Manish Pandey and Nischal D put Karnataka in a commanding position with a 354-run opening stand against hosts UP. Skipper Parthiv Patel, Priyank Panchal and B Merai scored tons as Gujarat dominated Team Rajasthan. Punjab’s woes continued as Bengal openers – A Raman and A Eswaran slammed centuries while tons by Vishnu Solanki and N Rathva put Baroda on top.
Ishant Sharma-led Delhi are in an advantageous position after early strikes against Maharashtra while Tamil Nadu are precariously poised against Madhya Pradesh.
Here are the highlights of Day 2 – Round 6 of Ranji Trophy 2017-18:
Group AAssam vs Hyderabad: 14 wickets fell on the second day in Guwahati as bowlers dominated the game between Assam and Hyderabad. Following on, Assam were 36 for two and trailing by 154 runs at the end of second day’s play.
After resuming on 289 for eight, Hyderabad were bowled out for 326 runs. Mudassar (5/36) and Ravi Kiran (3/30) then bundled out Assam for 136 in the first innings. Skipper Gokul Sharma’s 39 was the highest score for the hosts in the innings.
The Hyderabad bowlers continued to torment the home team as Ravi Kiran and T Ravi Teja claimed a wicket each to leave Assam reeling at 15 for two in their second outing. However, bad light stopped play as Rishav Das and Gokul joined hands in an effort to revive the innings. Their partnership was unbroken on 21 when the day’s play was called off.
Scoreboard - http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/71Delhi vs Maharashtra: The Ishant Sharma-led Delhi attack wrecked the Maharashtra lineup and left them tottering at 59 for eight at Stumps on day 2.
The skipper claimed Ruturaj Gaikwad in the first over and followed up with the wicket of M Trunkwala in the next to leave the visitors on 7/2. Three runs later, Ankeet Bawane was sent back by NA Saini while R Tripathi was removed by Ishant in the next, leaving Maharashtra on 14 for four. Maharashtra’s woes continued as the Delhi bowlers continued to strike at regular intervals.
Ishant claimed 3/14 while Lalit Yadav picked 2/2 and Saini took 2/21. The visitors were trailing by 360 runs with two wickets in hand when play ended for the day.
Earlier after resuming on 260 for four, Delhi were bowled out for 419 later in the day. Nitish Rana, who was unbeaten on 110 at stumps on the first day returned for 174. Although Lalit Yadav chipped in with a half-century, the rest of the lower-order returned without significant contributions.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/70 Uttar Pradesh vs Karnataka: Karnataka continued the run-fest into the second day in Kanpur. The visitors were 642 for seven at Stumps on Day 2 after resuming on 327 for three.
D Nischal and Manish Pandey resumed their innings on 90 and 63 respectively on the second morning and continued to milk the UP attack in the pursuit of posting a mammoth score. Both batsmen completed their centuries as they piled on the runs for Karnataka and took the team to Lunch at 488 for three.
There was little left for the bowlers to do as the pair plundered runs at a steady pace. The first to reach the 200-run mark, Pandey surpassed his previous best 218 runs as he took on the UP bowlers. Nischal, however, missed out on his maiden double century by just five runs. Having batted for 425 deliveries, the top-order bat was out, caught down the leg side off Dhruv Pratap Singh by the wicketkeeper.
The departure of Nischal ended the fourth wicket stand for 354 runs. Pandey then added 43 runs for the fifth wicket with Stuart Binny until he was sent back for 238 by Imitiaz Ahmed leaving the visitors on 633 for five. In his next two overs, the pacer accounted for Binny and Shreyas Gopal to leave Karnataka on 636 for seven.
When play ended for the day, CM Gautam was batting with Vinay Kumar.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/72Group BGujarat vs Team Rajasthan: Centuries by Priyank Panchal, B Merai and Parthiv Patel boosted Gujarat to 450 for three until stumps on the second day.
After resuming the innings on 90 for one, Panchal and Merai laid a solid foundation with a 179-run stand until the former was sent back by S Sharma. With the departure of the opener for 152 off 298 balls, the Gujarat captain joined Merai in carrying the innings forward. The duo had added 174 for the third wicket until Merai was sent back for 110 off 225 balls by T Dhillon.
Parthiv (119*) then saw his side through to stumps with Manprit Juneja.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/67Haryana vs Jammu & Kashmir: At 175 for seven, J & K were trailing by nine runs when play ended for the day.
In a match dominated by the bowlers, Haryana were bowled out for 184 after resuming on 119 for seven. Lower-order batsmen – Amit Mishra (41 off 79), H Patel (23 off 55) and A Chahal (22 off 45) helped the team add 65 runs to the overnight score. Ram Dayal finished with five-for while Mohammed Mudhasir picked a four-for.
Ahmad Omar Banday (67 off 81) held the innings together even as the Haryana attack dealt blows at regular intervals. Patel, Hooda and Chahal picked two wickets each as the J & K lineup strove to keep the innings in the fray. In an effort to compliment the opener’s efforts to seize a first innings lead, Punit Bisht made 35 while Parvez Rasool chipped in with 24 and Owais Shah contributed 28 runs.
When play ended for the day, Dayal was batting with Aamir Aziz.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/68Kerala vs Saurashtra: After resuming on 37 without loss, Saurashtra were bowled out for 232 with a marginal seven-run first innings lead.
Although Robin Uthappa and Snell Patel got Saurashtra off to a good start with a 107-run opening stand, the visitors lost wickets at quick intervals after Sijomon Joseph accounted for the latter. Akshay KC trapped A Barot lbw to leave Saurashtra on 144 for two while Joseph followed up with the wicket of Uthappa four runs later. Even as the hosts attack dismantled the rest of the lineup, the visitors scrapped past the Kerala total. Joseph claimed four while Basil Thampi picked three wickets.
Kerala were 69 for one with Jalaj Saxena and Rohan Prem in the middle when play ended for the day.
Scorecard - http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/69
Group C Tamil Nadu vs Madhya Pradesh: At 191 for six, TN were trailing by 73 runs when play ended for the day. As they looked to shape a reply to MP’s first innings total of 264 runs, the hosts were kept on their toes by the Ishwar Pandey-led attack. Even as wickets crumbled at the other end, opener N Jagadeesan anchored the innings with a determined knock. He was batting on 94 off 137 and had found an able ally in Yomahesh (44* off 94) to keep the innings in the fray. Their partnership for the seventh wicket was unbroken on 115 at Stumps.
Ishwar and Puneet Datey had claimed three wickets each to leave TN reeling on 76 for six until Yomahesh joined the opener in rebuilding the innings.
Earlier, MP were bowled out for 264 after resuming on 224 for seven.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/61Baroda vs Odisha: Centuries by top-order bat, Vishnu Solanki (109) and N Rathva (115) lower down the order helped Baroda pile on 503 runs in the first innings after resuming on 231 for three. Basant Mohanty claimed a five-for as Odisha looked to keep Baroda in check. However, the onslaught by the No 9 batsman helped boost the Baroda total.
In reply, Odisha were 64 for two when play ended for the day.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/62Andhra vs Mumbai: Dhawal Kulkarni’s unbeaten half-century helped Mumbai to a respectable 332 runs until they were bowled out on Day 2 after resuming the innings on 248 for six.
Abhishek Nayar then gave Mumbai their first breakthrough with the wicket of DB Prashanth Kumar with 19 runs on the board. And six runs later KS Bharath was run out by Shreyas Iyer. Hanuma Vihari and Ricky Bhui then saw the hosts innings through to Stumps at 74 for two.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/66Group D Chhattisgarh vs Services: Bowled out for 272, Services seized a 142-run first innings lead in the match against the hosts. After resuming on 39 without loss, the visitors steadily built a reply with valuable contributions from the lineup. Vikas Hathwala was the top-scorer for the team with a 76-run knock while Chhattisgarh’s Mohammed Shahnawaz claimed a five-for.
In their second innings, after Chhattisgarh’s opener Rishabh Tiwari retired hurt, Siddharth Chandrekar saw the team through to the end of day’s play with Abhimanyu Chauhan. The home team were 24 without loss when play ended for the day.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/64Punjab vs Bengal: Bengal continued to dominate the proceedings with the bat after their bowlers had skittled the hosts out for 147. Resuming on 76 without loss, the visitors were in a commanding position at 309 for three at Stumps on day 2.
In-form openers - Abhishek Kumar Raman and A Eswaran got Bengal off to a solid start with a 222-run opening stand until the latter was sent back by Siddharth Kaul. The pacer also accounted for Sudip Chatterjee to leave the hosts on 228 for two and a bit later Manoj was run out leaving the side on 242 for three.
At the end of day’s play Raman was batting on 149 with Shreevats Goswami on 29.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/63Goa vs Vidarbha: At 199 for two, Vidarbha were trailing by 40 runs when play ended for the day. After the departure of Faiz Fazal with 52 runs on the board, Wasim Jaffer joined SR Ramaswamy in carrying the innings forward. The opener and the experienced campaigner added 117 runs for the second wicket until Ramaswamy was sent back by Darshan Misal for 87.
At the end of day’s play Jaffer was batting on 70 with S Shrivastava on nine.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/65 
