With an innings and a 93-run win over Odisha, Jharkhand finished the league phase of the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2016-17 at the top of the Group B points table. The resounding win in three days helped them dislodge Karnataka from the pole position.
Resuming the innings on 236 for five, Kaushal Singh anchored the side to 348 for nine until the end of the innings. Having resumed his knock on the overnight score of 22, he remained unbeaten on 86 as he extended the lead to 196 runs. He then returned to claim three wickets for 17 runs and helped bowl the side to an emphatic win.
Earlier on the third morning, Kaushal lost his overnight partner Shahbaz Nadeem for the addition of eight runs to the overnight score. The middle-order bat held one end up even as wickets feel at regular intervals at the other end. Saurabh Tiwary, who had retired hurt on 65 on Day 2, returned to add to the tally till he was bowled by Basant Mohanty for 78. Lower-order bat, Sunny Gupta made 18 before retiring hurt while the tail-enders helped take the Jharkhand score beyond the 300-run mark with single digit contributions. Dhiraj Singh accounted for Vikash and Ajay to wrap-up the Jharkhand innings late in the first session.
The Odisha openers had put together three runs as they took the side to Lunch. Vikash ran out Ranjit Singh with 25 runs on the board to give Jharkhand their first breakthrough while Ajay accounted for Govind Podder 20 runs later. Kaushal and Shahbaz Nadeem then ran through the middle-order and set Jharkhand on course for victory.
Kaushal and Shahbaz Nadeem picked three wickets each, while Ajay finished with two in the innings and Vikash affected two runs outs. After setting the tone with the run out of the opener, he ran out Dhiraj Singh to bring curtains down on the game.
Brief scores:
Day 1 - Odisha 1st inn 152/10 in 84 overs (S Pattanaik 43, S Nadeem 4/31, S Gupta 3/56); Jharkhand 1st inn 9/0 in 4 overs. Trail by 143 runs
Day 2 - Jharkhand 1st inn 236/5 in 94 overs (S Tiwary 65 (retd. hurt), V Singh 57, B Mohanty 2/43) Lead by 84 runs
Day 3 - Jharkhand 1st inn 348/9 in 121 overs (K Singh 86*, S Tiwary 78, B Mohanty 3/56, D Singh 2/85); Odisha 2nd inn 103/10 in 46.3 overs (S Pattanaik 16, K Singh 3/17, S Nadeem 3/28, Ajay 2/33)
