Experienced campaigner Rajat Bhatia hit an unbeaten 158 and combined with lower-order batsmen to propel Delhi to a huge 442 all out against Odisha, who were trailing by 321 runs at the end of second day in their Ranji Trophy Group A match in Sambalpur.
Bhatia, who resumed at 71, not only recorded his 13th first class century but ensured that Delhi reach a commanding position by building partnerships with lower-order batsmen.
After early departure of his overnight partner Varun Sood (16), Bhatia joined hands with Sumit Narwal (40), raising a 65-run stand for the eighth wicket, and then rattled the opposition with his 92-run partnership with Ashish Nehra (40) for the ninth wicket.
Bhatia tormented the Odisha bowlers with 18 fours and two sixes in his 258-ball knock.
In reply, the hosts were 121 for three in with opener Natraj Behera (53) and skipper Biplab Samantray (27) at the crease.
The duo has already put on 51-run stand for the unfinished fourth-wicket stand after losing Bikas Pati (0), Niranjan Behera (5) cheaply.
Goving Poddar batted well for his 70-ball 34 before being caught behind off paceman Parvinder Awana.
Brief Scores:
Delhi 1st innings: 442 all out in 134.3 overs (Rajat Bhatia 158 not out; Mithun Manhas 92; Deepak Behera 3/107).
Odisha 1st innings: 121 for 3 in 42 overs(Natraj Behera 53 batting; Parvinder Awana 1/28).
Tiwary’s double ton puts Jharkhand in control
Mumbai: Jharkhand batsman Saurabh Tiwary compiled his maiden double ton, a swashbuckling 238, before the team's bowlers stifled Mumbai's batsmen only to loosen the grip on a rollercoaster second day two of their Group A Ranji Trophy match.
In reply to the visitors' first innings total of 351, Mumbai were pushed firmly on the back foot by the pace of Varun Aaron before Hiken Shah (46 batting) and Suryakumar Yadav (49 batting) came to their side's rescue with an unbroken 96-run stand for the sixth wicket.
The duo, who came together when the 40-time champions were tottering at 114 for five before tea, batted through the last session to guide Mumbai to 210 for 5, still 141 runs behind the visitors' score.
Aaron, in his seven-over first spell, used his extra pace to breach the defence of opener Sushant Marathe off the second ball and then struck an even bigger blow by dismissing in-form batsman Wasim Jaffer (1) to leave Mumbai gasping at 30 for 2.
Opener Aditya Tare made a breezy 67 off 120 balls before getting out while Siddesh Lad (16) and skipper Abhishek Nayar (19) could not convert their starts into bigger things. It was then left to Shah and Yadav to stem the rot.
In the morning, Tiwary, resuming at a career-high 175 in a team total of 262 for 8, continued his assault on the hapless Mumbai bowling attack by carting them for four more sixes and nine additional fours before being dismissed while going for another big hit off left arm spinner Vishal Dabholkar.
Tiwary added 63 runs today, 60 coming off sixes and fours, in just 81 balls before he got out at 334. He struck Akbar Khan for 22 runs in the opening over with a six and four fours.
Shiv Shankar Rao remained not out on 23. For Mumbai, Javed Khan and Dabholkar shared eight wickets equally.
Brief scores:
Jharkhand 351 (Saurabh Tiwary 238; J Khan 4 for 79, V Dabholkar 4 for 81)
Mumbai 210 for 5 (A Tare 67, H Shah batting 46, S Yadav batting 49; V Aaron 2 for 28, S Nadeem 2 for 64).
Haryana come back strongly against Karnataka
Rohtak: Pacer Harshal Patel snapped up a five-wicket haul as Haryana came back strongly to reduce Karnataka to 253 for nine on the second day of their Group A Ranji Trophy match.
Dismissed for 247 in the first innings on Friday, Haryana got back in contention with a fine bowling performance spearhead by Patel.
Overnight 18 for no loss, Karnataka made a solid start with Mayank Aggarwal (42) and Lokesh Rahul (98) putting together 96 runs for the opening wicket.
Aggarwal was the first to depart after facing 100 balls and striking six boundaries. Rahul, on the other hand, hit nine fours in his 239-ball stay before being bowled by Patel.
Skipper and wicketkeeper Chidhambram Gautam was the only other Karnataka batsman to make a noteworthy contribution with a 109-ball 54, including six fours.
The rest of the batsmen failed to complement the trio as Haryana managed to come back strongly in the match after their own batting failure.
Patel was not just among the wickets, he was also economical, conceding merely 55 runs in his 28 overs, 10 of them being maiden.
Brief Scores:
Haryana 1st Innings: 247
Karnataka 1st Innings: 253/9 in 92 overs (Lokesh Rahul 98, Chidhambram Gautam 54, Harshal Patel 5/55)
Jangid's hundred steers Vidarbha to 332/7
Chandigarh: Vidarbha piled on the agony on Punjab as Ravi Jangid's patient hundred guided the visitors to 332 for seven on the second day of their Group B Ranji Trophy match.
After bowling out Punjab for 184 yesterday, Vidarbha have now taken a considerable lead going into the third and penultimate day with three wickets in hand.
At stumps, wicketkeeper Urvesh Patel (32) and Amol Jungade (59) were holding fort for the visitors.
Opener Faiz Fazal (99) and Jangid (104) put together 203 runs for the third wicket which laid the foundation for Vidarbha from the Overnight 75/1.
For Punjab, Sandeep Sharma's 34-over toil yielded four wickets for him at the expense of 78 runs. Sharma sent down 10 maiden overs.
The day, however, belonged to Fazal and Jangid, who batted with patience to build Vidarbha's innings. Fazal faced 261 deliveries during his stay at the crease and struck 13 boundaries.
Jangid, on the other hand, smashed 14 fours in his 209-ball knock. While Fazal fell to Sharma, Jangid became one of the two victims of VRV Singh.
Their departure triggered a mini collapse before Patel and Jungade steered the visitors to safety. While Patel has so far struck two fours, Jungade has hit 11 boundaries.
Brief Scores:
Punjab 1st Innings: 184
Vidarbha 1st Innings: 332/7 in 120 overs (Ravi Jangid 104, Faiz Fazal 99, Amol Jungade 59 batting, Sandeep Sharma 4/78).
Dwivedi's ton gives UP big lead against Services
Ghaziabad: Wicketkeeper-batsman Eklavya Dwivedi stood out with a calculated century as Uttar Pradesh took a massive 205-run first-innings lead over Services in their Group B Ranji Trophy match.
At stumps on the second day, Services were 19 for no loss in their second innings, still 186 runs behind.
Dwivedi struck 131 off 195 balls, hitting nine fours and three sixes during his four-hour vigil at the Mohan Meakins Cricket Stadium. He was also involved in an invaluable stand of 106 runs for the eighth wicket with Amit Mishra (46), before the last-wicket pair of Imtiaz Ahmed (18 not out) and R
P Singh (13) added another 30 runs.
Having bundled out the visitors for 164 in their first innings, Uttar Pradesh started the day at overnight 86 for three with opener Digvijay Singh (36) and Parvinder Singh (9) in the middle.
Digvijay was dismissed after scoring 78 off 199 balls, an innings laced with seven hits to the fence. Mishra faced 77 balls and hit three fours.
Joining Dwivedi at the fall of Ali Murtuza's wicket at 224/7, Mishra played the perfect foil to the more established 25-year-old batsman and gradually almost batted Services of the match.
For Services, Nishan Singh, Shadab Nazar and Pratik Desai picked up three wickets each.
At the close of play, Services' Pratik Desai and Anshul Gupta were batting on 10 and nine respectively, and they will have a difficult task of erasing the deficit and then set the hosts a target.
Brief scores:
Services: 164 all out and 19 for no loss
Uttar Pradesh 1st innings: 369 all out (Dwivedi 131, Digvijay 78, Mishra 46; Nishan Singh 3/70, Shadab Nazar 3/85, Pratik Desai 3/51).
Rajasthan in driver's seat against MP
Gwalior: Robin Bist remained stranded on 84 but Rajasthan took a 161-run lead over Madhya Pradesh before dismissing two home batsmen to be in a good position in their Ranji Trophy Group B match.
Rajasthan scored 282 in their first innings as they lost eight wickets today for the addition of 167 runs at captain Roop Singh stadium.
Bisht remained unbeaten on 84 as the hosts put on a much better show by taking all eight Rajasthan wickets. Ishwar Pandey was the most successful bowler with a four-wicket haul.
MP then scored 121 for two in their second innings to reduce the deficit to 46 runs. Jalaj Saxena got out in the fag end of the day after scoring a brisk 65, which was studded with 13 boundaries. Saxena was caught by Vineet off pacer Pankaj Singh.
Apart from Saxena, the hosts lost Satyam Choudhary (18), who was caught by rival skipper Hrishikesh Kantikar off paceman Deepak Chahar.
Naman Ojha (32) and Anand Rajan (5) will resume MP innings.
Earlier, Rajasthan failed to capitalise a good start as they lost wickets at regular intervals.
Brief Scores:
Madhya Pradesh 115 and 121 for 2 in 31 overs.(Jalaj Saxena 65, Naman Ojha 32 batting; Pankaj Singh 1/36).
Rajasthan 1st innings: 282 all out in 79 overs.(Robin Bist 84 not out, Saiddharth Saraf 48; Ishawar Pandey 4/92)
Inexplicable slow batting by Bengal on day 2
New Delhi: Bengal batsmen played at snail's pace as they crawled to 65 for one in 45 overs in reply to Railway's first innings score of 306 in a Ranji Trophy Group B encounter.
Such was the pace of Bengal batting that they only managed 28 runs in 28 overs in the post tea session at Jamia Millia Islamia Sports complex.
The manner of batting forced Bengal coach Ashok Malhotra to say sarcastically, "I have told my boys that please don't let number of overs overtake runs! In any case our best batsman (Manoj Tiwary) is injured and I have retired."
Gitimoy Basu has had a nightmare of time having dropped two catches, ran an in-form Arindam Das (26) out refusing a sure third run. He then patted back half volleys to remain unbeaten on 27 off 134 balls.
Subhamoy Das fared no better as he got into a shell scoring only 8 off 75 balls. The duo added 26 runs in 23.3 overs. They need another 252 runs to get first innings lead.
Earlier, Bengal bowlers did a commendable job bowling out Railways for 306 in 125.2 overs. Bengal bowlers got six wickets for 96 runs in 35.2 overs on the day.
Shib Shankar Paul (3/47 in 30 overs) removed overnight batsman Arindam Ghosh with a beautiful in-cutter which the batsman shouldered arms. Ghosh scored 88 in 222 balls with 10 fours. With Rawat he added 61 runs for the fifth wicket.
Nagaland boy Jonathan Rongsen (33) was impressive as he added 44 runs with Rawat. Rawat (68) hit a lovely cover drive off left-arm spinner Iresh Saxena but the next ball saw him play a cut shot which Gitimoy managed to keep in his gloves.
Bengal skipper Laxmi Ratan Shukla then removed his opposite number Murali Kartik (7) by cleaning him up. Anureet Singh (17) and Krishna Kant Upadhayay (12) hit a few boundaries to take score past 300 run mark.
Anureet's off stump was knocked by Dinda while Saurashis Lahiri came back after lunch to dismiss both Jonathan and Upadhyay in space of nine balls.
Brief Scores:
Railways 1st innings: 306 in 125.2 overs (Arindam Ghosh 88, Mahesh Rawat 68, Nitin Bhille 65; SS Paul 3/47, Ashoke Dinda 3/95, S Lahiri 2/19).
Bengal 1st innings 65 for 1 in 45 overs (Gitimoy Basu 27 batting, Subhamoy Das 8 batting; Arindam Das 26).
Tripura on top against Hyderabad
Hyderabad: Skipper Yogesh Takawale struck a double hundred while two others notched up centuries to help Tripura raise a mammoth 588 for six on the second day of their Group C Ranji Trophy match against Hyderabad.
Overnight 285 for two, Tripura rode on Takawale's epic knock -- a 400-ball 212 -- apart from centuries by Manisankar Murasingh (150) and Abbas Ali (105) to put up the huge score in their first innings.
For Hyderabad, Ravi Kiran's 2/90 and Lalith Mohan's 2/156 were the only successes in a shambolic bowling performance.
Brief Scores:
Tripura 1st Innings: 588 for 6 in 180 overs (Yogesh Takawale 212, Manisankar Murasingh 150, Abbas Ali 105, Ravi Kiran 2/90).
Obaid, Bandeep fight hard for J&K
Pune: Jammu and Kashmir were battling to prevent an innings defeat after conceding a 321-run lead against Maharashtra on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Group C match.
Maharashtra, who resumed at 185 for two, declared their innings at 401 for nine, built around some splendid batting by Harshad Khadiwale (87), skipper Rohit Motwani (84) and Anupam Sanklecha (37).
Jammu and Kasmir pacers Mohammed Mudhasir (5/87) and Samiullah Beigh (4/126) shared nine wickets between them.
After being all out for 85 in first essay, Jammu and Kashmir put up a much better show by reaching 131 for one at stumps. They are still trailing by 185 runs.
Adil Rishi (26), who was caught by paceman Shrikant Mundhe off his own bowling, was the only wicket to fall.
Obaid Haroon (54) and Bandeep Singh (42) were fighting hard for the visitors, having added 84 runs in their second-wicket partnership.
Brief Scores:
Jammu & Kashmir: 85 and 131 for 1 in 36 overs.
Maharashtra 1st innings: 401 for 9 declared (Harshad Khadiwale (87), Rohit Motwani (84); Mohammed Mudhasir 5/87, Samiullah Beigh 4/126).
Image: Rajat Bhatia
Photograph: BCCI
