Although he fell short of a maiden triple-ton by just seven runs, Deepak Hooda standing in as captain for Baroda lifted the team to a solid 529 with an unbeaten 293-run knock.
In their match against Madhya Pradesh, Kaushik Gandhi and N Jagadeesan registered maiden centuries as they powered Tamil Nadu to 547 for seven in the first innings.
Spearheading the attack, Ashok Dinda claimed a five-for to help bowl Bengal to a first innings lead. The Manoj Tiwary-led side are in the driver’s seat having extended the lead past 300 while batting again against Railways.
Group A, Round 4 – Day 2 Round-up:
Punjab vs Baroda in Delhi: Baroda 1st inn 529/10 in 140 overs (D Hooda 293*, S Singh 45, S Sharma 4/101, SS Gill 2/69); Punjab 1st inn 121/1 in 35 overs (M Vohara 67*, U Kaul 33*, S Mangalorkar 1/28) Trail by 408 runs
Resuming his innings on 190, stand-in skipper Deepak Hooda anchored the Baroda innings to a massive 529 runs until he ran out of partners. Batting with the lower-order, he registered his maiden first-class double century. He was unbeaten on 293 as he helped add 171 runs to the overnight score. The 21-year old missed out on a well deserved triple ton by just seven runs.
In reply, Manan Vohra and Uday Kaul had taken Punjab to 121 for one at stumps on the second day. Jiwanjot Singh was the only wicket to fall; bowled by S Mangalorkar for 15 earlier in the innings.
Tamil Nadu vs Madhya Pradesh in Cuttack: TN 1st inn 547/7 in 174 overs (K Gandhi 157, N Jagadeesan 118*, A Das 3/111)
After Tamil Nadu resumed their innings on 262 for four, overnight batsman Kaushik Gandhi and debutant N Jagadeesan batting lower down the order slammed their maiden centuries as they helped the team pile on a mammoth score until the end of day’s play.
While Gandhi was bowled by debutant Ashiwn Das for 157 later in the day, Jagadeesan remained not out on 118 as he helped the team to 547 for seven. He was batting with Aswin Crist (12*) when play ended for the day.
Railways vs Bengal in Dharamsala: Bengal 1st inn 205/10 in 69.5 overs (S Chatterjee 85, A Dinda 30, A Singh 4/66, A Mishra 3/38, K Thakur 2/39); Railways 1st inn 105/10 in 27.3 overs (K Sharma 40, A Dinda 5/45, S Gosh 3/31); Bengal 2nd inn 208/9 in 74.2 overs (M Tiwary 48, W Saha 44, K Thakur 3/39, D Bansal 3/40) Lead by 308 runs
Ashok Dinda finished with a five-for as he helped bowl Railways out for a meager 105 runs after resuming on 37 for four. The Bengal pace trio – Dinda, S Gosh (three wickets) and A Kuila (two wickets) bowled their team to a 100-run lead in the ongoing match. Only three Railways batsmen managed double-digit scores with the captain, Karn Sharma top-scoring with 40 runs batting down the order.
Bengal then extended their lead to 308 until stumps on the second day. Useful contributions by the top half of the lineup helped the team build the innings even as the opposition struck at regular intervals. As the finished the day on 208 for nine, skipper Manoj Tiwary was the top-scorer with 48 followed by a 44-run contribution by Wriddhiman Saha. Karan Thakur and Deepak Bansal claimed three wickets each as they looked to restrict the Bengal batsmen.
Uttar Pradesh vs Gujarat in Palam, New Delhi: Gujarat 1st inn 347/10 in 110.2 overs (C Gandhi 87, I Ahmed 5/73); UP 1st inn 147/4 in 67 overs (S Singh 50, T Srivastava 45, E Dwivedi 20*, H Patel 3/58) Trail by 200 runs
Chirag Gandhi who, was batting on 33 when Gujarat resumed their innings on 276 for eight on the second morning, took the team to 347 until he was trapped lbw by Saurabh Kumar for 87 to bring curtains down on the innings.
Tanmay Srivastava and Samarth Singh then got the team off to a decent start with a 80-run opening stand. H Patel who claimed Samarth to end the partnership finished with three wickets for the day. At the end of day’s play Eklavya Dwivedi was batting on 20 with Mohammed Saif with UP on 147 for four.
