After Jaffer, Tare hits hundred to hoist Mumbai

Wicketkeeper Aditya Tare blazed his way to a hundred as defending champions Mumbai took control of their Group ‘A’ Ranji Trophy match against minnows Vidarbha, at the Wankhede stadium, in Mumbai, on Friday.

The hosts, after being restricted to a modest first innings total of 261, bundled out their Maharashtra state opponents for a paltry 113 in just 41.3 overs and then rattled up 179 for 1 in the second essay to hold a commanding lead of 327 overall at the end of Day 2.

Tare, who opened instead of first innings centurion Wasim Jaffer, was unbeaten on 110, which included two sixes off South Africa-bound pacer Umesh Yadav, the second of which helped him complete a hundred.

He ended the day with 13 fours and three sixes, while facing 114 balls.

Ajinkya Rahane, who is also in India’s team for the South Africa tour, made up for his first innings failure by remaining unconquered on 62.

The two batsmen added 133 runs in just 26 overs to demoralise the Vidarbha attack, which sorely missed their best bowler Sandeep Singh, who limped off the field after suffering a foot injury when trying to stop the ball.

In the morning, Vidarbha wrapped up Mumbai’s first innings quickly after the hosts resumed at the overnight score of 254 for 8. Jaffer was last out for 139, after adding six runs.

Vidarbha replied in sorry fashion and were tottering at 72 for 8 against the hosts' three-pronged pace attack of Zaheer Khan, Shardul Thakur and Akbar Khan, who shared seven wickets before recovering to get past the 100 mark.

Barring opener Faiz Fazal (22) and Rashmi Ranjan Parida (34 not out), the rest were packed off in a jiffy with Zaheer, also included in the squad for the two-Test series in South Africa, bagging the wickets of Shalabh Srivastava and Hemang Badani in the same over to finish with two for 30.

Akbar Khan got two for 28 in his debut while Thakur secured three for 40. The other three wickets fell to Abhishek Nayar, Akshay Dabholkar and part-timer Kaustubh Pawar.

Brief scores:

Mumbai: 261 (W Jaffer 139; Sandeep Singh 4 for 35, Ravi Jangid 3 for 48) and 179 for 1 (A Tare 110 not out, A Rahane 62 not out).

Vidarbha: 113 (R R Parida 34 not out; S Thakur 3-40, Zaheer 2-30, Akbar Khan 2-28). 

Pathan slams ton as Baroda press for win over MP

Vadodara: Out-of-favour India all-rounder Yusuf Pathan slammed a counter-attacking 101-ball 104 as Baroda closed in on victory over Madhya Pradesh in a Group B Ranji Trophy match dominated by bowlers, who have already taken 35 wickets in just two days.

Pathan tore apart the MP bowling attack, smashing six fours and five sixes during his 154-minute stay at the crease, even as the others fell cheaply.

The right-hand batsman was unbeaten as Baroda's second innings came to an end on 244.

Set a stiff target of over 300 runs on a difficult pitch, at stumps on the second day, the visitors were struggling at 58 for 5, still needing another 279 runs for an unlikely win at the Moti Bagh Stadium.

Rameez Khan (15) and Shubham Sharma, yet to open his account, were at the crease.

Earlier, a day after a frenetic first day's play that saw 20 wickets fall, Pathan, in the company of the tail-enders, scored useful runs to put his team in the driving seat.

He added 72 runs for the 10th wicket with Munaf Patel (17) and 43 for the ninth wicket with Bhargav Bhatt (19) to prop the hosts.

After picking six wickets in the first innings, Madhya Pradesh opener-cum-off-break bowler Jalaj Saxena picked seven on Friday for his best innings and match figures in first-class cricket.

Brief scores:

Baroda: 152 and 244 (Yusuf Pathan not out 104; Jalaj Saxena 7-82)

Madhya Pradesh: 60 and 58-5 (Bhargav Bhatt 3-25).

Amit Mishra bags seven as UP skittle out Rajasthan for 185

Jaipur: Pacer Amit Mishra snared seven wickets as Uttar Pradesh bundled out Rajasthan for 185 before being precariously placed at 46 for 2 in their second innings on a rollercoaster second day of the Group ‘B’ Ranji Trophy match.

Rajasthan, who had lost a wicket without a run on the board overnight, collapsed miserably in response to UP's first innings total of 226.

The 22-year-old Mishra was the star of the show for the visitors with seven wickets off 22 overs, which cost merely 59 runs.

Siddharth Saraf was the lone Rajasthan batsman to battle it out with a 191-ball 56, which included 10 hits to the fence.

Skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar (38) and Ramesh Powar (32) were the only other batsmen to make noteworthy contributions.

In response, UP did not start too well as openers Mukul Dagar (14) and Tanmay Srivastava (10) departed early.

Skipper Mohammed Kaif (4) and Prashant Gupta (15) were unbeaten when stumps were drawn for the day.

For Rajasthan, Pankaj Singh and Deepak Chahar picked a wicket each.

Brief scores:

Rajasthan: 185

Uttar Pradesh: 46-2 in 12 overs and 226.

Bengal amass 431 after Lahiri’s hundred

New Delhi: All-rounder Sourashis Lahiri registered his second first-class century as Bengal scored a healthy 431 in their first innings against Services in the Ranji Trophy Group ‘B’ match at the Air Force ground in Palam.

Lahiri's well-made 108 off 212 balls and overnight centurion Arindam Das's 164 helped Bengal amass 431 in 166.2 overs.

For the Services, off-spinner T Koteshwar Rao claimed four wickets for 123 in 49 overs.

Left-arm spinner Rahul Kanojia bowled 39.2 overs and took 2 for 91.

At stumps, Services were 39 for no loss in 11 overs, Pratik Desai batting on 24 and Anshul Gupta undefeated on 15.

Services need another 393 runs in 180 overs to get three points from this match.

"This is a better effort than my previous century against Saurashtra at Rajkot. There I had Manoj Tiwary as my partner but here it was a big responsibility of putting up a decent total on board," Lahiri said after the end of the day's play.

Asked about how difficult it was for the bowlers, the offie said, "It is pretty difficult to get a batsman out on this track. It is indeed a hard work for bowlers. As far as my assessment is concerned, a total of 431 is good enough if we bowl well on this low and slow track.

"I don't think another 50 runs would have made a difference. If we can't defend 431, we might not defend 500 just like it happened against Assam a few seasons back," Lahiri concluded.

Brief scores:

Bengal: 431 in 166.2 overs (Arindam Das 164, Sourashish Lahiri 108, Rohan Banerjee 42, T Koteshwar Rao 4-123).

Services: 39-0 (Pratik Desai batting 24, Anshul Gupta batting 15).

Tamil Nadu in strong position after Mukund's double ton

Chennai: Abhinav Mukund notched a monumental double century while Dinesh Karthik struck a hundred as Tamil Nadu declared after piling up a mammoth 565-8 in their Group ‘B’ Ranji match against Saurashtra.

At stumps on the second day, at the MA Chidambaram stadium, Saurashtra, in reply to the hosts' massive first-innings total, were struggling at 12 for 1.

Resuming on overnight 103, the 23-year-old Mukund went on to score 240 after facing 437 balls. He found the fence 20 times and cleared it once.

Karthik scored 133 off 192 balls, hitting 14 boundaries and a six.

After Tamil Nadu resumed at the overnight score of 268-2, Mukund and Karthik shared 240 runs for the fourth wicket to pile on Saurashtra’s agony.

Overnight batsman Baba Aparajith was out immediately after reaching his half-century, to seamer Jaydev Unadkat, who finished with figures of four for 99 in 31.4 overs.

Mukund was bowled by Kamlesh Makvana after his monumental effort while skipper Karthik was one of Unadkat's four victims.

When stumps were drawn for the day, Bhushan Chauhan (3) and India player Cheteshwar Pujara (8) were at the crease for Saurashtra, who lost opener Sagar Jogiyani early.

Brief scores:

Tamil Nadu: 565 for 8 decl in 158.2 overs (Mukund 240, Karthik 133; Unadkat 4-99)

Saurashtra: 8 for no loss.

Parthiv Patel rallies Gujarat against Jharkhand

Jamshedpur: Skipper Parthiv Patel’s unbeaten 75 and his 145-run third wicket partnership with Samit Gohil enabled Gujarat score 168 for 2 in reply to Jharkhand's modest first innings score of 289.

At stumps, Gohil was batting on 66, with the help of 10 boundaries, while Patel was on 75, studded with eight fours.

Earlier, resuming at overnight score of 194 for 5, host Jharkhand suffered an early jolt as they lost Pappu Singh for a duck in the third over of the day.

Jharkhand captain Shahbaz Nadeem, who joined overnight batsman Saurabh Tiwary, played a swashbuckling 24-ball 34, which was studded with seven hits to ropes, before he returned a simple catch to medium pacer Jasprit Bumrah, whi took it on his follow-through.

Tiwary followed soon, at the total score of 244, dismissed for 91 off 239 balls, inclusive of seven fours and a six.

Sunny Gupta chipped in with 26 runs that included two fours while Rahul Shukla remained unbeaten on 16. Syed Quadri contributed eight runs.

For Gujarat, Bumrah emerged the leading wicket-taker, scalping five for 79 runs, followed by spinner Akshar Patel, who bagged two for 58.

In reply, Gujarat started off on a disastrous note as left-arm spinner Nadeem struck the first blow, having opener Priyank Panchal (5) caught at slip off Rameez Nimat in the sixth over.

Bhargav Patel, who stepped in following Panchal's dismissal, opened on confident note but too returned cheaply as he was run-out off an accurate throw from Rahul Shukla.

With Gujarat’s total was reading 23 for 2 in ten overs, skipper Patel joined Gohil and together they stitched an unbeaten partnership of 145 runs.

While Gohil faced 184 balls and hit ten boundaries for a score of 66 at sumps.

Patel's unbeaten 75 included eight fours off 126 deliveries.

Brief scores:

Jharkhand: 289 in 120.5 overs (Saurabh Tiwary 91, Jasprit Bumrah 5-79)

Gujarat: 168-2 in 57 overs (Parthiv Patel batting 75, Samit Gohil batting 66).

Punjab take slender lead over Haryana

Lahli: Punjab got a slender first innings lead of 21 runs and then reduced Haryana to 117 for 5 in the second innings in the fifth round Ranji Trophy at the Bansi Lal Stadium.

Haryana now have an overall lead of 96 runs with five wickets in hand.

Starting the day 50 for 3, Punjab scored 184 in their first innings largely due to an 86-run partnership for the seventh-wicket between Gurkeerat Singh (51, 48 balls, 8x4) and Mayank Sidhana (43, 91 balls, 7x4).

The duo came together when Punjab were tottering at 88 for 6 with Harshal Patel (4-60) and left-arm seamer Sanjay Badhwar (4-46) running through the top-order.

While Gurkeerat went after the bowlers, Sidhana held one end up as they crossed Haryana's first innings score of 163.

However, they lost the last four wickets for only 10 runs and lead was restricted to only 21.

In the second innings, Punjab medium pacer Sandeep Sharma (3-26) again rocked the Haryana top-order as they were reduced to 86 for 5 before Sachin Rana (batting 21) and Amit Mishra (batting 13) added 31 runs for the unbroken sixth wicket stand.

Meanwhile, Harbhajan Singh, who sustained a shoulder injury in Punjab's previous match against Gujarat will be out of action for 14 days.

Brief scores:

Haryana: 163 & 117-5 (Avi Barot 31, Sachin Rana 25 batting, Sandeep Sharma 3-26).

Punjab: 184 (Gurkeerat Singh 51, Mayank Sidhana 43, Harshal Patel 4-46, Sanjay Badhwar 4-46). 

Image: Aditya Tare

Photograph: Bikash Mohapatra