Here is the roundup of all the first round action from Day 2 of Ranji Trophy matches.
New Delhi: Gautam Gambhir started his new season in the right earnest with a patient century as Delhi made a pedestrian Assam attack toil by reaching 269/4 at stumps on the second day of the Ranji Trophy group A encounter.
Courtesy Gambhir's 40th first class hundred (136 batting, 245 balls) and his 207-run third-wicket stand with another centurion Nitish Rana (110, 158 balls), Delhi are in the driver's seat with an aim to log home full points.
File image of Gautam Gambhir. AFP
This was after Assam were all out for 258, starting the day at 224 for 7 with skipper Ishant Sharma returning with best figures of 5 for 38 in 20 overs.
When Delhi started batting, it was yet another failure for Unmukt Chand (6), who was trapped leg before by right-arm medium pacer Krishna Das.
Dhruv Shorey's (1) stumps went for a walk off an Abu Nechim delivery.
However, Gambhir looked assured from the word go as he played some flowing off and cover drives. In all, he hit 21 boundaries.
When spinners were brought in, he showed his mastery with nimble footwork reaching to the pitch of the deliveries whenever Rahul Singh and Sarupam Purkayastha dropped short.
Young left-hander Rana, who had also hit a hundred against Assam last year, hit more boundaries square of the wicket.
His cut shots packed a real punch as he repeatedly pierced the off-side cordon.
Gambhir reached his hundred with two lofted boundaries off left-arm spinner Rahul Singh.
There was no celebration from the veteran southpaw, who was a picture of concentration. The best shot was a copybook straight drive off Krishna's bowling.
Rana reached 99 with a sweep shot and then completed his hundred off 150 balls with a single. He hit 18 boundaries before edging one off Abu Nechim's delivery.
Brief Scores: Assam 258 all out in 95 overs (Sarupam Purakayastha 66, Gokul Sharma 51, Ishant Sharma 5/38)
Delhi 269/4 (Gautam Gambhir 136 no, Nitish Rana 110, Abu Nechim Ahmed 3/39).
Railways vs Uttar Pradesh:
Railways 1st Innings: 182 all out.
Uttar Pradesh 1st Innings: 250 all out (A Nath 75, RK Singh 42, A Singh 3/42).
Railways 2nd innings: 27/3 in 14 overs.
Saurashtra on verge of big win over Haryana
Rohtak: Saurashtra seamers Shaurya Sanandia, Jaydev Unadkat and Kushang Patel shared 14 wickets among them across two innings to put their side on the verge of a comprehensive victory over Haryana on the second day of their Group B Ranji Trophy match.
Saurashtra resumed their first innings at 271 for 7 but could only add seven runs to their overnight total with Ashish Hooda (6/61) cleaning up the tail.
Haryana's joy was, however, shortlived as Unadkat (3/35), Sanandia (4/44) and Patel (3/21) ran through their batting order to bowl them out for 107 in their first innings.
Saurashtra skipper Cheteshwar Pujara decided to enforce the follow-on and Haryana were reduced to 93 for 6 at stumps, still 78 short of making Saurashtra bat again at the Ch Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium.
Chaitanya Bishnoi was batting on 53 at the draw of stumps.
Kerala vs Jharkhand: Jharkhand 202 (Ishan Kishan 45; Jalaj Saxena 6/50) trail Kerala 250/8 (Mohammed Azharuddeen 51, Jalaj Saxena 47 batting; Sunny Gupta 6/94) by 48 runs.
Sumath, Hebbar hand Andhra vital lead against Tamil Nadu
Chennai: Andhra Pradesh a crucial lead on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Group "C" encounter against Tamil Nadu at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Their knocks helped Andhra wrest the initiative against the star-studded hosts after having been 64 for 5 at one point to end the day at 231 for 7, a lead of 55.
Tamil Nadu had been dismissed for 176 in the first innings on Friday.
Resuming at the overnight score of eight without loss, the visiting side was in trouble almost immediately as opener DB Prashanth Kumar fell to L Vignesh.
Vignesh got one to move away from the batsman Prashanth to have him caught at second slip by B Indrajith.
Skipper Hanuma Vihari was the next to depart, falling to a catch by BN Aparajith at gully off the bowling of L Vignesh for 3.
K S Bharat and Ricky Bhui began the rescue act but after adding 28 runs before the latter was dismissed by the other Vignesh.
The experienced Y Venugopala Rao didn't last too long as he was caught by Rahil Shah off R Ashwin's bowling for just three.
When Ashwin had Bharat stumped by N Jagadeesan for 32, Andhra looked in trouble at 64 for 5.
The TN bowlers had done very well till that point and fielders had played their part too, taking the catches came their way.
Then came a vital moment in the game as M S Washington Sundar dropped Ashwin Hebbar (on 13) off Ashwin's bowling at deep mid-wicket.
The 21-year-old batsman made the most of the life he got and scored runs in an attractive manner.
From 95 for 5 at lunch, Sumanth, who showed great resolve to defy the bowling, took the fight to Tamil Nadu in Hebbar's company.
Sumanth didn't resume his knock after the tea interval owing to a hand injury, but Hebbar kept the scoreboard moving.
Shoaib Mohammed Khan provided valuable support and they took the total to 182 before Hebbar's knock ended.
He was dismissed by K Vignesh for 64.
Bhargav Bhatt, the team's bowling hero yesterday, was caught behind off Washington Sundar's bowling.
Sumanth, who returned at the fall of Bhatt, took the team to the close without any further damage and swelled the lead to 55 runs.
For Tamil Nadu, K Vignesh, L Vignesh and Ashwin bagged two wickets each.
Test all-rounder Ashwin, who bowled 23 overs, looked dangerous in the first session but couldn't make much of an impression in the post-lunch period.
At the end of the day, Tamil Nadu coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar said the Andhra batsmen played very well and the drop by Washington Sundar did make a difference.
"I think credit is due to them for the way they batted. I think it could have (the dropped chance of Hebbar) made a difference. Catches being dropped are part of the game and I wouldn't dwell much on it," he told reporters.
Brief scores: Group "C" Tamil Nadu 176 all out (Baba Aparajith 51, K Vignesh 25 not out, Bhargav Bhatt 4 for 52, Prithvi Raj Yarra 3 for 39) vs Andhra Pradesh 231 for 7 (B Sumanth 72 batting, Ashwin Hebbar 64, K S Bharat 32, K Vignesh 2 for 46, L Vignesh 2 for 36, R Ashwin 2 for 51) in Chennai.
Madhya Pradesh vs Baroda: 551 for 8 declared in 164 overs (Devendra Bundela 99, Shubam Sharma 196, Ankit Sharma 104, Harpreet Singh Bhatia 32, A Sheth 2 for 90, Swapnil K Singh 3 for 136) vs Baroda 36 for 2 in 13 overs (Kedar Devdhar 20 batting) at Indore.
Tripura vs Odisha: Play on day two also washed out without a ball being bowled, at Cuttack.
Chopra hits 338 as HP score mammoth 729/8 decl vs Punjab
Dharamshala: Opener Prashant Chopra hit the first triple hundred of the current first-class season as Himachal Pradesh piled up a massive 729 for 8 declared against Punjab on the second day of the Ranji Trophy group D encounter.
At stumps, Punjab were 110 for 1 with Jiwanjot Singh unbeaten on 34 in company of Uday Kaul (2 batting). Opener Pargat Singh scored an attacking 64 off 69 balls before being dismissed.
The match however belong to Chopra, who had scored in excess of 900 runs last season and was recently a part of the India A team.
Chopra, started the day at 271 and went onto score 338 off only 363 balls with as many as 44 boundaries and two sixes to his credit.
Finally, it was off-break bowler Pargat, who ended Chopra's incredible effort by taking a return catch.
With the Punjab attack sans their skipper Harbhajan Singh in real tatters, Ankush Bains (80), Rishi Dhawan (49) also feasted on the bowling to ensure that they pile up a gigantic score.
In another group B match at the Palam Ground in Delhi, Bengal declared their first innings at 552 for 9, with top three players Sudeep Chatterjee (115), skipper Manoj Tiwary (69) and Wriddhiman Saha (55) amongst runs.
In reply, Services were 103 for 1 at stumps on the second day with Mohammed Shami (1/33) getting the only wicket.
The highlight of the second day's play was Ashok Dinda's 25-ball-55 with eight boundaries and two sixes.
With Mohammed Shami (23), the final wicket yielded 77 runs for Bengal to take their score past 550 runs.
Before that, Amir Gani (51) added 76 runs with Kanishk Seth (30) for the eighth wicket.
Here is the roundup of all the first round action from Day 2 of Ranji Trophy matches.
New Delhi: Gautam Gambhir started his new season in the right earnest with a patient century as Delhi made a pedestrian Assam attack toil by reaching 269/4 at stumps on the second day of the Ranji Trophy group A encounter.
Courtesy Gambhir's 40th first class hundred (136 batting, 245 balls) and his 207-run third-wicket stand with another centurion Nitish Rana (110, 158 balls), Delhi are in the driver's seat with an aim to log home full points.
File image of Gautam Gambhir. AFP
This was after Assam were all out for 258, starting the day at 224 for 7 with skipper Ishant Sharma returning with best figures of 5 for 38 in 20 overs.
When Delhi started batting, it was yet another failure for Unmukt Chand (6), who was trapped leg before by right-arm medium pacer Krishna Das.
Dhruv Shorey's (1) stumps went for a walk off an Abu Nechim delivery.
However, Gambhir looked assured from the word go as he played some flowing off and cover drives. In all, he hit 21 boundaries.
When spinners were brought in, he showed his mastery with nimble footwork reaching to the pitch of the deliveries whenever Rahul Singh and Sarupam Purkayastha dropped short.
Young left-hander Rana, who had also hit a hundred against Assam last year, hit more boundaries square of the wicket.
His cut shots packed a real punch as he repeatedly pierced the off-side cordon.
Gambhir reached his hundred with two lofted boundaries off left-arm spinner Rahul Singh.
There was no celebration from the veteran southpaw, who was a picture of concentration. The best shot was a copybook straight drive off Krishna's bowling.
Rana reached 99 with a sweep shot and then completed his hundred off 150 balls with a single. He hit 18 boundaries before edging one off Abu Nechim's delivery.
Brief Scores: Assam 258 all out in 95 overs (Sarupam Purakayastha 66, Gokul Sharma 51, Ishant Sharma 5/38)
Delhi 269/4 (Gautam Gambhir 136 no, Nitish Rana 110, Abu Nechim Ahmed 3/39).
Railways vs Uttar Pradesh:
Railways 1st Innings: 182 all out.
Uttar Pradesh 1st Innings: 250 all out (A Nath 75, RK Singh 42, A Singh 3/42).
Railways 2nd innings: 27/3 in 14 overs.
Saurashtra on verge of big win over Haryana
Rohtak: Saurashtra seamers Shaurya Sanandia, Jaydev Unadkat and Kushang Patel shared 14 wickets among them across two innings to put their side on the verge of a comprehensive victory over Haryana on the second day of their Group B Ranji Trophy match.
Saurashtra resumed their first innings at 271 for 7 but could only add seven runs to their overnight total with Ashish Hooda (6/61) cleaning up the tail.
Haryana's joy was, however, shortlived as Unadkat (3/35), Sanandia (4/44) and Patel (3/21) ran through their batting order to bowl them out for 107 in their first innings.
Saurashtra skipper Cheteshwar Pujara decided to enforce the follow-on and Haryana were reduced to 93 for 6 at stumps, still 78 short of making Saurashtra bat again at the Ch Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium.
Chaitanya Bishnoi was batting on 53 at the draw of stumps.
Brief Scores: Saurashtra 278 (Prerak Mankad 68, Sheldon Jackson 51; Ashish Hooda 6/61) lead Haryana 107 (Rahul Tewatia 23; Shaurya Sanandia 4/44, Kushang Patel 3/21, Jaydev Unadkat 3/35) & 93/6 f/o (Chaitanya Bishnoi 53 batting; Shaurya Sanandia 2/15) by 78 runs.
Kerala vs Jharkhand: Jharkhand 202 (Ishan Kishan 45; Jalaj Saxena 6/50) trail Kerala 250/8 (Mohammed Azharuddeen 51, Jalaj Saxena 47 batting; Sunny Gupta 6/94) by 48 runs.
Sumath, Hebbar hand Andhra vital lead against Tamil Nadu
Chennai: Andhra Pradesh a crucial lead on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Group "C" encounter against Tamil Nadu at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Their knocks helped Andhra wrest the initiative against the star-studded hosts after having been 64 for 5 at one point to end the day at 231 for 7, a lead of 55.
Tamil Nadu had been dismissed for 176 in the first innings on Friday.
Resuming at the overnight score of eight without loss, the visiting side was in trouble almost immediately as opener DB Prashanth Kumar fell to L Vignesh.
Vignesh got one to move away from the batsman Prashanth to have him caught at second slip by B Indrajith.
Skipper Hanuma Vihari was the next to depart, falling to a catch by BN Aparajith at gully off the bowling of L Vignesh for 3.
K S Bharat and Ricky Bhui began the rescue act but after adding 28 runs before the latter was dismissed by the other Vignesh.
The experienced Y Venugopala Rao didn't last too long as he was caught by Rahil Shah off R Ashwin's bowling for just three.
When Ashwin had Bharat stumped by N Jagadeesan for 32, Andhra looked in trouble at 64 for 5.
The TN bowlers had done very well till that point and fielders had played their part too, taking the catches came their way.
Then came a vital moment in the game as M S Washington Sundar dropped Ashwin Hebbar (on 13) off Ashwin's bowling at deep mid-wicket.
The 21-year-old batsman made the most of the life he got and scored runs in an attractive manner.
From 95 for 5 at lunch, Sumanth, who showed great resolve to defy the bowling, took the fight to Tamil Nadu in Hebbar's company.
Sumanth didn't resume his knock after the tea interval owing to a hand injury, but Hebbar kept the scoreboard moving.
Shoaib Mohammed Khan provided valuable support and they took the total to 182 before Hebbar's knock ended.
He was dismissed by K Vignesh for 64.
Bhargav Bhatt, the team's bowling hero yesterday, was caught behind off Washington Sundar's bowling.
Sumanth, who returned at the fall of Bhatt, took the team to the close without any further damage and swelled the lead to 55 runs.
For Tamil Nadu, K Vignesh, L Vignesh and Ashwin bagged two wickets each.
Test all-rounder Ashwin, who bowled 23 overs, looked dangerous in the first session but couldn't make much of an impression in the post-lunch period.
At the end of the day, Tamil Nadu coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar said the Andhra batsmen played very well and the drop by Washington Sundar did make a difference.
"I think credit is due to them for the way they batted. I think it could have (the dropped chance of Hebbar) made a difference. Catches being dropped are part of the game and I wouldn't dwell much on it," he told reporters.
Brief scores: Group "C" Tamil Nadu 176 all out (Baba Aparajith 51, K Vignesh 25 not out, Bhargav Bhatt 4 for 52, Prithvi Raj Yarra 3 for 39) vs Andhra Pradesh 231 for 7 (B Sumanth 72 batting, Ashwin Hebbar 64, K S Bharat 32, K Vignesh 2 for 46, L Vignesh 2 for 36, R Ashwin 2 for 51) in Chennai.
Madhya Pradesh vs Baroda: 551 for 8 declared in 164 overs (Devendra Bundela 99, Shubam Sharma 196, Ankit Sharma 104, Harpreet Singh Bhatia 32, A Sheth 2 for 90, Swapnil K Singh 3 for 136) vs Baroda 36 for 2 in 13 overs (Kedar Devdhar 20 batting) at Indore.
Tripura vs Odisha: Play on day two also washed out without a ball being bowled, at Cuttack.
Chopra hits 338 as HP score mammoth 729/8 decl vs Punjab
Dharamshala: Opener Prashant Chopra hit the first triple hundred of the current first-class season as Himachal Pradesh piled up a massive 729 for 8 declared against Punjab on the second day of the Ranji Trophy group D encounter.
At stumps, Punjab were 110 for 1 with Jiwanjot Singh unbeaten on 34 in company of Uday Kaul (2 batting). Opener Pargat Singh scored an attacking 64 off 69 balls before being dismissed.
The match however belong to Chopra, who had scored in excess of 900 runs last season and was recently a part of the India A team.
Chopra, started the day at 271 and went onto score 338 off only 363 balls with as many as 44 boundaries and two sixes to his credit.
Finally, it was off-break bowler Pargat, who ended Chopra's incredible effort by taking a return catch.
With the Punjab attack sans their skipper Harbhajan Singh in real tatters, Ankush Bains (80), Rishi Dhawan (49) also feasted on the bowling to ensure that they pile up a gigantic score.
In another group B match at the Palam Ground in Delhi, Bengal declared their first innings at 552 for 9, with top three players Sudeep Chatterjee (115), skipper Manoj Tiwary (69) and Wriddhiman Saha (55) amongst runs.
In reply, Services were 103 for 1 at stumps on the second day with Mohammed Shami (1/33) getting the only wicket.
The highlight of the second day's play was Ashok Dinda's 25-ball-55 with eight boundaries and two sixes.
With Mohammed Shami (23), the final wicket yielded 77 runs for Bengal to take their score past 550 runs.
Before that, Amir Gani (51) added 76 runs with Kanishk Seth (30) for the eighth wicket.
Bengal vs Services
Bengal 552/9 decl (Sudeep Chatterjee 115, Manoj Tiwary 69, Wriddhiman Saha 55). Services 103/1.
Published Date:Oct 07, 2017
| Updated Date: Oct 07, 2017
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