The second day of the quarterfinal round of Ranji Trophy 2015-16 witnessed exciting cricket on all the four venues. While Saurashtra batsmen Sagar Jogiyani and Sheldon Jackson scored centuries to put the team in an advantageous position, Umesh Yadav claimed a five-for and Aditya Sarvate picked a four-wicket haul for Vidarbha.
Bowlers dominated the proceedings in the other three games. Pacers claimed 16 wickets at the Cricket Club of India as Ashoke Dinda-led Bengal attack and Ishwar Pander-led Madhya Pradesh attack got purchase from the wicket. Assam’s pacers pushed Punjab on the backfoot but Barinder Sran struck in early in second innings to keep Punjab alive.
Mumbai continued to dominate in the match against Jharkhand in Mysore where spinners ruled on the day.
Here are the highlights of the day:
QF 1 - Vidarbha vs Saurashtra: Sau 1st inn 375/10 (S Jogiyani 130, S Jackson 122, U Yadav 5/81, A Sarvate 4/63); Vid 2nd inn 17/0 (F Fazal 11*, J Sharma 6*) Trail by 207 runs
Sagar Jogiyanai (130) and Sheldon Jackson (122) helped Saurashtra to a respectable 375 and take a 224-run lead with a 206-run partnership. The Saurashtra opener held up one end as the Umesh Yadav-led attack reduced side to 82 for three. The pacer, who finished with a five-for, claimed the key wicket of Cheteshwar Pujara (47). At 82 for three, the middle-order batsman joined the wicketkeeper-batsman in forging a vital stand that tipped the balance in their team's favour which was eventually ended by Yadav. The pacer bowled Jackson to end flourishing stand, and with Aditya Sarvate, wrapped up the innings for 375.
Jitesh Sharma and Faiz Fazal then took Vidarbha to stumps at 17 without loss.
QF 2 - Assam vs Punjab: Assam 1st inn 323/10 (J Syed Mohammed 121, D Bansal 3/75); Punjab 1st inn 137/10 (M Sidhana 80*, A Das 3/41, K Das 3/54); Assam 2nd inn 23/4 (R Hazarika 9*, B Sran 3/11) lead by 209 runs
Syed Mohammed helped Assam to a respectable 323 with a well made 121 with the lower-order after resuming the day on 50 not out. However, 16 wickets fell in Valsad on the second day as pacers dominated the game for the better part of the day.
After Deepak Bansal claimed the remaining two Assam wickets to end their first innings on 323, the Assam attack skittled Punjab out for 137 to take a 186-run lead. The Assam pace attack who had troubled batsmen throughout the league phase, ran through the Punjab line-up on the second day. Krishna Das and Arup Das claimed three wickets each while Dhiraj Goswami and Pallav Kumar Das picked one and two wickets respectively. Mayank Siddana was stranded on 80 as wickets crumbled around him like a pack of cards.
However, Barinder Sran then claimed three quick wickets while Siddharth Kaul took one to reduce Assam to 23 for four at stumps.
QF 3 - Bengal vs Madhya Pradesh: MP 348/10 (D Bundela 58, VP Singh 5/76, A Dinda 3/85); Bengal 1st inn 121/10 (A Easwaran 48, I Pandey 4/45, P Datey 3/30, C Sakure 3/38); MP 2nd inn 14/0, Lead by 241 runs
On the second day in Mumbai, pacers got purchase from the wicket as Bengal bowlers found their way back in the morning while the Ishwar Pandey-led MP attack dominated in the second and third session.
Ashoke Dinda claimed both the overnight batsmen, Harpreet Singh Bhatia and Devendra Bundela to set the ball rolling and wrapped up MP's first innings at the stroke of lunch. While Dinda claimed three wickets, Veer Pratap Singh got his maiden first-class five-wicket haul.
With young Puneet Datey and debutant Chandrakant Sakure, Pandey ran through the Bengal line-up. The youngsters claimed three wickets each while the leader of the pack claimed four. His second spell, which fetched the key wickets of Manoj Tiwary and Wriddhiman Saha tipped the balance in MP's favour.
At stumps, MP were leading by 241 runs with both the openers at the crease.
QF 4 - Jharkhand vs Mumbai: Mumbai 1st inn 416/10 (A Nayar 74, S Nadeem 5/140); Jharkhand 1st inn 150/8 (A Singh 39, A Herwadkar 3/26, I Abdullah 3/39) Trail by 266 runs
Abhishek Nayar helped Mumbai to 416 after resuming on the team’s overnight score of 303 with a determined 167-ball 74 before being bowled out. His opposite number, Shahbaz Nadeem finished with a five-for as he claimed the lower-order to bring curtains down on Mumbai's first innings.
The Mumbai bowlers then helped maintain the advantage by claiming wickets at regular intervals. After Shardul Thakur provided the first breakthrough, coming in as the fifth bowler, to end the opening stand for 46, the spinners accounted for the middle-order. Akhil Herwadkar who had scored a century on the first day to lay the foundation for a solid score, returned to claim three wickets with his off-spin. With spinners getting purchase from the wicket during Mumbai's innings, Nayar had given the new-ball to Vishal Dabholkar along with pacer Dhawal Kulkarni. Although Dabholkar didn't get a wicket, Herwadkar and Iqbal Abdullah picked three wickets apiece to push the opposition on the back foot.
Follow the stars:
Harbhajan Singh scored nine runs in Punjab's innings.
Ishwar Pandey took four Bengal wickets. His victims include Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary and Wriddhiman Saha, who was out for naught.
Barinder Sran picked three wickets from just five overs and gave away only 11 runs
