Defending champions Gujarat registered their second successive win of Ranji Trophy 2017-18 with a thumping win over J & K in Round 3. Madhya Pradesh too raced to a solid win against Tripura.
Jalaj Saxena continued to impress with his all-round skills. After claiming eight wickets the Kerala cricketer returned to score a century.
Returning to first-class cricket after an injury lay-off, V Yomahesh, who had last played a Ranji Trophy game for TN way back in 2012-13 seasonm helped the team clinch a first innings lead.
Centurion Karun Nair and a determined knock by Stuart Binny helped set up the match in Karnataka’s favour.
Here are the highlights of the day:
Group A Assam vs Railways: The Anureet Singh-led Railways attack left Assam reeling on 41 for seven at stumps. The hosts were trailing by 198 runs and face the prospect of an innings defeat.
After Railways were powered to a 239-run first innings lead by centurion Arindam Gosh, Anureet (3/18) and Deepak Bansal (2/6) wrecked the Assam lineup. Amit Mishra and Avinash Yadav chipped in with a wicket each to help put Railways in a commanding position.
Earlier, at 224 for two, Railways were trailing by 20 runs with Nitin Bhille and Gosh at the crease when they resumed the innings on the third morning. The pair added 132 runs to the overnight total until Bhille was caught by Sibsankar Roy off his own bowling leaving the team on 356 for three.
Having taken the team past the 400-run mark, Gosh was later sent back for 109 by Dhiraj Goswami.
Scorecard -
http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/34Uttar Pradesh vs Maharashtra: Chirag Khurana claimed 6/53 to help ensure Maharashtra three points as the match heads to a draw. After UP resumed their innings on 232 for seven, Maharashtra bowled the hosts out for 271 to clinch a first innings lead.
Building on the 41-run lead, Maharashtra were 256 for four at Stumps on day 3. R Tripathi scored 91 while Ankeet Bawane made 58 to help the visitors strengthen their position. When play ended for the day, R Motwani (30*), batting with NS Shaikh (25*) had extended the lead to 297.
Scorecard -
http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/35
Karnataka vs Hyderabad: A 134-run knock by Karun Nair and a solid 144-ball 72 by Stuart Binny helped set up the match in Karnataka’s favour.
Nair and Binny continued to build on the lead earlier in the day after resuming the hosts’ innings in the morning. After losing four early wickets on Day 2, the pair’s 160-run partnership held tip the balance in Karnataka’s favour.
Binny was the first to be sent back on the third day by Mehdi Hasan (5/88) leaving the team on 217 for five. Nair then continued to carry the innings forward even as wickets fell at the other end. The middle-order batsman was the last to return to the pavilion; bowled by Akash Bhandari.
K Gowtham and Shreyas Gopal then picked a wicket each to leave Hyderabad on 50 for two. When play ended for the day, Tanmay Agarwal (43*), batting with Ambati Rayudu (18*) had taken Hyderabad to 92/2. The visitors were trailing by 288 runs at Stumps.
Group B
Jharkhand vs Haryana: Jharkhand declared their innings on 425 for nine with a 217-run first innings lead and had left Haryana on 141 for four in the second innings at Stumps on day 3.
Ishank Jaggi (135) and Shahbaz Nadeem’s patient 150-ball 70 helped Jharkhand to a solid lead. After the pair had resumed the innings on 311 for six, the middle-order batsman was the first to be sent by Deepak Punia leaving the team on 341 for seven. Nadeem then rallied on and took the team past the 400-run mark before being sent back by CK Bishnoi. Sunny Gupta was not out on 37 when Jharkhand declared their innings at the fall of Varun Aaron’s wicket.
Nadeem then sent back S Rohilla in the first over to peg Haryana back. He later followed up with the wicket CK Bishnoi while Aaron accounted for G Singh. At 31 for three Rajat Paliwal and R Dagar then joined hands to stitch a partnership. They had taken the team to 141 when Dagar was sent back for 64 by Sunny Gupta.
When play ended for the day, Paliwal was batting on 44 with R P Sharma.
J & K vs Gujarat: Gujarat sailed to an innings and 64 runs win. With seven points from the game, the defending champions took their points tally to 13.
After resuming the Gujarat innings on 276 for four, Manprit Juneja and Chirag Gandhi added 108 runs to the overnight total until the latter was dismissed. With the wicket of Gandhi (86) Manik Gupta ended the flourishing fifth-wicket partnership for 150 runs.
With the lower half of the line-up, Juneja continued to add useful runs to the score-line. When the middle-order bat was sent back for 131 by Parvez Rasool, Gujarat were left of 432 for nine. The J & K skipper then wrapped up the Gujarat innings by castling Mehul Patel. Gujarat were bowled out for 455 with a 194-run first innings lead.
Hardik Patel (5/59) and Piyush Chawla (4/38) then bowled Gujarat to a resounding win by bundling J & K out for 130 runs.
Kerala vs Team Rajasthan: Jalaj Saxena claimed eight wickets to bowl Kerala to a 92-run first innings lead. After wrapping up the Team Rajasthan innings for 243, the all-rounder returned to boost his team further with a century.
Opening the innings for Kerala, Jalaj had anchored the team to 217 for two until Stumps. He was batting on 102 with Sanju Samson on 72 when play ended for the day.
Group C
Andhra vs Odisha: In reply to Andhra’s 584 for five declared, Odisha were 294 for six at Stumps on Day 3 and trailed by 290 runs.
Odisha skipper Govind Podder scored 111 off 182 balls as he worked to keep the innings in fray after resuming it on 32 for one on the third morning. After his overnight partner, Sandeep Pattanaik was sent back by KV Sasikanth leaving the side on 51 for one, he was complemented by Subhransu Senapati in building the innings.
The flourishing third wicket partnership was ended by Sasikanth for 185 with the wicket of the opener leaving Odisha on 236 for three. Bhargav Bhatt then followed up with the wicket of Senapati in the next over.
While Biplab Samantaray worked to hold the innings together, Odisha lost two more wickets until the end of day’s play. When play ended for the day he was batting on 23 with Shubham Nayak.
Mumbai vs Tamil Nadu: Returning to first-class cricket after almost five years due to an injury lay-off, Yomahesh helped Tamil Nadu seize a first innings lead with an unbeaten 103-run knock.
After resuming the innings on 239 for five, overnight batsman R Ashwin was sent back by Dhawal Kulkarni leaving the team on 244 for six. Vijay Gohil followed up with the wicket of N Jagadeesan a bit later. With the team still trailing by 87 runs, Yomahesh joined Baba Indrajith in the middle. The pair had taken the team to 339 when the middle-order batsman departed edging Gohil to the slips.
Yomahesh then rallied on and took the team to Lunch at 345 for eight with Rahil Shah. While Mumbai looked for a breakthrough, the pair rallied on in the second session. Yomahesh then took TN to a first innings lead with a six over long-on off Gohil and also brought up his half-century. The pair carried on in an effort to extend the lead and TN were on 411 when Rahil was sent back by Akash Parker.
Yomahesh then carried forward with Vignesh K and brought up his century with yet another six. They had taken the lead to 76 when, the tail-ender was bowled by Aditya Dhumal.
Looking back on the timely knock in his comeback game in a tough situation bating with the lower-order, Yomahesh said he drew on the previous experience to help the team pull through. “I have been in a similar situation in 2012 where we played Mumbai in the semi-finals. We were somewhere around 100 for 5 where me and Prasanna stitched a similar sort of partnership. I scored around 60 or 70 (67) and Prasanna scored a hundred. That experienced really helped me a lot. I kind of helped Rahil and Vignesh, I passed on to them as well.”
Vijay Shankar then bowled Prithvi Shaw in the third over to leave Mumbai on six for one. Shreyas Iyer, who then came to the crease clobbered the TN attack en route his half-century. The No 3 bat smashed five sixes and three boundaries. When play ended for the day, Iyer (56* off 58) and Akhil Herwadkar (26* off 64) had taken Mumbai to 85 for one.
Tripura vs Madhya Pradesh: Madhya Pradesh cantered to a ten-wicket win over Tripura on the third day to take their points tally to 14.
After resuming their innings on 201 for seven, MP were bowled out for 260 on the third day with a 55-run first innings lead. Mihir Hirwani (5/22) and Ankit Sharma (4/51) then skittled Tripura out for 103.
Hirwani set the ball rolling by running out B Gosh with 11 runs on the board. 48 runs later, Ankit Sharma bowled U Bose and later in the over trapped R Banik lbw to leave the hosts on 59 for three. The duo then dismantled the Tripura lineup and wrapped up the innings in 44 overs to set up the game for the visitors.
Rajat Patidar and Harpreet Singh Bhatia then chased down the paltry 49-run target in 14.2 overs.
Group D
Goa vs Punjab: Asked to follow on, Goa were trailing by 322 runs with eight wickets in hand.
After Goa resumed their first innings on 94 for one, the home team were 246 and asked to follow on. Raghu Sharma claimed 4/50 while Vinay Choudhary picked three wickets and Siddharth Kaul accounted for two wickets. The top-scorer of the innings, No 11 batsman, Amit Yadav remained not out on 52.
Following on, Goa were 67 for two with Sagun Kamat and Amogh Desai in the middle. Vinay Choudhary and Siddharth had picked a wicket each to push the hosts further on the back-foot.
Services vs Himachal: After Himachal set Services a 326-run target, the hosts were 28 for one at Stumps on day 3.
Earlier, GK Singh finished with a four-for as HP bowled Services out for 215 after resuming on 153 for six.
Building on the 149-run lead, Himachal declared their second innings on 176 for nine. While V Yadav, Diwesh Pathania and RK Singh left the visitors on 58 for six, Rishi Dhawan’s 40 followed by A Vashisht’s 44 helped the team boost the lead and set Services a formidable target.
Services opener, Ravi Chauhan was batting with V Yadav when play ended for the day.
Vidarbha vs Chhattisgarh: Vidarbha were 331 for six at Stumps on Day 3 after resuming on 31 for one in the morning. In the battle for a first innings lead, Vidarbha are trailing by 158 runs at the end of day’s play while Chhattisgarh need four wickets.
Faiz Fazal scored 125 off 229 balls while Wasim Jaffer scored a half-century as the team looked to shape a reply to the mammoth Chhattisgarh total. When play ended for the day, A Wankhede was batting on 22 with Karn Sharma on nine.
