Rajasthan's Mahipal Lomror put the IPL franchises on alert ahead of the mega auction with a sensational triple hundred comprising a staggering 13 sixes and 25 fours in their Ranji Trophy Group B match against Uttarakhand here on Thursday.
The 24-year-old all-rounder, who has in the past represented Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Rajasthan Royals, reached his triple ton in just 357 balls while maintaining an excellent strike rate of 83.33 through his innings, something that will certainly encourage the IPL franchises gearing up for the November 24-25 auction in Jeddah.
Resuming the day on 141, Lomror, who can also bowl left-arm spin, raced to his double century in just 253 balls while smashing 18 fours and eight sixes.
Thanks to his big knock, Rajasthan posted an imposing first-innings total of 660 for seven declared before reducing Uttarakhand to 109 for two at stumps on the second day of the elite group game.
The visitors declared their first innings immediately after Lomror got to his triple hundred.
During the course of his monumental effort, Lomror shared a partnership of 177 runs for the fifth wicket with Kartik Sharma (113) who got out in the day's first over without adding anything to his overnight total.
Then, Lomror was associated in a sixth-wicket stand of 116 runs with keeper Bharat Sharma, who contributed 54 in 75 balls. After Bharat's departure, Lomror found another able ally in Deepak Chahar, who chipped in with a brisk 38-ball 35.
Uttarakhand's agony did not end there as Lomror then stitched another unbeaten partnership of 118 runs for the eighth wicket with Kukna Ajay Singh, who made 40 in 97 balls while helping his colleague get to the coveted landmark.
The former RCB player has been in good form this domestic season as he struck a century in his team's previous match against Hyderabad.
Arriving at the wicket at the fall of first wicket, Lomror was associated in multiple partnerships on the first two days of this game to help the team post a commanding total.
Lomror has so far scored 527 runs in 40 IPL games, including 125 runs in the last edition for RCB, who released him ahead of the mega auction.
Prior to this match, Lomror had seven centuries and 16 fifties in first-class cricket.
Uttarakhand skipper Ravikumar Samarth and Swapnil Singh were batting on 50 and 17, respectively, when the stumps were drawn for the day as the home team trailed Rajasthan by 551 runs.
Brief scores:
In Dehradun: Rajasthan 1st innings 660/7 declared in 145.4 overs (Mahipal Lomror not out 300, Kartik Sharma 113, Bharat Sharma 54) vs Uttarakhand 1st innings 109/2 in 20.3 overs (Ravikumar Samarth batting 50).
In Nagpur: Gujarat 1st innings 343 all out in 105.3 overs (Vishal Jayswal 112, Priyank Panchal 88, Chintan Gaja 86; Praful Hinge 3/74, Aditya Thakare 3/63, Nachiket Bhute 3/66) vs Vidarbha 1st innings 202/2 in 65 overs (Karun Nair batting 81, Danish Malewar batting 76).
In Dharamsala: Puducherry 85 and 59/1 in 11 overs vs Himachal Pradesh 1st innings 436/9 declared in 112 overs (Ankit Kalsi 105, Rishi Dhawan 70, Shubham Arora 58; Gaurav Yadav 5/133).
In Hyderabad: Hyderabad 1st innings 301 all out in 105.4 overs (Tanmay Agarwal 159; Tripurana Vijay 5/118) vs Andhra 1st innings 168/2 in 58 overs (Shaik Rasheed batting 79, Karan Shinde batting 41).
Anshul Kamboj shines for Kerala with record 8/48
Haryana seamer Anshul Kamboj produced a devastating spell to take all eight wickets as Kerala collapsed to 285/8 in Rohtak.
The 23-year-old from Karnal, who had picked up two wickets on the opening day, continued his spectacular run, removing overnight batters Akshay Chandran (59) and Sachin Baby (52) after they resumed at 138/2.
Jalal Sexena became Kamboj's next victim but Mohammed Azarudden provided some resistance with a knock of 53 while adding 74 runs with Sachin Baby.
But Kamboj returned to get rid of both the batters along with MD Nidheesh before bad light forced an early end to the day's play with Shoun Roger (37) and Basil Thampi (4) at the crease.
Brief Scores:
In Indore: Bengal 228 and 170-5 in 48 overs (Sudip Gharami 40, Sudip Chatterjee 40; Anubhav Agarwal 3/49) vs Madhya Pradesh 167 allout in 59 overs (Mohammed Shami 4/54, S Senapati 47).
In Rohtak: Kerala 285/8 in 110 overs (Akshay Chandran (59), Sachin Baby 52; Anshul Kamboj 8/48) vs Haryana.
In Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh 89 & 78 for 1 in 26 overs (Aryan Juyal 35, Vidyadhar Patil 1/25) vs Karnataka 276 allout in 79.5 overs (Krishnan Shrijith 110, Yashovardhan Parantap 55; Aaqib Khan 3/53, Shivam Mavi 3/96).
In Mohali: Bihar 135; 56.2 overs (Ayush Loharuka 63; Sukhdeep Singh Bajwa vs Punjab 262 for 8 in 75 overs (Salil Arora 64; Sakib Hussain 3/92) lead by 127 runs.
Kushagra top-scores for Jharkhand
Promising wicketkeeper-batter Kumar Kushagra struck a breezy unbeaten 133 to steer Jharkhand to 356 for 9 on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Group D match against Delhi here on Thursday.
The 20-year-old Kushagra, who was bought by Delhi Capitals for Rs 7.2 crores but released early this month after playing just four matches in 2024 IPL, hit 14 boundaries and five sixes during his strokeful 166-ball unbeaten innings.
Courtesy Kushagra's aggressive ton, Jharkhand added 220 runs for the loss of six wickets from 70 overs played on Day 2 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. The visitors had begun the day at 136 for 3.
Sharandeep Singh added just two runs to his overnight 64 to be the first Jharkhand batter to get out.
Coming out to bat at the fall of Sharandeep, Kushagra stitched 93 runs for the fifth wicket with captain Virat Singh (56 off 125 balls) to swell the visiting side's total. He then shared another 59 runs with Manishi (14) for the eighth wicket to eventually take Jharkhand past the 350-run mark.
With just two days left in the match, Jharkhand have placed themselves in a strong position in the match.
For Delhi, Simarjeet Singh, Money Grewal and Sumit Mathur have so far taken two wickets apiece, while Siddhant Sharma and Ayush Badoni got a wicket each.
On Day 1 on Wednesday, Sharandeep scored a dogged half-century as Jharkhand batters were painstakingly slow in their approach.
They improved their run rate a bit on Thursday -- above three per over.
Having lost to Chattisgarh in the last game, Delhi, in their final home game of the season, made wholesale changes under new skipper Ayush Badoni.
Brief Scores:
In Delhi: Jharkhand 1st Innings 356 for 9 in 125 overs (Sharandeep Singh 64, Kumar Kushagra 133 not out; Simarjeet Singh 2/43, Money Grewal 2/65, Sumit Mathur 2/52) vs Delhi.
In Ahmedabad: Railways 229 vs Tamil Nadu 324 for 6 in 93 overs (M Shahrukh Khan 86, Narayan Jagadeesan 56, C Andre Siddarth 78; Shivam Chaudhary 2/51, Kunal Yadav 2/92).
In Chandigarh: Saurashtra 531 for 9 declared in 138 overs (Harvik Desai 99, Chirag Jani 198, Sheldon Jackson 69, Arpit Vasavada 58, Prerak Mankad 53; Nishunk Birla 4/160, Vishu Kashyap 3/117) vs Chandigarh 78 for 5 in 23 overs (Arslan Khan 42; Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 2/17).
In Raipur: Assam 289 all out in 95.2 overs (Denish Das 104, Sumit Ghadigaonkar 61; Ravi Kiran 5/59, Ashish Chouhan 3/71) vs Chattisgarh 214 for 4 in 72 overs (Aayush Pandey 108 not out, Rahul Singh 2/46).
