Ranji Trophy Day 4 Round-Up: Defending champions Karnataka win their first match of the season
Defending champions Karnataka maintained their unbeaten run in the Ranji Trophy as they won their first game of the season in Jaipur. After drawing their first four games, Karnataka beat Rajasthan by 92 runs to get six points from the fifth round match.
Fifties from Mayank Agarwal and Ravikumar Samarth helped Karnataka post a first innings total of 281, which Rajasthan fell short of owing to some good bowling by the Karnataka bowlers led by their captain Vinay Kumar.
Robin Uthappa's quickfire century helped Karnataka set a target of 358, which Rajasthan failed to chase down despite a century by Pranay Sharma. Uthappa was rightly named the man of the match for his score of 160.
Sreenath Aravind and David Mathias finished with five wickets each in the match for Karnataka.
Karnataka 281 (Agarwal 66, Samarth 65; Choudhary 5-77) & 318-5d (Uthappa 160, Reddy 69; Bhatia 2-44) beat Rajasthan 242 (Bhatia 99; Kumar 3-42, Aravind 3-42) & 265 (Sharma 114, Yagnik 71; Mathias 3-53) by 92 runs.
Punjab did not seem to miss their captain Yuvraj Singh as stand-in captain Gurkeerat Singh Mann put in a match-winning performance to pick up nine wickets in the match as Punjab beat Andhra by seven wickets in a low-scoring encounter at Patiala. The match was completed in just two days.
Punjab 147 (Jiwanjot Singh 59; Prasanth 4-14) & 67-3 (Mandeep Singh 22*) beat Andhra 80 (Prasanth 33; Gurkeerat 4-14) & 133 (Bharat 39; Gurkeerat 5-38) by 7 wickets.
Saurabh Kumar's excellent bowling performance led Uttar Pradesh to a victory over Gujarat in Valsad. The 22-year-old spinner picked up ten wickets to help his team win by 155 runs. Axar Patel's all-round performance in the second innings was not enough to inspire Gujarat.
Uttar Pradesh 273 (Asnora 57; Bumrah 3-35) & 257 (Umang Sharma 66; Axar Patel 5-90) beat Gujarat 100 (Parthiv Patel 39; Praveen Kumar 5-16, Saurabh Kumar 5-37) & 275 (Juneja 91, Axar Patel 80; Saurabh Kumar 5-106) by 155 runs.
Saurashtra continued their perfect start to the 2015/16 season as they won their match against Services by four wickets. Although Ravindra Jadeja did not contribute much with the ball, he scored a useful fifty in the second innings to aid Saurashtra's chase. Rajat Paliwal's tons in each innings was in vain for Services.
Saurashtra 264 (Barot 66; Khalid 5-74) & 302-6 (Dodia 65, Vasavada 57, Jadeja 55; Khalid 4-147) beat Services 254 (Paliwal 121; Unadkat 6-80) & 311-6d (Yashpal Singh 115, Paliwal 103; Sanandiya 3-54)
Virender Sehwag-led Haryana managed to salvage a draw on the last day against Bengal at Rohtak. After being bowled out for 225 runs in the first innings, Haryana were set a target of 316 runs on the last day. Sehwag managed to get off to a good start in typical fashion but failed to carry on as he was dismissed for 46 runs.
Bengal 329 (Chandila 65, Shaw 54; Rana 5-46) & 211 (Shaw 61; Ashish Hooda 4-65) drew with Haryana 225 (Rohit Sharma 78; Mukesh Kumar 4-53) & 195-6 (Rohit Sharma 50, Rana 50; Dinda 3-52)
Odisha managed to get a draw against a Delhi side inspired by Pradeep Sangwan's brilliant first innings bowling performance. Sangwan picked up seven wickets in the first innings to help his side get a 94-run lead. Odisha were bowled out for 217 in the first innings, losing their last six wickets for 22 runs.
Delhi 311 (Milind Kumar 59, Pradhan 4-119) & 193-9d (Shorey 62; Mohanty 6-39) drew with Odisha 217 (Sarangi 76; Sangwan 7-38) & 88-3 (Behera 35; Narang 2-29)
Tamil Nadu vice-captain Baba Indrajith's first-innings century and some good bowling by the bowlers helped their team to a convincing victory against Railways, who were forced to follow-on in Delhi.
Tamil Nadu 328 (Indrajith 151; Anureet Singh 5-104) & 77-2 (Karthik 43; Anureet Singh 2-43) beat Railways 164 (Cheluvaraj 66; Aswin Crist 6-60) & 240 (f/o) (Cheluvaraj 88; Shah 4-38) by 8 wickets.
Akshay Wakhare and Aditya Sarwate bowled Vidarbha to an 82-run victory over Maharashtra as the latter were bowled out for 162 chasing a total of 245. Wakhare and Sarwate shared all the ten Maharashtra wickets in the second innings.
Vidarbha 332 (Fazal 120; Mundhe 3-60, Sanklecha 3-60) & 149 (Jaffer 33; Darekar 5-78) beat Maharashtra 237 (Khurana 74; Sarwate 3-41) & 162 (Khadiwale 55; Wakhare 6-58, Sarwate 4-74) by 82 runs.
Himachal Pradesh maintained their unbeaten record this season as they thrashed Tripura by an innings and six runs. A double century by Paras Dogra and centuries by Ankush Bains and Prashant Chopra helped Himachal post a massive first innings total of 561.
Himachal Pradesh 561-5 (Dogra 209*, Bains 114, Chopra 101; Dutta 3-79) beat Tripura 285 (Bose 95; Chauhan 3-55) & 270 (Chowdhary 66; Bedi 3-50) by an innings and six runs.
Mihir Hirwani played a match-winning innings with the balls as he picked up four wickets in the first innings and five wickets in the second innings to help Madhya Pradesh beat Baroda by 87 runs.
Madhya Pradesh 269 (Patidar 60; Swapnil Singh 4-61) & 288-6d (Patidar 101; Swapnil Singh 4-94) beat Baroda 296 (Waghmode 68; Hirwani 5-60) & 174 (Yusuf Pathan 86; Datey 4-20, Hirwani 4-41) by 87 runs.
Goa and Jharkhand played out a draw after the no play on the first day of the game. Swapnil Asnodkar was named as man of the match for his first innings total of 71.
Goa 302 (Asnodkar 71; Quadri 6-97) & 102-5d (Misal 39*; Shukla 2-7) drew with Jharkhand 209 (Sumit Kumar 51; Jakati 5-72) & 105-6 (Gautam 41; Yadav 3-47)
Jammu & Kashmir's new season recruit Mithun Manhas scored a first innings century to propel his team to a massive total of 460. The first innings lead gave J&K a much-needed three points as they forced Hyderabad to follow-on.
Jammu & Kashmir 460 (Manhas 150, Ian Dev Singh 83, Rasool 75; Ahmed 5-92) & 56-2 (Ian Dev Singh 26*; Ahmed 1-8) drew with Hyderabad 280 (Tanmay Agarwal 71; Sofi 4-37) & 329 (Sumanth 78; Dayal 5-55)
The next round of Ranji matches begin on November 7.