Ranji round-up: Saurashtra in control against Mumbai

A wrap-up of the second day action of the Ranji Trophy Elite division matches across the country on Wednesday.

Saurashtra in complete control against Mumbai

Saurashtra piled up a huge 580 for nine declared in their first innings before reducing Mumbai to 19 for two to gain an upper hand on the second day of their Group A match in Rajkot.

Riding on a solid batting effort, that includes opener Bhushan Chauhan's career-best 157, Saurashtra added another 336 runs to their overnight score of 244 for two to post a mammoth first innings total. 

In reply, Mumbai lost opener Sushant Marathe (0) and one down batsman Abhishek Nayar (6) early to find themselves in deep trouble at stumps. Kaustubh Pawar was unbeaten at the crease on eight. 

Left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat and Sandip Maniar shared two Mumbai wickets between them, giving away 13 and four runs, respectively.     

Brief Scores:
Saurashtra 1st innings (Overnight 244 for 2): 580 for nine decl in 170 overs (Bhushan Chauhan 157, Jaydev Shah 78, Shitanshu Kotak 59; Romesh Powar 4-176, Zaheer Khan 3-82).
Mumbai 1st innings: 19 for two in 5.4 overs (Kaustubh Pawar batting 8; Sandip Maniar 1-4).

Orissa trail Karnataka by 67 runs

Stuart Binny led a disciplined Karnataka bowling attack to reduce Orissa to 211 for seven in reply to the visitors' 278 all out on the second day of their Group A match in Bhubaneswar.

Binny took three for 44 while his pace team-mates Santhebennur Akshay and Sreenath Aravind chipped in with two and one wicket respectively. Left-arm spinner K P Appanna also accounted for one Orissa batsmen. 

At stumps, Orissa still trail Karnataka by 67 runs in the first innings with three wickets in hand. Govind Podder was batting on 34 and giving him company was Basant Mohanty, who is yet to open his account. 

Orissa were in dire straits in the beginning of their reply as they were reduced to 63 for four before Biplab Samantray resurrected their innings with a well-made 65 which came from 127 balls with the help of 10 fours and a six. Opener Subhrajit Sahoo and Abhilash Mallick contributed 37 apiece to give the Orissa innings some sort of respectability.

Earlier, Karnataka were bowled out for 278 in their first innings after resuming the day on 238 for six. 

Brief Scores:
Karnataka 1st Innings: 278 all out in 101.1 overs (CM Gautam 63; Biplab Samantray 3-22, Basant Mohanty 3-54). 
Orissa 1st Innings: 211 for 7 in 76 overs (Basant Samantray 65; Stuart Binny 3-44). 

Manhas leads Delhi from the front

Delhi captain Mithun Manhas led from the front with a knock of 97 on a dodgy track as Delhi took an overall lead of 240 against Madhya Pradesh, in an Elite Group B match at the Enerald Heights High School ground in Indore.

The encounter that is turning out to be a low-scoring affair saw the visitors take a slender two-run first innings lead as they bowled out Madhya Pradesh for 156 in only 37.1 overs. Ashish Nehra (3-72) and Parvinder Awana (3-51) got three of the four wickets that fell today while one batsman was run-out.

With more than two days to go, Delhi batsmen had to show a lot of resolve and application. Skipper Manhas brought on  all his experience of having wriggled Delhi out of the dumps on a numerous occasions during his 13 years at the first class level. 

Brief Scores:
Delhi 158 & 238-7 (Mithun Manhas 97, Yogesh Nagar 35 batting, TP Sudhindra 3-35). 
MP 156 (Naman Ojha 39, Jalaj Saxena 31, Ashish Nehra 3-72, Parvinder Awana 3-51).

Vohra, Bhaja help strong comeback for Baroda

A brilliant spell of seam bowling by Sankalp Vohra and Firdaush Bhaja helped Baroda bundle out Gujarat for 169 before the hosts ended the second day of their Group B match with an overall lead of 43 runs in Vadodara.

Gujarat, in their response to Baroda's 203 all out in the first innings, were put on the back-foot with Bhaja removing Avi Barot and skipper Neeraj Patel to leave the visitors at 29 for two. 

Earlier, resuming at their overnight 192 for seven, Baroda just managed to add another 11 runs to the total with Ishwar Chaudhary returning with a rich haul of five wickets. Baroda in their second essay were nine without loss when the stumps were drawn on the second day of the match. 

Brief scores: 
Baroda 1st inning: 203 all out (Rakesh Solanki 69; Ishwar Chaudhary 5-69) and 9 for no loss in seven overs.
Gujarat 1st inning: 169 all out (Pratharesh Parmar not out 45; Sankalp Vohra 4-24, Firdaush Bhaja 3-72).

Bangar, Upadhyay demolish UP as Railways eye innings victory

Railways skipper Sanjay Bangar and rookie seamer Krishna Kant Upadhyay's controlled swing bowling saw a much vaunted Uttar Pradesh being shot out for 79 at the Mohan Meakins ground in Ghaziabad.

The Railways scored a decent 374 in their first innings and then skittled out their opponents in only 40.4 overs to ensure a huge 295-run first innings lead and enforcing the follow-on. Bangar (5-20) and Upadhyay (4-37) bowled a fantastic line and also swung the ball to make life difficult for the UP batsmen. 

The home team were 18 for one in their second innings requiring 277 runs to avoid an innings defeat. 

Brief Scores:
Railways 374 (Nitin Bille 123, Shivakant Shukla 98, KK Upadhyay 31, RP Singh 3/78, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar 3-76)
UP 79 (Sanjay Bangar 5-20, KK Upadhyay 4-37) & fo 18-1 (Upadhyay 1-4).

Punjab post 597 for 8 decl against Rajasthan 

Karan Goel made a career-best 167 while Mayank Sidhana and Amitoze Singh too struck fluent centuries to help Punjab declare their first innings on 597 for eight against Rajasthan in Jaipur. 

In reply, Rajasthan were 50 for one at the close of play with Aakash Chopra (18) and skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar (20) remaining unbeaten. 

Vineet Saxena (6) was the lone Rajasthan batsman to fall, caught behind by Uday Kaul off Manpreet Gony (1-22).      

Earlier, resuming at 283 for three, Goel and Sidhana (122) looked at ease against the Rajasthan bowlers before their 108-run fourth-wicket stand was broken by Vineet Saxena, who had Goel caught by Chopra. Goel struck 21 fours and a six in his 378-ball stay at the crease. 

Brief Scores:
Punjab first innings: 597 for 8 decl (Karan Goel 167, Ravi Inder Singh 133, Mayank Sidhana 122, Amitoze Singh 103; Vivek Yadav 3-172, Sumit Mathur 2-114).
Rajasthan first innings: 50 for one in 16 overs (Hrishikesh Kanitkar 20 batting, Aakash Chopra 18 batting; Manpreet Gony 1-22).

Vasudevadas century helps Tamil Nadu score 391 against Bengal

Taking full advantage of poor fielding by Bengal, Kuthethurshri Vasudevada hit a century to help Tamil Nadu post a challenging 391 in their first innings of their Group B match in Kolkata.

Bengal still need 307 runs with Shreevats Goswami batting on 33 and Writam Porel on 4 at the stumps on day two.

Earlier, resuming at an overnight score of 261 for 5 with Vasudevadas batting on 69 and Ramaswamy Prasanna on 53, Tamil Nadu went on to add more than hundred runs to the total as the wagging tail gave a listless Bengal attack a tough time.

Lying at the bottom of the table with five points from three matches, two-time champions Bengal are desperate to come out of the relegation zone. Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, are at fourth spot.

Bengal were relegated to Plate in the 2007-08 season.

Brief scores:
TN 1st innings: 391 all out in 129 overs (Kuthethurshri Vasudevadas 106, Ramaswamy Prasanna 67; Lakshmipathy Balaji not out 49; Ashok Dinda 4-87, Shami Ahmed 3-81).
Bengal 1st innings: 84 for two in 35 overs (Shreevats Goswami batting 33; R Aushik Srinivas 1-15).