New Delhi: The second round of the 2023-24 Ranji Trophy season ended on Monday and a standout performer was left-arm spinner Siddharth Desai, whose seven-wicket haul helped Gujarat pull off a stunning come-from-behind six-run win over Karnataka.
There were also victories for Haryana, who defeated current champions Saurashtra, while Vidarbha got a one-sided win over Manipur. Pondicherry, who had a stunning win over Delhi in the first round, lost to Baroda, while Mumbai got their second successive outright victory with a ten-wicket win over Andhra.
Elite Group A
At the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium Ground C in Rajkot, Saurashtra fell to a four-wicket defeat to Haryana. Off-spinner Jayant Yadav picked up a five-for to bowl Saurashtra out for 145 in their first innings, as Cheteshwar Pujara top-scored with 49. In reply, Haryana made 200, with spinners Yuvrajsinh Dodiya, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja and Parth Bhut sharing all scalps amongst themselves.
In their second innings, Pujara’s 43 and Arpit Vasavada’s 45, along with some late runs from Bhut and skipper Jaydev Unadkat took Saurashtra to 220. Chasing 166, Haryana were in trouble at 78/3, before captain Ashok Menaria made 58 not out and Sindhu made 24 to take the visitors’ to victory.
At the ADSA Railways Cricket Ground in Ahmedabad, Vidarbha defeated Manipur by an innings and 90 runs to get a bonus point victory. Manipur was bowled out for 75 in first innings. In reply, Vidarbha made 230, thanks to Aditya Sarwate’s 69.
With a 155-run lead, Vidarbha then bowled out Manipur for 65, as left-arm spinner Sarwate had a match haul of 9-16. The victory also takes Vidarbha to top of Group A with 13 points. At the MCA Stadium in Pune, the match between Maharashtra and Jharkhand ended in a draw, with the hosts’ taking three points on the account of first innings lead.
A knock of 108 from captain Virat Singh and 83 from Mohammed Nazim helped Jharkhand post 403 in first innings. In reply, Maharashtra declared on 601/5 on the final day, with captain Kedar Jadhav (181), Ankeet Bawane (131) and Pawan Shah (136) amongst the runs.
Jharkhand made 167/2 in their second innings, as Nazim and Kumar Suraj made fifties, before the game ended in a draw. At the Airforce Complex Ground in Palam, New Delhi, Rajasthan were asked to follow on after being bowled out for 153 in their first innings against Services.
Services had earlier declared their first innings on 466/4, with three centurions in captain Rajat Paliwal, Ravi Chauhan and Aanshul Gupta. Rajasthan managed to eke out a draw as openers Abhijeet Tomar and Yash Kothari scored unbeaten fifties in the second innings total of 130/0.
Elite Group B
At Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy in Bandra-Kurla Complex, Mumbai completed a comfortable ten-wicket victory against Andhra, and pick a bonus point too, apart from being Group B toppers. In the morning, Andhra were bowled out for 244 in their second innings after being made to follow on.
For Mumbai, spinner Shams Mulani (4-96) and fast-bowler Royston Dias (3-45) were the pick of bowlers in keeping Andhra a shade below 250 in their second innings. Openers Jay Bista and Bhupen Lalwani helped Mumbai chase down 34 without losing any wicket.
At the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur, Bengal bagged three crucial points by virtue of first innings lead after their game against Uttar Pradesh ended in a draw. The entire fourth day’s play was called off due to bad light.
Bengal fast-bowler bowler Mohammad Kaif, the younger brother of senior India pacer Mohammed Shami, was named the man of the match for bagging an impressive seven wickets in the match while also scoring a fighting unbeaten 45.
At the ACA Stadium in Barsapara, Guwahati, Kerala took three points based on first-innings lead after their match against Assam ended in a draw. After Kerala asked them to follow on, Assam batter Rahul Hazarika slammed 107 and took the second innings total to 212/3, thus saving his team from the ignominy of a possible innings defeat.
At the Moin ul Haq Stadium in Patna, Chhattisgarh got three points on the basis of taking first innings lead against Bihar. After bowling out Bihar for 108, Chhattisgarh declared on 329/2, thanks to centuries from Rishabh Tiwari and Ashutosh Singh.
Bihar battled hard to reach 226/7 in 77 overs to ensure Chhattisgarh didn’t go away with an outright win. Bipin Saurabh made 30 not out off 107 balls to play a critical role in securing a draw for Bihar.
Elite Group C
At the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, timely knocks from Umang Kumar (57) and Chintan Gaja (23) helped Gujarat reach 219 in their second innings after resuming the day at 171/7. Set 110 to win, Karnataka raced to 50/0 in just 9.1 overs and an outright win remained firmly in sight.
But Desai removed Mayank Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal and Nikin Jose in quick succession to reduce Karnataka to 56/3. Desai would run through the entire batting order, leaving Karnataka at 92/9. V Koushik and an injured Prasidh Krishna added 11 runs before the latter was castled by Rinkesh Vaghela to get a memorable win for Gujarat, leaving Karnataka shell-shocked.
At Goa Cricket Association Academy in Porvorim, knocks of 147 and 90 from Kunal Mahajan and Raj Angad Bawa helped Chandigarh posted 479 in their first innings after Goa declared their innings at 618/7. Goa reached 25/0 in their second innings before the game ended in a draw, as the hosts’ took three points based on first innings lead.
At the MBB Stadium in Agartala, the match between Tamil Nadu and Tripura ended in a draw. Only 51 overs were bowled across four days, including two days having no play due to fog and inclement weather.
Tamil Nadu made 143/2 in their first innings, with Baba Indrajith and Vijay Shankar making unbeaten fifties. Foggy weather also caused disruption at PCA Ground in Mullanpur, Mohali, with Railways taking three points due to first-innings lead over Punjab, who made 178 and 53/1, after being made to follow on.
Elite Group D
At the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala, fast-bowler Deepak Dhapola’s five-for haul helped Uttarakhand beat Himachal Pradesh by 88 runs. In the chase of 195, Himachal were reduced to 39/6 on day three and on last day, all-rounder Rishi Dhawan waged a lone battle with 51 not out. He didn’t get much support from the rest of the batters as Himachal were bowled out for 106.
At Motibaug Cricket Ground in Vadodara, off-spinner Mahesh Pithiya picked up a match haul of seven wickets, while left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt had a game haul of 11 scalps as Puducherry were bowled out for 119 while chasing 218, giving Baroda a 98-run win.
At Emerald Heights International School Ground in Indore, Odisha bagged three points on basis of first-innings lead over Madhya Pradesh. Himanshu Mantri (119) and Yash Dubey (91) helped Madhya Pradesh declare on 291/4. Set a target of 112 to win, Odisha were at 38/1 in 10 overs before the game ended in a draw.
At Hostel Ground JKCA in Jammu, only 42 overs of play was possible across four days due to fog and bad weather. Delhi’s struggles with the bat continued as they made 134/6 against Jammu & Kashmir. For the hosts’, medium pacer Rohit Sharma took three wickets, while Umran Malik, Umar Nazir and Auqib Wani had a scalp each.
Plate Group
At MCA Polo Ground in Shillong, batter Rohit Rayudu’s 124, his third first-class century, meant Hyderabad beat Meghalaya by an innings and 81 runs to secure a bonus point and sit on top of the group.
At Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium in Anand, Ankur Malik’s unbeaten century and five-for helped Sikkim beat Arunachal Pradesh by an innings and 288 runs. At Gokulbhai Somabhai Patel Stadium in Nadiad, Mizoram got three points after taking first-innings lead over Nagaland in a drawn match.
(IANS)
