Tamil Nadu pull off a Houdini-esque recovery to stun Baroda in the Ranji Trophy: Day 3 Roundup
In a comeback of epic proportions, an exuberant Tamil Nadu team defeated Baroda at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Riding on left-arm spinner Rahil Shah’s 5-wicket haul, the Abhinav Mukund-lead side successfully defended 122 on a raging turner.
Apart from a cameo by Deepak Hooda, the remaining batsmen struggled to come to terms with the conditions. Shah was ably supported by fellow spinner Malolan Rangarajan who demolished the Baroda top order that also featured former India batsman Yusuf Pathan.
In Guwahati, Karnataka captain Vinay Kumar executed a daring declaration, setting Assam 387 to win. Resuming on 77/0, the defending champions began purposefully and settled into a nice batting rhythm. Opener R Samarth stroked his way to his third first-class century by compiling useful partnerships with the middle-order batsmen. After they reached 394/8, Vinay Kumar decided to insert the Assam openers for an uncomfortable hour. At stumps, Assam were at 30/1 after losing Sibsankar Roy.
Meanwhile in Mohali, Railways suffered a catastrophic collapse in reply to Punjab's humongous total of 604. From 150/0, they crumbled to 196 all out. Skipper Yuvraj Singh must have been thrilled however with a stirring comeback from his bowlers with the unfancied 22-year old Brainder Sran leading the way. The left-arm medium pacer scalped six wickets and bowled in tandem with Siddarth Kaul who accounted for the remaining wickets. The Railways batsmen continued to slide further and are stuck at 125/5.
Despite 24-year old Govind Poddar’s unbeaten 148, Odisha could only manage 274 in reply to Vidarbha’s first innings score of 467. At the VCA stadium in Nagpur, Indian speedster Umesh Yadav could not trouble the opposition batting line-up as he went wicket-less from the 16 overs that he bowled. Having enforced the follow-on, Vidarbha are sitting pretty with Odisha battling for survival at 15 without any loss.
Newly appointed Kerala Ranji team captain, Sanju Samson led by example and constructed a massive partnership with team-mate Sachin Baby. At the scenic landscape of Srinagar, centuries from both batsmen enabled Kerala to post a strong reply to Jammu & Kashmir’s 330. Star off-spinner, Parvez Rasool bowled more than 30 overs, without much success. Baby was unbeaten on 149 with Kerala managing to reach 485/8 at stumps.
33-year-old all-rounder Sumit Narwal smashed a 94-ball 106 which allowed Delhi to set a significant target of 336 for Rajasthan XI at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir chipped in with a useful 93. During their pursuit of a sizeable target, Rajasthan XI were dealt an early blow when opener Pranay Sharma was trapped in front by Pawan Suyal. They require a further 316 to win.
Virender Sehwag’s captaincy debut for Haryana did not go according to his plans. In reply to Haryana’s 335, Maharashtra strolled to 256/3 and look set to gain the first-innings advantage. Opening batsman Swapnil Gugale anchored the innings with a refined innings of 91 in Pune.
In Vizianagaram, former title-winners Mumbai stuttered their way to 158/5 against Andhra Pradesh. From 61/4, they were staring into an abyss before Siddesh Lad rescued Mumbai with an unbeaten 63 in the rain-affected rubber.
With vital contributions from almost every batsman, Goa obtained the first-innings lead against a non-threatening Hyderabad attack in Porvorim. In response to 325 from a highly inexperienced Hyderabadi batting line-up, Sargun Kamat compiled an unbeaten 81 to guide Goa to 349/5.
After batting endlessly for more than 2 days, Uttar Pradesh captain Praveen Kumar finally decided to declare on an unforgiving pitch for the bowlers in Moradabad. As expected, Madhya Pradesh joined the batting marathon and ended the day at 234/3 in what is turning out to be a first-innings shootout.