Ranji Trophy: Big wins for Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir

Gurkeerat Singh

Hubli, Dec 17 (IANS) Karnataka swept to a 10-wicket victory against Punjab for whom a fighting century by Gurkeerat Singh (157, 197b, 20×4) went in vain in the Group A Ranji Trophy league match here Tuesday.

The other winners in the seventh round were Jammu and Kashmir, who beat Assam by nine wickets in a Group C clash at the Gandhi Memorial Science College Ground, Jammu.

Punjab, 331 runs in arrears on first innings, resumed at their overnight score of 156 for five, and avoided an innings defeat as they posted 361, courtesy Gurkeerat Singh and his 186-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Gitansh Khera (84, 134b, 9×4). The duo only delayed the inevitable as Punjab set a target of 30 runs that Karnataka ticked off in just 4.5 overs.

Karnataka thus recorded their third win in six matches to top Group A with 26 points while Punjab remained on 17 after crashing to their second defeat.

Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir also went joint top of Group C, tied on points 24 points with Himachal Pradesh, who have played a game more.

At Mumbai, a gritty effort by Odisha’s top order denied the hosts full points and a chance to top Group A. Natraj Behera’s dogged 127 not out kept the Mumbai bowlers at bay and helped his team register a point.

In Delhi, Railways missed a golden chance to open a big gap at the top of Group A standings as bad light and fog hampered their entire match against Tamil Nadu.

Railways first innings collapse which saw them being bowled out for 169 also didn’t do the team any favours as Tamil Nadu took home three points courtesy their higher first innings score of 246.

Railways still top the group with 21 points, one more than Uttar Pradesh in second.

Brief scores:

Bengal 284 (Shukla 117, RP 5-77) and 70 for 2 beat Uttar Pradesh 212 and 140 (Dinda 7-88) by 8 wickets.

Baroda 369 (Mistry 118, Irfan 22) beat Services 191 (Munaf 4-38) and 31 (Munaf 6-13) by an innings and 147 runs.

Delhi 448 for 9 dec (Gambhir 49, Sehwag 56, Manhas 100, Nehra 57) beat Vidarbha 88 (Nehra 6-16) and 204 (Fazal 90, Nehra 3-66) by an innings and 156 runs.

Jammu & Kashmir 427 and 32 for 1 beat Assam 263 (Sharma 108) and 195 (Samiullah Beigh 6-42) by nine wickets.

Karnataka 505 for 9 dec (Rahul 92, Pandey 161, Vinay 103 not out) and 33 for 0 beat Punjab 174 (Vohra 69) and 361 (Gurkeerat 157, Khera 84) by ten wickets.

Odisha 251 (Behera 130) and 356 for 5 (Natraj Behera 127 not out) drew with Mumbai 501 for 9 dec (Jaffer 143, Hiken 170).

Madhya Pradesh 619 for 8 dec (Saxena 194, Ojha 154, Mishra 113 not out) and 119 for 2 (Jalaj Saxena 56 not out) drew with Saurashtra 490 (Jackson 84, Jogiyani 190).

Hyderabad 514 for 6 dec (Vihari 201 not out) and 12 for 0 drew with Goa 465 (R Asnodkar 103, Misal 57, Jakati 80).

Gujarat 578 for 8 (Parthiv 37, Merai 198, Venugopal 111, Akshar Patel 69 not out) drew with Haryana 573 for 6 dec (Sunny 201, Rana 102, Saini 106).

Maharashtra 314 (Khadiwale 97) and 130 for 3 (Jadhav 34) drew with Kerala 151 (Samson 18) and 424 for 9 (Samson 66, Baby 96).

Tamil Nadu 246 (Aparajith 29, Prasanna 117) and 28 for 2 (Abhinav Mukund 2, Badrinath 6) drew with Railways 169 (Balaji 4-31).

Himachal 305 (Gangta 115, Malik 83, Dhawan 19) and 154 for 5 (Prashant 63, Dogra 64) drew with Andhra 417 (Prashant 199, Dhawan 5-115) and 232 for 3 dec (Sriram 101 not out).