Dutta (0) and captain Denish Das (1), who retired hurt on Monday but came back to bat on Tuesday, were dismissed in the space of eight balls.

Number 7 batter Sumit Ghadigaonkar (76 not out off 96 balls) made a spirited late-order resistance but his colleagues did not give him company and he ran out of partners in the end.

Delhi Pacer Harshit Rana, who has been named in the Indian squad for the marquee Test tour of Australia starting next month, took another wicket on Tuesday to add to the one on Monday for innings figure of 2/61.

His pace colleagues Siddhant Sharma (3/24) and Money Grewal (3/50) grabbed three wickets apiece to rattle Assam in the second innings. Off-spinner Jonty Sidhu (1/0) also got one wicket, while the other was run-out.

Assam added 138 runs for the loss of seven wickets on Tuesday and faced 27 overs.

Set a target of 59 runs, Delhi openers Sanat Sangwan (34 not out) and Gagan Vats (25 not out) knocked off the required runs in 16.1 overs without losing any wicket.

Delhi made 62/0 in 16.1 overs in their second innings to collect seven points. Assam did not get any point.

Delhi are in third place with 11 points in Group D, having drawn their earlier two matches.

On Monday, all-rounder Mathur, ignored in the first two games, showed his prowess with a patient century to put Delhi in sight of an outright victory against Assam.

Brief Scores:

In Delhi: Assam 330 and 182 all out in 42 overs (Sumit Ghadigaonkar 76 not out; Siddhant Sharma 3/24, Money Grewal 3/50, Harshit Rana 2/61). Delhi 454 and 62/0 in 16.1 overs (Sanat Sangwan 34 not out; Gagan Vats 25 not out). Delhi won by 10 wickets.

Points: Delhi 7, Assam 0.

In Coimbatore: Chattisgarh 500. Tamil Nadu 259 and (f/o) 264/4 in 76 overs (Vijay Shankar 106 not out, Narayan Jagadeesan 60; Ajay Mandal 2/49). Match drawn.

Points: Chhattisgarh 3, Tamil Nadu 0.

In Jamshedpur: Jharkhand 202 and 130 all out in 50.3 overs (Sharandeep Singh 64, Virat Singh 30; Nishunk Birla 3/17, Raj Bawa 3/22, Vishu Kashyap 3/46). Chandigarh 290 and 45/0 in 3.3 overs. Chandigarh won by 10 wickets.

Points: Chandigarh 7, Jharkhand 0.