Ranji Trophy Day 2 Round-Up: Punjab beat Andhra by 7 wickets; Rajat Bhatia falls for 99 against Karnataka
Punjab have registered a comprehensive victory against Andhra under two days, by beating them by 7 wickets to claim their second victory of the season and go on top of the Group B points table. The result of the game was never in doubt since the start of the day’s play, as Andhra were struggling to stay in the match, after being dismissed for 80 in their first innings.
Punjab had managed to secure a 67-run first innings lead, after being dismissed for 147. Andhra yet again, endured a batting collapse in their second innings and were dismissed for just 133 runs in their second innings. Captain Mohammed Kaif had a forgettable match, having been dismissed for a duck in both innings.
Gurkeerat Singh Mann again turned out to be the hero for Punjab, claiming 5 wickets, in addition to his 4-fer in the first innings. Punjab overcame initial hiccups before chasing down the narrow target of 67, with 7 wickets in hand.
Meanwhile, another Delhi discard Rajat Bhatia narrowly missed out on scoring his first ton for Rajasthan against defending champions Karnataka, and was dismissed for an agonizing 99. The hosts finished the day at 219/7, still 63 runs behind Karnataka’s first innings score of 281.
In another match being played in Delhi, Tamil Nadu gained the upper hand by restricting Railways to 129/7, after scoring 328 in their first innings. Saurashtra narrowly earned the first innings lead after being dismissed for 264, in reply to Services’ score of 254.
In Valsad, Uttar Pradesh produced a brilliant bowling display to dismiss hosts Gujarat for just 100. Praveen Kumar and Saurabh Kumar both finished with 5-wickets apiece. Meanwhile, Jammu-Kashmir posted a healthy total of 460 against Hyderabad.
Brief Scores: Group A
Rajasthan 219 for 7 (Bhatia 99) vs Karnataka 281 (Agarwal 66, Samarth 65, Choudhary 5-77).
Maharashtra 144 for 6 (Gugale 42*, Thakur 2-22, Wagh 2-31) vs Vidarbha 332 (Fazal 110*, Shrivastava 63, Sanklecha 3-60, Mundhe 3-60).
Haryana 186 for 6 (R Sharma 52*, Chahal 33*, Sehwag 28, Mukesh 4-49) vs Bengal 329 (Chandila 65, Shaw 54, Ojha 51).
Delhi 245 for 7 (Milind 59, Pradhan 4-83) vs Odisha.
Group B
Baroda 188 for 4 (Waghmode 64*, Hooda 51) vs Madhya Pradesh 269 (Patidar 60, Harpreet 51, Swapnil 4-61).
UP 273 and 163 for 7 (Umang 66, Axar 4-54) vs Gujarat 100 (Praveen 5-16, Saurabh 5-37).
Punjab 147 (Jiwanjot 59, Prashanth 4-14) and 67 for 3 beat Andhra 80 (Gurkeerat 4-14) and 133 (Gurkeerat 5-38).
Railways 129 for 7 (Cheluvaraj 63*, Crist 4-42, Kousik 3-7) vs Tamil Nadu 328 (Indrajith 151, Anureet 5-104).
Group C
Himachal Pradesh 259 for 3 (Bains 114, Chopra 101, Dutta 3-26) vs Tripura 285 (Bose 95).
Hyderabad 113 for 2 vs Jammu & Kashmir 460.
Services 254 and 0 for 0 vs Saurashtra 264 (Barot 66, Jani 47, Jadeja 6, Pathania 4-72, Khalid 5-74).
Goa 141 for 2 (Asnodkar 67*) vs Jharkhand.