2017-18 Ranji trophy, first round, day 4 round-up: Yusuf Pathan's twin centuries go in vain
It was a thrilling finish to round one of Ranji Trophy 2017/18 as Yusuf Pathan's twin centuries went in vain as Baroda lost to Madhya Pradesh, Delhi didn't have enough time to chase a paltry 78 and had settle for a draw while Tamil Nadu just managed to hang on for a draw in a thriller against Andhra in Chennai.
Baba Aparajith's century and an attacking declaration wasn't enough to get off to a winning start to this year's Ranji Trophy. In a thrilling encounter at Chennai, Andhra needed 87 off the last 10 overs with eight wickets in hand. But R Ashwin and K Vignesh picked up five wickets between them and almost helped the hosts pull off a miracle but they had to settle for a draw as Andhra fell 20 runs short and TN couldn't pick up the three wickets they needed for the victory.
Earlier in the day, Baba Aparajith's unbeaten century, Abhinav Mukund's 95 and a couple of cameos from Washington Sundar and N Jagadeesan helped the hosts set Andhra a stiff target of 218 from 42 overs. Andhra began resolutely on the back of KS Bharat's 64 and cameos from Ashwin Hebbar and Hanuma Vihari almost pulled off a victory but they had to settle for a draw and a first innings lead.
Tamil Nadu 176 and 350/6 decl. (Baba Aparajith, 108*, Abhinav Mukund 95) vs Andhra 309 (B Sandeep 109, R Ashwin 4/71) and 198/7 (KS Bharat 64, K Vignesh 3/34). Match Drawn.
Yusuf Pathan scored a century in both innings for Baroda but it still wasn't enough as they lost to Madhya Pradesh by eight wickets at Indore. Going into the final day, Baroda were still trailing by over 200 runs but an unbeaten century by Yusuf, who put on 218 runs for the eighth wicket gave Baroda a chance. But Ishwar Pandey's five-wicket haul meant Madhya Pradesh only needed 70 to win and although lost two wickets in the first three balls, they got home in 16 overs with Harpreet Singh unbeaten on 44.
Baroda 302 (Yusuf Pathan 111, Irfan Pathan 80) and 318 (Yusuf Pathan 136*, A Sheth 109, Ishwar Pandey 5/40) lost to Madhya Pradesh 551/8 decl. and 73/2 (Harpreet Singh 44*) by 8 wickets.
An aggressive second innings batting display and a bold declaration from captain Manoj Tiwary wasn't enough to give Bengal the victory against Services at the Palam ground in Delhi. After taking a 193-run first innings lead, Bengal scored quickly in the second innings and set Services a target of 355 for victory on the final day with just over two and a half sessions to get those runs in.
Despite boasting of a bowling line-up that consisted of Indian internationals Ashoke Dinda and Mohammed Shami, Bengal could only pick up seven wickets and had to settle for the draw and a first innings lead.
Bengal 552/9 decl. and 161/5 decl. (Abhishek Raman 40, DG Pathania 3/71) lead Services 359 and 212/7 (Vikas Hathwala 64, Kanishk Seth 2/18). Match Drawn.
Here is a brief summary of what happened on day 4 of the first round.
Delhi (Ferozshah Kotla): Assam 258 and 255 (Sibsankar Roy 87, Manan Sharma 3/58) trail Delhi 435 (Gautam Gambhir 137, Nitish Rana 110, Anuj Rawat 71) and 49/2 (Unmukt Chand 25*). Match Drawn
Dharamsala: Punjab 601 (Abhishek Gupta 202, Abhishek Sharma 94, Pargat Singh 64, GK Singh 6/162) vs Himachal Pradesh 729/8 decl. and 145/6 (Paras Dogra 45*, Manpreet Gony 2/20). Match Drawn.
Goa: Goa 282 (Sumiran Amonkar 79, SS Ruikar 5/72) and 170/7 (Sumiran Amonkar 53, SS Ruikar 5/29) vs Chhattisgarh 458. Match Drawn
Jaipur: Jammu and Kashmir 436/6 decl. (Ahmad Omar Banday 102, Parvez Rasool 97, Ian Chauhan 79) vs Rajasthan 330 and 246/4 ( RK Bishnoi Sr 101*). Match Drawn.
Bhubaneshwar: Tripura 194/8 decl. (UU Bose 104, Dhiraj Singh 5/55) vs Odisha 18/1. Match Drawn.
Hyderabad: Hyderabad vs Maharashtra. Match Abandoned.
Completed on Day 3:
Trivandrum: Kerala 259 and 34/1 (KB Arun Karthick 27*) beat Jharkhand 202 and 89 (Saurabh Tiwary 26*, Jalaj Saxena 5/27, M Kareparambil 4/42) by 9 wickets.
Lahli: Haryana 107 and 140 (CK Bishnoi 56, Jaydev Unadkat 3/55, Chirag Jani 2/12, Shaurya Sanandia 2/18) lost to Saurashtra 278 by an innings and 31 runs.
Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh 250 and 72 (Suresh Raina 29, Avinash Yadav 4/26, Anureet Singh 3/25) lost to Railways 182 and 161 (Arindam Ghosh 57, Ankit Rajpoot 4/34) by 21 runs.