Ranji: Batsmen help MP snatch three points from Bengal

A pedestrian bowling effort by hosts Bengal enabled Madhya Pradesh to log home three points by virtue of first innings lead in a Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match in Kolkata on Sunday.

In reply to Bengal's first innings score of 496, Madhya Pradesh's lower-order batsmen held their nerves as they ensured a crucial 37-run first innings lead finishing on 537.

For a team that got shot out for 63 in an innings in the last match, MP batsmen led by centurions Naman Ojha (127) and Mohnish Mishra (132, 245 balls, 17x4, 1x6) showed a lot of resolve against a below par Bengal attack.

Barring young seamer Mohammed Shami Ahmed (5/116), none of the bowlers looked like having the ability to get the MP batsmen out. Senior pace duo of Ranadeb Bose (0/83) and Ashok

Dinda (1/140) gave away 223 runs between them to get a wicket.

Brief Score: Bengal: 496 and 114/1 (21 overs)

Madhya Pradesh: 533 (Mohnish Mishra 132, Naman Ojha 127, S Abbas Ali 47, Harpreet Singh 37; Md Shami Ahmed 5/116).

TN settle for three points vs Delhi

A late start due to fog ended the possibility of an interesting finish in a Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match between Tamil Nadu and Delhi as the visitors had to settle for three points.

After Delhi finished their second innings on 311, Tamil Nadu were left to chase 218 in 49 overs which included the 15 mandatory overs. With a precious two hours of play lost, Tamil Nadu batsmen never went for the chase as they finished at 129 for three when the match was called off after the first mandatory over.

Starting the day at 233 for five, Pawan Negi (24) was the first to be dismissed caught by Dinesh Karthik off debutant Jagannathan Kaushik's bowling.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Puneet Bisht (53, 72 balls, 8x4, 1x6) duly completed his fifth half century in first-class cricket before he became Kaushik's third victim, edging one to Karthik behind the stumps.

Pradeep Sangwan (27 not out) did hit some lusty blows and even Ashish Nehra (8) helped himself for a six as Delhi crossed the 300-run mark. Rival skipper Lakshmipathy Balaji (4/65) wiped off the tail while Kaushik had figures of three for 60 to show for his efforts.

With Abhinav Mukund nursing a bruised jaw, it was KB Arun Karthik (17, 43 balls) who opened with Murali Vijay (10m 16 balls). The two openers never showed any intent to go after the bowling which made evident that the match was dead as a contest.

Brief Score: Delhi: 212 & 311 (Milind Kumar 58, Yogesh Nagar 56, Puneet Bisht 53; L Balaji 4/65, J Kaushik 3/60).

Tamil Nadu: 306 & 129/3 (Dinesh Karthik 52, Baba Aparajith 44 batting).

Rayudu helps Baroda draw against Haryana

Ambati Rayudu's unbeaten knock of 83 helped Baroda draw their Ranji Trophy Elite Division match against Haryana on the fourth and final day in Vadodara on Sunday.

Set a target of 372, Baroda made 228 for seven in their second innings at the close of play, ending the match in a draw at the Motibag Ground.

Rayudu and Aditya Waghmode teamed up together after losing the wickets of Irfan Pathan and Rakesh Solanki early with the at 31.

They added 55 runs for the third wicket to provide some stability to home side.

Rayudu stood like a rock and did not allow Haryana score an outright win. His unbeaten 83  came from 229 balls. Yusuf Pathan (23), Pinal Shah (16) and Murtuza Vahora (19) were the other contributors.

Haryana captain Mishra scalped three wickets for 52 runs while pacers Jitender Billa and Abhimanyu Khode bagged two apiece.

Haryana bagged three points for their first inning lead of 176 runs while Baroda got one point.

Earlier, resuming at 187 for seven, Haryana could add just eight more runs and folded their second innings at 195.

It was pacer Irfan Pathan who bagged all the three wickets which fell on Sunday, taking his tally to five.

Brief Score: Hariyana: 390 and 195 all out (Abhimanyu Khod 71, Sunny Singh 46; Irfan Pathan 5/37, Swapnil Singh 4/32).

Baroda: 214 all out and 228 for 7 (Ambati Rayudu 83 not out, Aditya Waghmode 33; Amit Mishra 3/52).

Railways earn three points after Rawat's ton

Thanks to Mahesh Rawat's superb century, Railways managed to gain three points by virtue of their first innings lead over defending champions Rajasthan in their drawn Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match in New Delhi on Sunday.

In reply to Rajasthan's first innings total of 521 for eight declared, Railways' batsmen showed a lot of resolve against the opposition bowling attack to declared at 525 for eight.

Thereafter, Railways bowlers did well to reduce the visitors to 21 for four.

Resuming at an overnight total of 274 for four, the hosts were led by centurion Rawat (145, 196 balls, 21x4) and M Suresh's unbeaten 61 off 97 balls, studded with four hits to the fence.

Overnight batsmen Rawat and Yere Goud put on a crucial 153-run partnership for the fifth wicket before the latter got out.

However, Rawat continued in the able company of Suresh and the duo put together 90 runs for the sixth wicket.

Rajasthan's Vivek Yadav ended with bowling figures of six for 134.

In their second innings, Rajasthan got off to a poor start, losing the top order cheaply to be reduced to 20 for four in 11.4 overs before stumps were drawn at 21 for four.

Brief score: Rajasthan 1st innings: 521 for 8 decl.

Railways 1st innings: 525 for 8 decl (Mahesh Rawat 145, Yere Goud 70, M Suresh not out 61; Vivek Yadav 6/134).

Rajasthan 2nd innings: 21 for 4 (Arlen Konwar 2/5).

Trivedi 'tricks as Saurashtra overpower Punjab

Siddharth Trivedi grabbed a hat-trick as Saurashtra crushed Punjab by an innings and 144 runs to register their first Group A win in the Ranji Trophy Elite division here Mohali on Sunday.

Trivedi dismissed Karan Goel (10), Punjab captain Harbhajan Singh (0) and Manpreet Singh Gony (0) in succession as the hosts crumbled to 120 in 44.5 overs while following on.

Punjab had been bundled out for 278 in the first essay in reply to Saurashtra's mammoth 542.

Reduced to 43 for four overnight, Punjab lost wickets at regular intervals and never managed to build a match-saving partnership.

The fall of wickets started quite early when Mandeep Singh (1) was dismissed by Sandip Maniar, who had picked up three scalps on Saturday itself.

Maniar rounded off with overall figures of 4/47 from 18 overs.

An unbeaten 54-ball 41 from Amitoze Singh was the only highlight of the Punjab second innings.

He struck eight fours in his entertaining knock but just didn't find any support at the other end.

After Maniar had ripped through the top-order, Trivedi (3/34) and Jaydev Unadkat (2/27) cleaned up the lower-order to give Saurashtra a comfortable triumph.

Brief score: Saurashtra: 542.

Punjab: 278 and 120 all out in 44.5 overs (Amitoze Singh 41 not out; Sandip Maniar 4/47, Siddharth Trivedi 3/34).

UP eke out a draw after Parvinder's double

Parvinder Singh struck a double hundred and shared an unbroken 267-run fifth wicket stand with Arish Alam as Uttar Pradesh forced a draw against Orissa in their Ranji Trophy Elite (Group A) match in Sambalpur on Sunday.

Parvinder's 202 off 331 balls and Alam's unbeaten 118 off 222 deliveries ensured that Uttar Pradesh ended the fourth and final day at 590 for four in reply to Orissa's first innings tally of 482.

Parvinder's brilliant knock included 21 fours and a couple of sixes, while Alam contributed with 14 boundaries and one six.

The first innings lead gave Uttar Pradesh three points while Orissa got one.

Overnight 287 for three, Uttar Pradesh lost just one wicket on Sunday when Prashant Gupta departed one short of his half century. Basant Mohanty was the lucky Orissa bowler who celebrated a wicket when he trapped Gupta LBW.

Orissa's bowlers didn't have anything to show as Parvinder and Alam sent them on a leather hunt. Mohanty was the most successful of them, grabbing two wickets for 104 runs after toiling for 40 overs.

Brief score: Orissa: 482.

Uttar Pradesh: 590 for 4 in 194.5 overs (Parvinder Singh 202 not out, Arish Alam 118 not out; Basant Mohanty 2/104).

Karnataka take three points following draw vs Mumbai

Abhishek Nayar was left stranded on 191 as Karnataka dismissed Mumbai for 441 to take a huge 194-run first innings lead and earn three points from their drawn Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match played at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.

Resuming on 354 for eight Mumbai had to avoid the follow on but fell short of the target by 43 runs even as Nayar and Ankit Chavan (32) put up a fighting 86-run stand for the last wicket.

Left-handed batsman Nayar, who retired hurt on 137 on Saturday, had a marathon stay of 418 minutes at the crease on Sunday. In all he faced 302 balls and struck 24 fours and a six.

Nayar, who had made a double ton in Mumbai's previous match against Rajasthan at the same venue, missed out on another double century when Chavan was sent back by part-time bowler Ganesh Satish.

He had lost his ninth wicket partner, Onkar Gurav, in the third over of the morning before forging the defiant stand with Chavan.

However, with there being little chance of Karnataka bowling out Mumbai on a near-perfect batting track, the visitors did not enforce the follow on.

Karnataka then made 147 for three in their second essay before the match was called off as a draw.

Karnataka now have 12 points and are sitting atop the group while Mumbai, who got one point from the draw, took their tally to 10 from three ties.

Brief score: Karnataka 1st Innings: 635 for 9 decl

Mumbai 1st Innings: 441 all out in 117.5 overs (A Nayar not out 191, R Sharma 64; Vinay Kumar 4/104, Binny 3/27)

Karnataka 2nd innings: 147 in 51 overs (K B Pawan 57, G Satish 56; Chavan 2/71).

Maharashtra record outright win over Jharkhand

Maharashtra registered a comprehensive nine-wicket win over Jharkhand on the final day of their Ranji Plate group B match, in Nashik on Sunday.

Resuming play on Sunday at 218 for six, Jharkhand were all out for 282 in their second innings to set Maharashtra 106 to win.

Maharashtra overhauled the target in 21 overs and won the match before the tea interval.

Maharashtra's debutant Chirag Khurana was declared Man of the Match for his brilliant century (123) in the first innings.

Maharashtra now top of the group with 14 points and are set to enter into the elite group.

Brief score: Maharashtra: 460 and 106/1

Jharkhand: 283 and 282.