Ranji Trophy 2016-17, Eighth Round Day 3 Round-up: Indian discards shine
After a humiliating performance in the first innings, Bengal managed to fight back in style, courtesy two big knocks from captain Manoj Tiwary and Sudip Chatterjee. A quickfire, unbeaten 30 from Pragyan Ojha at the fag end of the innings helped Bengal reach 433 in response to Mumbai’s 229.
Resuming on 198-3, Tiwary composed a 271-run partnership with the other centurion, Sudip Chatterjee. For Mumbai, Dhawal Kulkarni took four wickets, whereas Abhishek Nayar chipped in with two.
Bengal 99 & 433-8, Mumbai 229
Madhya Pradesh have all but managed to finish off the match, taking nine Baroda wickets for just 114 runs in the second innings. It is a pity they could not pick up the last wicket, and would have to wait one more day to claim the final one.
Resuming the day on 126-5, Madhya Pradesh’s lower order helped them post a competitive score of 293 in the second innings, taking the lead beyond the Baroda batsmen’s reach. Harmanpreet Singh Bhatia scored a useful 73, while the rest of the lower order chipped in with small but important contributions. Atit Sheth took four wickets.
MP 217 & 293, Baroda 164 & 114-9
Priyank Panchal’s record-breaking triple century has given Gujarat enough runs to play with, resulting in the Punjab batsmen caving in front of a 624 run total. Rush Kalaria took four wickets for Gujarat, while Harshal Patel took two.
Following on, Punjab lost a wicket for 36 runs, still trailing by 341 runs. With one more day to go, they’ll have to get their defensive bats out and survive three more sessions.
Gujarat 624/6 dec, Punjab 247 & 36-1 (following on)
A low scoring match, with two innings still to get completed, might not be able to eke out a result on the last day. Rain has played spoilsport and is expected to be the same way for the final day as well.
Manan Sharma has been holding fort with an unbeaten 82 down the order, with big names like Gautam Gambhir and Rishabh Pant failing to perform. The Delhi total stays at 250-8, with a cyclone warning predicted for Chennai.
Vidarbha 183, Delhi 250-8
After scoring 200 in the first innings, Karnataka stuttered in the second innings as well, ending the day on 163-5, having managed a lead of nine runs before the final day.
Saurashtra’s response in the first innings was set around Prerak Mankad’s 126 and Snell Patel’s 87. For Karnataka, captain R. Vinay Kumar picked up four wickets, while spinner Abrar Kazi took four more wickets.
Karnataka 200 & 168-5, Saurashtra 359
Captain Suresh Raina scored 91 in both innings, helping his side attain a stranglehold over the match. His team has left the Railways tottering at 34-5, still requiring a mammoth 341 runs to win the match, or three sessions of dogged batting to survive it.
Opener Saurabh and batsman Arindam Ghosh were the only ones who managed to dodge the UP bowlers, scoring half centuries in the first innings, while Imtiaz Ahmed was the wrecker-in-chief for the UP team, claiming five wickets.
UP 259 & 330, Railways 214 and 35-5
Other scores:
Jharkhand 316, Assam 126 & 269-5 (Following on)
Haryana 402, HP 233 & 142-1 (Following on)
Hyderabad 328 & 242-2 (Decl), JnK 169, 42-4 (Target 404)
Tripura 213 & 162, Kerala 193 & 117-0 (Target 183)
Services 225 & 340-7 (decl), Chattisgarh 281 & 6-0 (Target 285)
Goa 115 & 276, AP 159 & 198 (Goa won by 34 runs)