Mohammed Shami served another reminder to the Indian selectors with a five-wicket haul as Bengal beat Gujarat by 141 runs for their second straight win in the early part of their Ranji Trophy Group C campaign, in Kolkata, on Tuesday.
With 15 wickets in 68 overs across the first two games, Shami has given a good account of his form and fitness in the premier domestic competition thus far. He last played for India in the Champions Trophy but was not picked for the five Test tour of England.
With five wickets on day four of the game, Shami took his match tally to eight wickets. The player-of-the-match award went to left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed who took six wickets in the first innings to give Bengal a crucial first-innings lead over Gujarat.
Resuming their second innings at 170 for six, Bengal declared at 214 for eight to set Gujarat an improbable 327 run target.
Shami's exploits on the final day meant Gujarat were rolled over for 185 in the second innings.
Batting at three, Urvil Patel kept Gujarat's fight going with an unbeaten 109 off 124 but barring himself, Jaymeet Patel (45) and Aarya Desai (13), none of the batters could enter double digits.
In Ramnagar, Uttarakhand were all out for 398 after gaining the all-important first-innings lead over Railways, who made 333 in the first innings. In the second innings, Railways were 85 for one when players settled for a draw.
Brief scores:
In Kolkata: Bengal 279 all out and 214/8 decl (Sudip Kumar Gharami 54; Siddharth Desai 5/61) beat Gujarat 167 all out and 185 all out (Urvil Patel 109 not out; Mohammed Shami 5/38) by 141 runs. Points: Bengal 6; Gujarat 0.
In Ramnagar: Railways 333 all out and 85 for 1 drew with Uttarakhand 398 all out (Yuvraj Chaudhary 92, Bhupen Lalwani 78; Kunal Yadav 5/85). Points: Uttarakhand 3; Railways 1.
Maharashtra thrash Chandigarh
Seamers Mukesh Choudhary and Ramakrishna Shekhar Ghosh took four wickets each to power Maharashtra to a 144-run win over Chandigarh in a Group B match, in Chandigarh.
Set an imposing target of 464 after Prithvi Shaw's scintillating 222-run knock, Chandigarh ended third day's play at 129 for one. Eventually, they were all out for 319 in 94.1 overs on the final evening.
Chandigarh needed a couple of big knocks from their top batters but, with the exception of opener Arjun Azad, who slammed a fine 168 in 236 balls, none of their players could go on to make a big score.
Playing in only his second first-class match, this was the 24-year-old Azad's second successive century, after his 141 against Goa on debut.
Skipper Manan Vohra chipped in with 58 while U-19 World Cup winner Raj Bawa contributed 42, as the others failed to reach double-digit scores in their second innings.
Choudhary and Ghosh were the chief wicket-takers for Maharashtra in Chandigarh's second innings, returning figures of 4/34 from 19 overs and 4/71 from 20.1 overs.
While the bowlers did their job on the final day, a lot of credit for Maharashtra's victory must go to Shaw, whose third fastest double hundred in Ranji Trophy history gave his team enough runs on the board and also time to take all 10 wickets in Chandigarh's second innings.
Brief scores:
In Chandigarh: Maharashtra: 313 all out and 359/3 declared (Prithvi Shaw 222) beat Chandigarh: 209 all out and 319 all out (Arjun Azad 168; Mukesh Choudhary 4/34, Ramakrishna Shekhar Ghosh 4/71) by 144 runs. Points: Maharashtra 6; Chandigarh 0.
In Shivamogga: Karnataka: 371 all out (Karun Nair 174 not out, Shreyas Gopal 57; Arjun Tendulkar 3/100, Vasuki Koushik 3/35) drew with Goa 217 all out and 143/1 (Abhinav Tejrana not out 73, Manthan Khutkar not out 55). Points: Karnataka 3; Goa 1.
In Rajkot: Saurashtra: 260 all out drew with Madhya Pradesh: 355/9 in in 135 overs (Yash Dubey 159, Saransh Jain 103 batting; Jaidev Unadkat 4/33). Points: Madhya Pradesh 3; Saurashtra 1.
In Mullanpur: Punjab: 436 all out and 15/0 in 7 overs drew with Kerala: 371 all out (Ahammed Imran 86, Ankit Sharma 62, Baba Aparajith 51; Krish Bhagat 4/52). Points: Punjab 3; Kerala 1.
Nagaland hold TN to draw
Nagaland opener DegaNischal and Imliwati Lemtur probably played the innings of their life, guiding their team to a memorable draw against Tamil Nadu in a Group A match, in Bengaluru.
The Nagaland pair, however, could not stop the Sai Kishore-led Tamil Nadu from earning three vital points on the basis of first-innings lead, though the NorthEast side managed to thwart an innings defeat, which looked highly probable after upcoming left-am pacer Gurjapneet Singh had reduced them to 3/9 with a hat-trick on day two.
Tamil Nadu, thanks to a double century (201) from young left-hand batter Pradosh Ranjan Paul and 189 from opener Vimal Khumar, had scored a mammoth 512 for 3 declared in their first innings.
But Nagaland's Nischal (175) and Lemtur (146) batted unflinchingly for nearly two days to give a befitting reply to their opponents, scoring 446 all out in 157.4 overs.
UP-Odisha play out draw
In Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh earned three points by virtue of first-innings lead after the game against Odisha ended in a draw.
UP skipper Karan Sharma (121) and Aaradhya Yadav (101) scored centuries as the hosts made 409 for 6 declared in reply to Odisha's 243 all out in the first essay.
UP made an early declaration on the final day as they aimed for an outright win, but an unbeaten 71 by Odisha opener Swastik Samal put paid to the hosts hopes of victory. Odisha made 151/3 in 44 overs in their second essay.
Brief scores:
In Bengaluru: Tamil Nadu 512/3 decl drew with Nagaland 446 all out (Dega Nischal 175, Yugandhar Singh 67, Imliwati Lemtur 146; Gurjapneet Singh 4/75, DT Chandrasekar 3/69). Points: Tamil Nadu: 3; Nagaland 1.
In Vizianagaram: Baroda 363 all out (Vishnu Solanki 132; Atit Sheth 86, Mahesh Pithiya 54; Kavuri Saiteja 4/71, Tripurana Vijay 3/63) drew with Andhra 43 for 2 (Bhargav Bhatt 2/9). Points: Baroda 3; Andhra 1.
In Nagpur: Jharkhand 332 all out drew with Vidarbha 492 for 5 (Aman Mokhade 176, Dhruv Shorey 48, Ravikumar Samarth 63, ash Rathod 101 not out). Points: Vidarbha 3; Jharkhand 0.
In Kanpur: Odisha 243 all out & 151 for 3 (Swastik Samal 71 not out) drew with Uttar Pradesh 409 for 6 decl (Madhav Kaushik 67, Karan Sharma 121, Aaradhya Yadav 101 retd hurt; Sambit Baral 3/52). Points: Uttar Pradesh 3; Odisha 1.
Delhi settle for draw with HP
Delhi's insipid spin attack undid the good work of their batters as the hosts failed to secure full points against Himachal Pradesh, settling for a draw in their Group D fixture, in New Delhi.
Chasing 343, Himachal reached 168 for 2 in 46 overs when bad light forced an early end to proceedings. Earlier, Delhi declared their second innings at 209 for 4 after facing only nine deliveries in the morning session.
Skipper Ankush Bains (81 not out) and left-hander Pukhraj Mann (76 not out) added 160 runs and looked set to accelerate with around 175 required in 40 overs.
Brief scores:
In New Delhi: Delhi 430 all out and 209/4 decl (Yash Dhull 70, Ayush Doseja 64) drew with Himachal Pradesh 297 and 168/2 (Ankush Bains 81 no, Pukhraj Mann 76 no). Points: Delhi 3; Himachal Pradesh 1.
In Mumbai: Mumbai 416 all out; drew with Chhattisgarh 217 (Ayush Pandey 50, Shams Mulani 5/59) and (f/o) 201/3 (Ayush Pandey 117). Points: Mumbai 3; Chhattisgarh 1.
In Puducherry: Hyderabad 435 all out; Puducherry 126 (Tanay Thyagarajan 4/48) and (f/o) 97/5 (Tanay Thyagarajan 2/35). Points: Hyderabad 3; Puducherry 1.
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