Batsmen dominated the second day of Round 2 of the Ranji Trophy 2017-18. While Ravindra Jadeja went on to post a double-hundred, Naman Ojha (180) missed his. Others to score a century were Team Rajasthan’s TN Dhillon’s, R Samarth (123) and Gowtham K (147*) from Karnataka while Washington Sundar (156*) too starred with the bat for TN. Sudip Chatterjee from Bengal, Vidarbha’s S Ramasawamy (161) and Ganesh Satish (126*), Himachal openers - PS Khanduri and AK Bains - were amongst the centurions as well.
Here are the highlights of the day:
Group A
Railways vs Delhi in New Delhi: After Manan Sharma’s 216-ball 136 powered Delhi to 447 in the first innings, Ishant Sharma (3/12) and Manan (2/18) left Railways reeling at 58 for five at Stumps.
Resuming the Delhi innings on 318 for six, Manan lifted his team to a mammoth score with a century. He then returned to contribute with the ball as well and put Delhi in a commanding position.
Ishant claimed Saurabh Wakaskar and Nitin Bhille upfront to leave Railways on eight for two. Manan followed up with the wicket of Arindam Gosh to leave the hosts on 19 for three and also claimed Abhishek Yadav a bit later while the tall pacer sent back Shivkant Shukla to leave the home team on 52 for five.
At the end of day’s play, Mahesh Rawat was batting with MR Choudhary.
Hyderabad vs Uttar Pradesh in Hyderabad: No play for the second successive day due to inclement weather.
Karnataka vs Assam in Mysore: R Samarth (123) and Gowtham K (147*) propelled 427 for six on Day 2 until Stumps. The hosts were leading by a massive 282 runs when play ended for the day.
After Karnataka resumed their innings on 77, Arup Das and S Purkayastha claimed three wickets each in an effort to ebb the flow of runs, but the two centurions ensured that the hosts maintained an upper-hand. Stuart Binny too chipped in with a useful 41-run knock. When play ended for the day, Gowtham was batting with Shreyas Gopal (38*).
Saurashtra vs J & K in Rajkot: A double-century by Ravindra Jadeja powered Saurashtra to 624 for seven after resuming their innings on 428 for four. Snell Patel contributed 94 while Chirag Jani (21*) and Dharmendrasingh Jadeja (40*) were at the crease when the hosts declared their innings. A solid batting performance by the middle-order has put the home team in a commanding position.
Dharmendrasinh then ended J & K’s openings stand for 50 with the wicket of Ahmad Omar Banday and followed up with the wicket of Pranav Gupta and Ian Chauhan to leave the visitors on 67 for three. Ravindra accounted for Shubham Khajuria at the stroke of stumps to leave J & K on 103 for four at the end of day’s play.
Team Rajasthan vs Jharkhand in Jaipur: TN Dhillon’s 134-run knock powered to 423 in the first innings. The middle-order bat who was batting on 66 when he resumed the hosts’ innings on 250 for four in the morning, helped boost the total with a determined innings. Sunny Gupta and Ashish Kumar finished with three wickets each as they helped bowl Team Rajasthan out on the second day.
AV Choudhary and Pankaj Singh then struck early blows to leave Jharkhand on 15 for two. However, Virat Singh and Saurabh Tiwary then joined forces to revive the innings and took the visitors to Stumps at 97 for two.
Gujarat vs Kerala in Nadiad: Chirag Gandhi helped Gujarat to a 99-run first innings lead in the ongoing match against Kerala. Unbeaten on 91, the middle-order batsman took the hosts to Stumps at 307 for nine.
After Gujarat had resumed their innings on 60 for two on the second morning, Jalaj Saxena claimed CT Gaja to end the blossoming partnership and left the hosts on 123 for three. 17 runs later he accounted for Parthiv Patel while S Gohil was sent back by Akshay Chandran leaving Gujarat on 151 for five. A bit later MC Juneja was sent back by S Joseph leaving the side on 164 for six. Rujul Bhatt and Gandhi then formed a 90-run stand to stem the fall of wickets and help seize the momentum from the visitors. While Bhatt was bowled by Saxena to end the blossoming partnership, Nidheesh MD followed up with two more wickets to leave Gujarat on 279 for nine.
Gandhi then saw his side through to the end of day’s play with S Desai.
Group C
Baroda vs Andhra in Vadodara: Andhra were trailing by 183 runs with eight wickets in hand at the end of play on Day 2. A Sheth claimed DB Prashanth Kumar while BA Pathan accounted for KS Bharath 23 runs later to leave Andhra on 62 for two. GH Vihari (71*) and Ricky Bhui (53*) then took the visitors to Stumps at 190 for two.
Earlier after resuming the Baroda innings on 247 for seven, overnight batsmen Swapnil Singh (88) and Sheth (70*) added 95 runs to the total in the morning until the former was sent back by Bhargav Bhatt. 26 runs later, Lukman Meriwala was sent back by DB Ravi Teja. And A Bandaru followed up with the wicket of B Pathan to bowl Baroda out for 373.
Madhya Pradesh vs Mumbai in Indore: At 130 for one, Mumbai were trailing by 279 runs at the end of second day’s play in reply to MP’s 409 runs. At Stumps, Jay Bista was batting on 89 with Siddhesh Lad on 22.
Earlier after resuming MP’s innings on 250 for five, Naman Ojha took his team past the 400-run mark. Batting overnight on 99, the wicketkeeper-batsman went on to score 180 as he boosted the MP total. Vijay Gohil ended Naman’s solid knock to leave the hosts on 406 for eight. In the next over Akash Parker (4/70) claimed Mihir Hirwani while Royston Dias followed up with the wicket of Ishwar Pandey to bowl the home team out.
Tamil Nadu vs Tripura in Chennai: MS Washington Sundar anchored TN to 332 for two until the end of day’s play. The young opener’s unbeaten 156 off 223 balls had helped the hosts to a 74 runs first innings lead at Stumps on Day 2.
Sundar was first involved in a 162-run opening stand with Abhinav Mukund until the captain was sent back by J B Bhattacharjee. A bit later Kaushik Gandhi was dismissed by Gurinder Singh leaving TN on 180 for two. When play ended for the day, the opener was involved in a 152-run unbroken partnership with Baba Indrajith (73* off 121).
Earlier, after resuming their innings on 244 for seven, Tripura were bowled out for 258.
Chhattisgarh vs Bengal in Raipur: Sudip Chatterjee helped Bengal to a big first innings score with a well-compiled 191-ball 118. After resuming on 283 for two, Chatterjee anchored the side past the 400-run mark even as Manoj Tiwary and Wriddhiman Saha were sent back by S A Singh and S Ruikar respectively.
With the team on 405, Chatterjee was sent back by SA Singh and four runs later Shreevats Goswami was run out. However, Anustup Mujumdar (70*) and B Amit (50) built on the total until the latter was sent back by SA Singh. With the fall of the wicket, Bengal declared their innings on 529 for seven.
With Ashoke Dinda and Mohammed Shami picking two wickets each, Chhattisgarh were 80 for five at Stumps.
Punjab vs Vidarbha in Mohali: Centurions SR Ramasawamy (161) and Ganesh Satish (126* off 171) helped Vidarbha to 419 for five until stumps on Day 2. The visitors were leading by 258 runs at the end of day’s play.
Abhishek Sharma claimed two wickets while Sandeep Sharma, Manpreet Grewal and Pargat Singh picked a wicket each. When play ended for the day, Satish was batting with A Karnewar.
Himachal vs Goa in Dharamsala: A 237-run opening stand between PS Khanduri and AK Bains put Himachal in a commanding position against Goa. Bains milked the visitors bowling attack while his opening partner held one end up. The opener had scored 143 off 216 balls when Felix Alemo sent him back. 12 runs later Khanduri was trapped lbw by RR Singh. Wickets then continued to fall at regular intervals.
At stumps, Himachal were 356 for four with N Gangta and A Kumar at the crease. HP lead by 101 runs.
