Ranji Trophy Roundup: Gugale-Bawane create record, Ishwar Pandey picks up an eight-for
Day 2 of the second round of Ranji Trophy matches saw a lot of thrilling action with many records broken. Here’s a look at what transpired from across the groups:
1.Maharashtra vs Delhi - Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
The biggest talking point of the day across all matches was the new Ranji Trophy record for the highest partnership that was created by the pairing of Swapnil Gugale and Ankit Bawane, who put 594 runs for the third wicket, to go past Vijay Hazare and Gul Mahomed’s record of 577 runs.
They had the chance to go past all-time record, but chose not too, declaring the innings at 635 for 2. Gugale finished not out on 351 while Bawane was unbeaten on 258.
In response, Delhi were 21 for no loss at Stumps on Day 2.
Brief score: Maharashtra 635 for 2 dec(Gugale 351*, Bawane 258*) vs Delhi 21 for 0.
2.Tamil Nadu vs Railways - Luhnu Cricket ground, Bilaspur
Resuming the day at 87 for 3, The Railways needed a good opening hour, but the Tamil Nadu bowlers showed good control with the ball, in particular, T Natarajan,who picked up four wickets and K Vignesh, who took 2 to bowl the Railways for 173 and restrict the lead to just 52 runs.
In reply, the batsman put in a much-improved performance, with skipper Abhinav Mukund leading the way with an unbeaten 98 and Kaushik Gandhi giving him company as they eventually reached 161 for 1 to take a lead of 109 runs.
Brief Scores: Tamil Nadu 121 & 161 for 1(Mukund 98*, Gandhi 41*) vs Railways 173(Mrunal Devdhar 47, T Natarajan 4-51)
3.Mumbai vs Baroda - Palam Ground, New Delhi
Baroda could add just 19 runs to their overnight score of 286 for 9, but their bowlers put in a spirited performance, led by Sagar Mangalorkar, who took 3 wickets to keep things tight.
However, Akhil Herwadkar was the glue that kept Mumbai in the game, scoring a fine century and an invaluable 56 from Balwinder Sandhu ensured that the defending champions got a first-innings lead of 8 runs to finish at 313 for 9 at the end of Day 2.
Brief Scores: Baroda 305 vs Mumbai 313 for 9( Herwadkar 106, Sandhu 56, Suryakumar Yadav 54)
4.Karnataka vs Jharkhand - Sports Complex Ground, Noida
Starting the day at 248 for 3, Karnataka further strengthened their grip over proceedings as R Samarth stroked his way to a double hundred , eventually getting out for 235. Karun Nair, however, could not get to his three-figure score, bowled by Ashish Kumar for 74.
Stuart Binny was unfortunate to miss out on a hundred, as he was caught by Anand Singh off the bowling of Shahbaz Nadeem for 97, but it had ensured that Karnataka had already put up a massive score on the board , eventually declaring at 577 for 6.
In reply, Jharkhand negotiated the remaining 9 overs without any damage to finish at 9 for 0.
Brief Scores: Karnataka 577 for 6 declared(R Samarth 235, Binny 97) vs Jharkhand 9 for 0.
5.Madhya Pradesh vs Punjab - Chaudhry Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium, Lahli
Resuming the day at 347 for 3, Punjab looked good to post a massive first innings, but Ishwar Pandey had other ideas in mind, as they sliced through the opposition middle and lower-order and bowled Punjab out for 378.
Pandey finished with figures of 8 for 102 as Punjab lost seven wickets for 31 runs.
In reply, Manpreet Singh Grewal did most of the damage for Punjab, removing four top-order wickets to restrict them to 182 for 5 at the end of the second day.
Brief Scores: Punjab 378 vs Madhya Pradesh 182 for 5( Shubham Sharma 48, 4-25).
Group B
Odisha 228 and 62 for 2 vs Saurashtra 186
Group C
Tripura 275 vs Services 202 for 9
Chattisgarh 394 vs Andhra 151 for 5
J&K 227 and 261 vs Goa 77 and 22 for no loss
Kerala 248 vs Himachal Pradesh 198 for 8