Badoni hits century as Delhi set Himachal target of 327
Ayush Badoni smashed a magnificent hundred as Delhi's batting finally fired in unison to post 381 for six declared in their second innings, setting a target of 327 for Himachal Pradesh in their Ranji trophy Group D match in Dharamsala on Sunday.
Badoni hit 12 fours and a six in his 115-ball 111-run knock after the opening duo of Anuj Rawat (54 off 32 balls) and Yash Dhull (82 off 81 balls) gave a flying start to Delhi's second innings.
Skipper Himmat Singh (45 off 45 balls) and Jonty Sidhu (46 off 51 balls) continued the onslaught as Delhi scored at more than six runs an over before declaring their innings. It was their best total in the ongoing Ranji season.
Himachal Pradesh lost Prashant Chopra (5) in the second over before reaching 31 for one in eight overs with opener Shubham Arora (15) and Ankit Kalsi (7) at the crease at stumps.
Himachal, who had taken a first-inning lead on day two, will need 296 runs to win on the final day.
Earlier, the hosts lost the remaining two wickets in the morning with the addition of just eight runs after resuming their first innings at an overnight score of 311 for 8.
While Himanshu Chauhan (3/72) didn't allow Rishi Dhawan to complete his century, dismissing him at his overnight score of 95, Siddhant Sharma (5/103) claimed the last wicket of Vaibhav Arora (4) to complete a five-wicket haul.
J&K beat Puducherry by 19 runs
In Thuthipet, left-arm spinner Vanshaj Sharma completed a memorable 10-wicket match haul on his debut as Jammu and Kashmir dismissed Puducherry for 67 in their chase of 87 to register a 19-run win.
Resuming at 35 for 7, Puducherry folded in 35.3 overs with the 20-year-old Sharma claiming all the remaining three wickets, finishing with figures of 5 for 16 to go with his first innings figures of 5 for 74.
On Saturday, another left-arm spinner Abid Mushtaq notched up a 10-wicket match haul, his second in first-class cricket. He had taken five for 28 in the second innings and 5 for 64 in the first innings.
Mushtaq was adjudged the Player of the Match for his exploits at the Cricket Association of Pondicherry (CAP) Siechem ground.
With the win, Jammu and Kashmir continued their unbeaten run and grabbed the third place with 18 points, behind Baroda and Madhya Pradesh.
As far as Pondicherry (15) are concerned, their hopes of reaching the knockout stage is almost over.
Brief Scores: Delhi 264 and 381-6 declared (Ayush Badoni 111; Rishi Dhawan 2/60) vs HP 1st Innings 319 allout (Rishi Dhawan 95, Siddhant Sharma 5/103, Himanshu Chauhan 3/72).
At Cuttack: Uttarakhand 342 and 203 for 8 declared (Jiwanjot Singh 74; Rajesh Mohanty 3/17, Biplab Samantray 3/31) vs Odisha 169 and 17 for 2 in 9 overs (Sandeep Pattnaik 8; Deepak Dhapola 2/8)
At Puducherry: J&K 106 and 152 (Sagar Udeshi 3/48) beat Puducherry 172 and 67 allout in 35.3 overs (Damodaran Rohit 17; Vanshaj Sharma 5/16, Abid Mushtaq 5/28) by 19 runs.
At Indore: Madhya Pradesh 1st Innings 454 vs Baroda 132 and 201 for 3 in 80 overs (Shashwat Rawat 77 not out; Kumar Kartikeya 3/70).
Jackson, Vasavada put Saurashtra in strong position vs Rajasthan
Saurashtra's first-innings centurion Sheldon Jackson came to the team's rescue once again, steadying the side with a solid 100-run unbeaten partnership with Arpit Vasavada as the defending champions took a healthy 245-run lead against Rajasthan in a Ranji Trophy Group A match in Jaipur.
Rajasthan, after putting up a gritty show by scoring 257 all out in reply to Saurashtra's first-innings total of 328, had Jaydev Unadkat's team reeling at 74/4.
But Jackson (48 not out) and Vasavada (53 not out) did not give Rajasthan bowlers any more reasons to celebrate on day three of the match, taking Saurashtra to 174/4 with a century stand to put the visitors in command.
Rajasthan, beginning the day placed precariously at 159 for six, did well to add 98 runs to their overnight total as their innings folded up for 257, conceding a 71-run first-innings lead.
Spinner Dharmendrasinh Jadeja caused the maximum damage, claiming his 18th five-wicket haul (5/99) to restrict the hosts.
Soon, the home team bowlers had Saurashtra on the mat with left-arm spinner Kukna Ajay Singh giving Rajasthan early success by taking the wickets of India batter Cheteshwar Pujara (25) and opener Harvik Desai (9).
Pujara, the first-innings centurion, departed with Singh trapping him plumb in front of the wicket, dealing a huge blow to Saurashtra's batting, which was already reeling after the early dismissals of Desai and Vishvaraj Jadeja (3).
But domestic stalwart Jackson, who is approaching the 7,000-run mark in first-class cricket, displayed ample caution to score an unbeaten 48 off 81 deliveries. Giving him company in the middle was Vasavada, who too displayed composure for his unbeaten half-ton as Saurashtra put themselves in a strong position going into the final day.
Vidarbha dominate Maharashtra
In Pune, Vidarbha took complete control of the match after first piling up a mammoth 552 in their first innings on Sunday and then reducing Maharashtra to 187 for 3 in their second innings.
Maharashtra had made just 208 runs in their first innings. They need to score 157 runs more to make Vidarbha bat again.
Vidarbha, commencing at their overnight score of 439/6, saw India batter Karun Nair add just one run to his overnight 128 before he was bowled by pacer Pradeep Dadhe. But Harsh Dubey (46) carried the team to the brink of the 500-run mark before tail-ender Aditya Thakare's unbeaten 39 carried Vidarbha beyond the 550-run mark.
Maharashtra batters showed a lot more determination in the second innings with Murtaza Trunkwala (86) and Digvijay Patil (61 not out) scoring half-centuries. But the sheer number of runs scored by Vidarbha has made it an uphill task for Maharashtra.
Brief Scores: In Jaipur: Saurashtra 328 and 174/4 in 57 overs (Sheldon Jackson 48 not out, Arpit Vasavada 53 not out; K Ajay Singh 2/69) vs Rajasthan 257 in 91.2 overs (Deepak Hooda 36, Kukna Ajay Singh 44; Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 5/99, Yuvrajsinh Dodiya 4/88).
In Pune: Maharashtra 208 and 187/3 in 59 overs (Murtaza Trunkwala 86, Digvijay Patil 61 not out) vs Vidarbha 552 in 126.2 overs (Dhruv Shorey 92, Karun Nair 129, Akshay Wadkar 90, Harsh Dubey 46; Hitesh Walunj 4/127).
In Jamshedpur: Haryana 509 beat Jharkhand 119 in 39.3 overs (Jayant Yadav 5/35, Sumit Kumar 3/9) and 185 in 61.4 overs (Utkarsh Singh 53, Kumar Suraj 44; Jayant Yadav 5/55, Nishant Sindhu 3/39) by an innings and 205 runs.
In Ahmedabad: Manipur 67 and 70 in 40.3 overs (Varun Choudhary 3/29, Arjun Sharma 3/11, Pulkit Narang 2/2) lost to Services 333 by an innings and 196 runs.
Despite Ajith Ram's fifer, Karnataka frontrunners vs TN
Left-arm spinner Ajith Ram's five-wicket haul helped Tamil Nadu bowl out Karnataka for 139 but the visitors still held the edge in their Ranji Trophy Group C match in Chennai.
Ram (5/61) and Sai Kishore (2/27) shared the spoils to bundle out Karnataka in 56.4 overs to set themselves a target of 355.
First innings centurion Devdutt Padikkal was Karnataka's top-scorer with a 56-ball 36.
At stumps on the penultimate day, Tamil Nadu were 36/1, still needing 319 runs.
Vimal Kumar was batting on 16 and giving him company was Pradosh Ranjan Paul on 10. Narayan Jagadeesan (8) was the only batter to be dismissed.
Resuming on 129/7 in reply to Karnataka's 366, Tamil Nadu added just 22 runs before being bowled out.
In Mohali, hosts Punjab were in real trouble after being reduced to 40/4 in their second innings in pursuit of an improbable target 411 runs.
In Chandigarh, Tripura rode on half-centuries from Manisankar Murasingh (94), Ganesh Satish (88), skipper Wriddhiman Saha (66) and Bimranjit Debnath (64) to score 438 in reply to host's 356.
At stumps on day three, Chandigarh were 116 for no loss with Shivam Bhambri (61 not out) and Arslan Khan (49 not out) at the crease.
Brief scores: At Chennai: Karnataka 366 & 139 56.4 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 36, Ajith Ram 5/61) vs Tamil Nadu 151 & 36 for one in 15 overs (Vimal Kumar 16 batting; Vijaykumar Vyshak 1/12).
At Chandigarh: Chandigarh 356 & 116 for no loss (Shivam Bhambri 61 batting, Arslan Khan 49 batting) vs Tripura 438 all out in 121 overs (Manisankar Murasingh 94, Ganesh Satish 88, Wriddhiman Saha 66, Bikramjit Debnath 64; Gurinder Singh 4/117).
At Surat: Railways 297 & 208 (Ashutosh Sharma 81; Darshan Misal 4/44) vs Goa 200 & 93 for one in 31 overs overs (Suyash Prabhudessai 54 batting; Adarsh Singh 1/29).
At Mohali: Gujarat 339 & 290 for 8 declared (Sunpreetsingh Bagga 79; Baltej Singh 2/55) vs Punjab 219 & 40 for 4 in 14 overs (Jassinder Singh 4 batting; Priyajitsing Jadeja 3/17). PTI SSC SSC
Saxena grabs 9/68 as Bengal stare at second successive defeat
Domestic cricket stalwart Jalaj Saxena destroyed Bengal with career-best figures of 9/68 as the visitors found themselves on the brink of a second successive defeat in the Ranji Trophy Group B in Thumba, Kerala.
Resuming on 172/8, Bengal managed to add just eight runs to their overnight total with the veteran all-rounder adding two more wickets to his name.
The 37-year-old now has 439 wickets and has 6600-plus runs from 138 matches in first-class cricket.
Despite a substantial lead, Kerala skipper Sanju Samson chose not to enforce follow-on and declared their second essay at 265/6 to set a massive 449-run target for the visitors.
In reply, Bengal were 77/2 with Abhimanyu Easwaran batting on 33. Bengal had lost their last match against Mumbai at Eden Gardens.
Khare slams fighting 143, but Mumbai hold edge
In Raipur, skipper Amandeep Khare led from the front with a stellar 143 as Chhattisgarh put up a strong fight, falling just one run short of Mumbai's first innings total of 351.
From 180/4 overnight, Khare, who was unbeaten on 35, showed utmost patience in his composed knock from 211 balls.
Mumbai kept taking wickets at one end but Khare stood firm and was the last man to get out. He struck 14 fours and four sixes.
In reply, Mumbai were 97/1 at close on day three.
With a lead of 98 runs, Mumbai seemed to be well-placed with Bhupen Lalwani and Amogh Bhatkal at the crease.
Shubham Singh managed the only breakthrough for Chhattisgarh in Mumbai's second innings when he dismissed Mumbai's first innings hero Prithvi Shaw, five runs short of a half-century.
The Indian batter's 159 off 185 balls had powered Mumbai to 351.
Assam eyeing maiden win of season
Veteran off-spinner Swarupam Purkayastha was the star performer with the ball, securing four wickets for just 11 runs, as Assam bundled out Bihar for 207 to take a huge first innings lead of 198 runs in Guwahati.
Assam were quick to enforce the follow-on and reduced Bihar to 168/3 at close of play on the penultimate day.
Opener Piyush Singh displayed resilience with an unbeaten 79 from 204, steering Bihar in their second essay.
The visitors face a challenging task ahead, trailing by 30 runs as Assam will be eyeing their first win of the season.
Mukhtar Hussain, Rahul Singh and Mrinmoy Dutta picked up wicket apiece for Assam.
Brief Scores:
In Raipur: Mumbai 351 and 97/1; 28 overs (Prithvi Shaw 45, Bhupen Lalwani 40 batting). Chhattisgarh 350; 106.1 overs (Amandeep Khare 143, Shashank Chandrakar 56, Sanjeet Desai 41; Tushar Deshpande 5/121, Royston Dias 2/44). Mumbai lead by 98 runs.
In Guwahati: Assam: 405. Bihar 207; 71.5 overs (Paramjeet Singh 53, Bipin Saurabh 39; Swarupam Purkayastha 4/11, Mukhtar Hussain 3/22) and following on 168/3; 61 overs (Piyush Singh 79 not out, Bipin Saurabh 44; Mukhtar Hussain 1/15, Rahul Singh 1/13). Bihar trails by 30 runs.
In Thumba, Kerala: 363 and 265/6 declared; 64.2 overs (Rohan Kunnummal 51, Sachin Baby 51, Shreyas Gopal 50 not out; Shahbaz Ahmed 3/80). Bengal: 180; 51.1 overs (Abhimanyu Easwaran 72; Jalaj Saxena 9/68) and 77/2; 20.4 overs (Target: 449) (Abhimanyu Easwaran 33 batting, Sudip Gharami 31). Bengal need 372 runs.
In Vizianagaram: Andhra 261 and 271/5; 92 overs (Ricky Bhui 100 batting, Hanuma Vihari 48, Shaik Rasheed 42 batting; Saurabh Kumar 3/73). Uttar Pradesh 198. Andhra lead by 338 runs.
