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Young and in-form Baba Aparajith smashed his second first-class double hundred while Ramaswamy Prasanna scored an unbeaten half-century to guide Tamil Nadu to a formidable position against Services at the end of second day's play in the Ranji Trophy Group B match in New Delhi on Monday.
Riding on an impressive batting display, Tamil Nadu declared their first innings on 456 for seven in 167 overs.
Resuming at the overnight score of 220 for three, the Tamil Nadu batsmen scored another 236 runs in 77 overs for the loss of four wickets.
Aparajith carried on from where he left on Sunday and added another 94 runs to his overnight score, to finish with 203. He was caught by Pratik Desai off the bowling of Nishan Singh at the team's score of 395 for five.
Aparajith's faced 395 balls and hit 19 boundaries and a six during his long stay at the crease.
He shared a 111-run fifth-wicket stand with Prasanna, who scored an unbeaten 74.
For Services, the pace duo of Suraj Yadav (2-63) and Nishan Singh (2-84) picked two wickets each.
At stumps on Day 2, Services were 17 for no loss in 11 overs. Pratik Desai (6 batting) and captain Soumik (3 batting) were at the crease.
Brief Scores:
Tamil Nadu (Overnight 220 for 3): 456 for seven decl in 167 overs (Baba Aparajith 203, Subramaniam Badrinath 81, Ramaswamy Prasanna 74 not out; Suraj Yadav 2/63).
Services: 17 for no loss in 11 overs.
Vidarbha fights back, but Gujarat still in driver's seat
Making up for the poor show on Day 1, Vidarbha put up a better fight in their Ranji Trophy Group A match, even as Gujarat were still well-placed, in Nagpur.
Vidarbha took seven wickets on Monday, bowling out Gujarat for 304, and then scored 87 for one. They still trail by 132 runs, but showed a lot of stomach for a fight after being shot out for 85 on Sunday.
Opener Faiz Fazal (58) and Amol Ubarhande (6) were at the crease for the hosts, which lost Akshay Kolhar (28) .
Fazal and Ubarhande shared a sedate 59-run stand for the first wicket in 26 overs. It ended when Ubarhande was scalped by off-spinner Jesal Karia.
Earlier, Gujarat began the day on a comfortable 153 for three, with skipper Parthiv Patel and Mehul Patel resuming the innings.
Vidarbha struck early, as Sadeep Singh dismissed Mehul (1). Parthiv resisted the determined home attack, scoring a quickfire 65 off 69, but the other batsmen let down the side.
Gujarat could have built a bigger lead but Vidarbha spoiled their plans. Had it not been for some superb batting by the lower-order, the visitors would not have crossed the 300-run mark.
Brief scores:
Vidarbha: 85 and 87 for 1 in 34 overs. (F Fazal 48 batting; J Karia 1/5).
Gujarat (1st innings): 304 all out in 106.5 overs. (P Patel 65, R Dhruv 22, R Kalalia 39; S Wagh 4/71).
Satyam Choudhary’s 239 puts MP in command vs Railways
Opener Satyam Choudhary scored an unbeaten 239 to put Madhya Pradesh in command as they posted a mammoth 510 for six declared in their first innings against Railways on Day 2 of a Group B Ranji Trophy match, at the Holkar cricket stadium, in Indore.
Madhya Pradesh then came back to take one wicket as Railways finished the day on 46 for one.
S S Shukla (17) and A G Paunikar (0) were at the crease when stumps were drawn.
Choudhary started from where he left on Sunday. He and skipper Devendra Bundela forged a 155-run stand for the fourth wicket to put Madhya Pradesh in a dominating position.
Starting at the overnight score of 127, Choudhary went on to score a double ton. His unconquered 496-ball innings was studded with 30 boundaries and a six.
Bundela added another 55 runs to his overnight score of 11. His 170-ball innings was laced with 11 boundaries.
Karn Sharma picked two wickets, while AG Paunikar, S G Gehlot, K Upadhyay and H R Rathod scalped one each for Railways.
In reply, Railways lost their first batsman in the 13th over when Ishwar Pandey had cleaned up V Cheluvaraj (28) to reduce them to 42 for one.
Brief score:
Madhya Pradesh (1st innings): 510 for 6 decl in 163 overs (S D Choudhary 239; K V Sharma 2-114)
Railways (1st innings): 46 for 1 in 14 overs (S S Shukla 17; Ishwar Pandey 1-25.
Punjab in command against Odisha
Taruwar Kohli and Mandeep Singh came up with twin centuries as Punjab reached 306 for 2 in their first innings, taking a crucial 101-run lead over Odisha, in the Group A Ranji Trophy match in Mohali.
Taruwar (109) and Mandeep (116) shared an unfinished 220-run innings for the third wicket to not only overhaul Odisha's first innings total of 205 but also take a crucial lead of 101, with still eight wickets in hand.
Earlier, openers Jiwanjot Singh and R Inder Singh resumed Punjab's innings from the overnight score of 11 for no loss, but the duo could add only 43 before D R Behera dismissed Jiwanjot, with Natraj Behera taking the catch.
Jiwanjot could add only 12 runs to his overnight score of six, but other opener, Inder Singh, hit a 100-ball 50, which was inclusive of nine boundaries. He was dismissed by Dhiraj Singh in the 36th over as Punjab slipped to 86 for two.
But Taruwar and Mandeep took the onus on themselves and slowly and steadily built a platform for a big partnership.
Taruwar had 15 boundaries and a six in his 256-ball unconquered innings, while Mandeep hit 14 fours and a six in his unbeaten innings, which came off 152 balls, at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium.
Brief score:
Odisha (1st innings): 205
Punjab (1st innings): 306 for two in 94 overs (Taruwar Kohli 109, Mandeep Singh 116; Dhiraj Singh 2/44).
Saurashtra reach 475-7 vs Rajasthan
Riding on useful contributions from the middle and lower-order batsmen, Saurashtra added 249 to their overnight score and finished Day 2 on 475 for 7 against Rajasthan in the Ranji Trophy Group B match in Rajkot.
Kamlesh Makwana (42) and Vishal Joshi (13) were at the crease when stumps were drawn at the Saurashtra Cricket Association stadium in Khandheri.
Resuming at 226 for two, the hosts lost three wickets quickly as Rajasthan's veteran off-spinner Ramesh Powar used the turning track nicely and sent back the overnight pair of Sagar Jogiyani and Jaydev Shah.
Jogiyani, batting on 114 on Sunday, was clean bowled by Powar for 133. He faced 340 balls and hit 17 fours in his composed innings. Shah made 45.
Powar struck again, dismissing Sheldon Jackson (19) and reducing the hosts to 315 for five.
However, Chirag Jani (64), Arpit Vasavada (49) and Kamlesh Makwana (42 not out) did a repair job and stabilised Saurashtra's innings.
For the visitors, Powar was the pick of the bowlers, taking four wickets and conceding 177 runs.
Aristha Singhavi took two for 118, while V V Yadav finished with one for 90.
Brief score:
Saurashtra (1st innings): 475-7 in 183 overs (Sagar Jogiyani 133, Sitanshu Kotak 65, Chirag Jani 64, Kamlesh Makwana batting 42; Ramesh Powar 4-177, Aristha Singhavi 2-118, V V Yadav 1-90).
No play for second day at Eden
Saturday's unprecedented downpour cast its spell for the second consecutive day in the Ranji Trophy Group B match between Bengal and Baroda and play was not possible because of wet pitch and outfield.
The match was scheduled at Jadavpur University campus ground in Salt Lake, but the Cricket Association of Bengal shifted the match to the Eden Gardens to see how the pitch behaves ahead of the opening Test between India and the West Indies, in Sachin Tendulkar's farewell series, from November 6-10.
The same pitch will be used for Tendulkar's 199th Test.
As there is no rain since Sunday, the CAB hopes the Ranji Trophy match will get underway on Tuesday and played as a two-day affair.
Image: Baba Aparajith
Photograph: Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images