New Delhi: Mizoram’s Chinmay Sutar became only the second batter in Ranji Trophy history to hit a quadruple century, while Delhi captain Ayush Badoni struck a double hundred and India batters Sarfaraz Khan and Rajat Patidar notched up centuries on an eventful day two of the second round of the Ranji Trophy on Monday.
Playing in just his second first-class match, Sutar remained unbeaten on 400 against Nagaland in a Plate group game at the Nagaland Cricket Stadium in Sovima, and become only the second Indian to score a quadruple hundred in first-class cricket.
The left-hander went past Prithvi Shaw’s 379 to post the second-highest individual score in the history of the competition. Only Bhausaheb Nimbalkar’s unbeaten 443 for Maharashtra against Kathiawar in Pune in 1948-49 remains ahead of him.
Sutar was on 392 at tea and brought up his 400 in the 155th over, prompting Mizoram to declare at 581/9. He faced 517 balls in all and struck 46 fours and seven sixes. Mizoram, who ended day one on 331/5, slipped to 391/9 and Sutar was on 231 when last man Lalrempuia Chhakchhuak joined him. The pair put on an unbroken 190-run stand to take the game away from Nagaland.
It has entered the record books as the third-highest last-wicket partnership in Ranji Trophy history, 43 runs short of the record 233 set by Ajay Sharma and Maninder Singh for Delhi against Mumbai in 1991-92. Sutar also became only the 10th batter to score 400 or more in a first-class innings, joining a list that features batting greats such as Brian Lara and Don Bradman.
Sutar made his Ranji debut for Mizoram in last week’s season opener against Manipur after obtaining a no-objection certificate from the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA). He scored 35 and 99 in that game, as Mizoram recovered from a 68-run first-innings deficit before going down narrowly by three wickets.
Sutar had played for Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy last season on the back of strong showings in Mumbai’s local leagues. By the time stumps were called in Sovima, Nagaland reached 50/1.
Elsewhere in the Plate group, Parth Palawat and Nilesh Lamichaney scored hundreds as Sikkim piled up 477/4 against Arunachal Pradesh’s 121. Meanwhile, Karnajit Yumnam’s unbeaten 93 led Manipur’s strong reply of 173/2 to Meghalaya’s 380, in which Pheiroijam Jotin bagged five wickets in a 29-over spell.
In Elite Group A, Patidar’s unbeaten 107, studded with 13 fours, took Madhya Pradesh to 302/5 and their lead swelling to 125 against Puducherry. Chanchal Rathore and Shubham Sharma also made half-centuries for Madhya Pradesh.
Ravikumar Samarth’s 143 rescued Vidarbha in a sensational fashion and took them past Jammu and Kashmir’s 260, with number nine Rajneesh Gurbani making an unbeaten 64. Umar Nazir and Sunil Kumar took four wickets each for the hosts and leave Vidarbha at 133/7, before Samarth bailed Vidarbha out of trouble.
Nachiket Bhute then rocked J&K’s top order to leave them reeling at 7/4 in Srinagar, as the defending champions still trail by 38 runs. In Kanpur, Zeeshan Ansari’s five-wicket haul helped Uttar Pradesh bowl out Goa for 164 and take a 38-run lead. At stumps, UP reached 102/4 in their second innings.
Priyanshu Moliya’s 132, backed by fifties from Mahesh Pithiya and Deepak Hooda, gave Baroda a 250-run lead over Bihar. At stumps, Bihar reached 4/0 in one over of their second innings and still trail by 246 runs.
In Group B, Salil Arora (107 off 226 balls) and skipper Uday Saharan (161 off 299 balls) steered Punjab to 456 against Chhattisgarh, with Arora scoring his second hundred in as many games.
Left-arm spinner Dharmendrasinh Jadeja sent down nearly 56 overs for his seven wickets, but got little support from the rest of the attack. Harpreet Brar then ripped through the Chhattisgarh batting with 5-21 in just eight overs, and leave the visitors at 76/5 at stumps, as they still trail by 384 runs.
At Alur, resuming on 281/8, Karnataka were bowled out for 342, with Manvanth Kumar hitting 135 off 214 balls, including 11 fours and six sixes, in what is also his maiden first-class century. Saurashtra’s openers Hetvik Kotak (46 off 127 balls) and Harvik Desai (77 off 78 balls) gave a strong start with a 110-run stand.
Karnataka, however, hit back either side of tea to reduce the visitors to 128/4, before Arpit Vasavada (25 batting) and Prerak Mankad (13 batting) took them to 164/4 at stumps, as Saurashtra are still 178 runs behind.
Tanay Thyagarajan continued his fine start to the season with a five-wicket haul as Hyderabad bowled out Andhra for 184 to take a 91-run lead. Hyderabad were 78/2 at stumps.
Assam bowled out Tripura for 62, with Mukhtar Hussain taking 3-23, as the hosts enforced the follow-on. Tripura were 143/5 in their second innings at stumps, but are still 129 runs behind.
In Group C, Badoni’s 217 off 246 balls powered Delhi to declare at 648/6 against Gujarat, with Sumit Mathur and Anuj Rawat also scoring half-centuries. Gujarat ended the day on 98/2 in 35 overs and trail by 550 runs in Palam.
Shahbaz Ahmed and Aamir Gani took four wickets apiece as Bengal dismissed Services for 122. Left-arm spinner Rahul Singh then claimed five wickets to bowl Bengal out for 146 in their second innings, leaving Services needing 209 to win and they reached 12/0 in five overs at stumps.
Mohammed Azharuddeen remained unbeaten on 139 as Kerala made 404 against Odisha, while sharing a 99-run stand with Aditya Sarvate, who also scored a fifty. Odisha were 114/3 and trail Kerala by 290 runs. Digvijay Patil’s 148 and another century from Ankit Bawne took Maharashtra to 403/5 and get a lead of 234 runs against Jharkhand.
In Group D, Sarfaraz’s unbeaten 139 off 213 balls, his 18th first-class hundred laced with 18 fours, put Mumbai in complete control at 398/4 against Himachal Pradesh at the Luhnu Cricket Ground, Bilaspur and stretch their lead to 258.
Captain Siddhesh Lad (87 off 188 balls) and Musheer Khan (57 off 137 balls) had earlier put on 122 runs for the third wicket. Lad shared a 68-run stand with Sarfaraz for the fourth wicket, while Sarfaraz and Akash Anand (58 not out off 152 balls) then added an unbroken 176 for the fifth wicket to bat Himachal out of the contest.
In Chennai, Pradosh Ranjan Paul’s gritty 136 off 279 balls, including 12 fours, helped Tamil Nadu take a 179-run first-innings lead over Uttarakhand, before being all out for 313. Resuming on 85/2, Paul curbed his usual attacking instincts and, along with Baba Indrajith (77), shared a 171-run stand for the third wicket.
Off-spinner Avneesh Sudha (4-34 in 20 overs) and Mayank Mishra, who took five wickets, were the standout bowlers for Uttarakhand. Captain R Sai Kishore removed opener Aarav Mahajan in the first over of Uttarakhand’s second innings to leave them at 9/1 at stumps.
Karan Lamba and Sachin Yadav were both dismissed for 194 after a 338-run third-wicket stand, as Rajasthan made 497 against Railways, who were 46/1 in 24 overs of the first innings and still trail by 451 runs.
Haryana completed an innings-and-24-run win over Chandigarh in Rohtak. Nishant Sindhu (92) and Yashvardhan Dalal (95) helped the hosts secure a 142-run lead, despite Nishunk Birla’s 5-63, before Sindhu returned 6-27 to bundle Chandigarh out for 118 in their second innings and get a bonus win.
–IANS–
