A summary of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Monday
Uttar Pradesh were facing a daunting task in their quest of taking the first innings lead and points against hosts Mumbay by stumps on day three of their four-day Ranji Trophy Group B cricket match in Mumbai on Sunday.
Replying to Mumbai’s mammoth first innings total of 610 for 9 declared, UP were at a healthy 155 for one before losing four wickets to be 350 for five at close, still trailing the home team by 260 runs at the Wankhede Stadium.
At stumps, leg spinner Piyush Chawla (54 in 55 balls) and wicketkeeper Ekalavya Dwivedi (50 in 88 balls) were leading the fight for the first innings lead.
Brief scores:
Mumbai: 610/9 declared
Uttar Pradesh: 350/5 (Tanmay Srivastava 37, Himanshu Asnora 92, Umang Sharma 53, Sarfaraz Khan 44, Piyush Chawla 54 not out, Eklavya Dwivedi 50 not out; A Nayar 2/37).
Ojha's 7-wkt haul puts Bengal in command
Kolkata: A career-best seven-wicket haul by Pragyan Ojha kept Bengal in line for their first win of the season as they set Vidarbha an imposing 297-run target for a win in their Ranji Trophy Group A cricket match on Monday.
Having claimed his 23rd five-for on Sunday, the left-arm spinner added two more to his tally to return with his best figures of 7/58 as Vidarbha were bowled out for 202 -- Bengal taking a handsome 132-run lead.
Bengal were bowled out for 164 in their second essay which centered around skipper Manoj Tiwary's dogged 63 (127 balls; 8x4) on a strip with cracks and uneven bounce at the Jadavpur University second campus ground to set a tall target.
For Vidarbha, Akshay Wakhare claimed 5/61 to return with a match haul of nine wickets.
At close on the penultimate day, Vidarbha were three for no loss from two overs after bad light stopped play.
Brief Scores:
Bengal: 334 and 164 in 62.5 overs (Manoj Tiwary 63; Wakhare 5/61)
Vidarbha: 202 in 69.1 overs (Faiz Fazal 63, Shrikant Wagh 60 not out; Pragyan Ojha 7/58) and three for no loss in 2 overs.
Baroda follow-on with 81/4 on Day 3
Valsad: Baroda seemed hapless against Gujarat, as the visitors were staring down the barrel at 81 for four while following on in their Group B Ranji Trophy cricket encounter on Day 3 on Monday.
Replying to Gujarat's mammoth first innings score of 505, Baroda were bundled for 252 with Irfan Pathan, who also bagged a six-wicket haul, top-scoring with 58. Skipper Ambati Rayudu also contributed with a gutsy 47.
Made to follow-on, Baroda once again faltered in the final session with four of their top batsmen in the pavilion and the visitors still trailing by 172 runs to avoid an innings defeat.
Brief Scores:
Gujarat: 505
Baroda: 252 and 81/4 in 36 overs (Kedar Devdhar 35, Ambati Rayudu 4 not out, Yusuf Pathan 4 not out; Axar Patel 2-19).
Super Saxena spins MP to nine-wicket win
Gwalior: Off-spinner Jajaj Saxena added eight more wickets to his first-innings effort for a match haul of a staggering 16 scalps, as Madhya Pradesh registered a convincing nine-wicket victory over Railways in a Ranji Trophy match on Monday.
The 29-year-old returned impressive figures of 8/58 to bundle out Railways for 131 in 51.1 overs at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium.
Resuming at an overnight score of 42/1, Railways lost nine wickets for just 89 runs, and had no answer to the questions posed by Jalaj on the third day of the Group B game.
Jalaj had picked up 8/96 in the first innings, helping his team bowl out Railways for 258 runs.
Madhya Pradesh rode on Rajat Patidat's 113 to eke out a narrow 20-run first-innings lead.
Jalaj then, once again, spun a web around the Railways batsmen to fashion a comfortable win for the hosts and give them full points.
Assam close in on win over Haryana
Rohtak: Young paceman Arup Das bettered his career-best figures with a six-wicket haul to take Assam close to an emphatic victory over Haryana in their Ranji Trophy Group A match on Monday.
Assam, who had conceded a first innings lead of 48 runs, wrapped up Haryana's second innings at a mere 111 to set themselves a 160-run target.
The visitors were 122 for four at the end of third day's play, just 38 runs away from an outright win.
Brief Scores:
Haryana: 168 and 111 (H Rana 27;A Das 6/39, K Das 4/48)
Assam: 120 and 122 for 4 in 38 overs.(KB A Karthik 48, Amit Verma 24 batting; A Hooda 2/53).
Uthappa cracks second ton of season, Karnataka in command
Mysore: India discard Robin Uthappa cracked his second century of the season to help Karnataka gain a 168-run lead after they declared their first innings at 400 for nine against Odisha on the third day of their Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match on Monday.
Trailing by 168 runs, Odisha were zero for one in their second innings when the umpires called off the day's play due to bad light.
Nataraj Behera and first innings centurion Govinda Poddar were batting on zero as opener Rajesh Dhuper (0) lost his wicket to Vinay Kumar in the very first over of their second innings.
Uthappa smashed a sparkling 148 runs off 257 balls with 11 boundaries and two sixes, and Karun Nair scored a useful 73 runs off 164 balls with six boundaries and a six. The duo stitched a 169-run partnership for the fourth wicket, which took the match away from Odisha.
TN vs Andhra: Third day's play also called off
Chennai: The third and penultimate day's play in the Group B Ranji Trophy cricket match Tamil Nadu and Andhra was called off due to heavy rain on Monday.
The second day's play was also called off on Sunday without a ball being bowled.
When stumps were drawn on the first day, Tamil Nadu were yet to open their account in the one over that was bowled.
Openers Baba Aparajith and Abhinav Mukund were at the crease.
Andhra were all out for 203 in their first innings.
J&K concede lead, have a fight in hand to save match
Jamshedpur: Skipper Mithun Manhas struck a fighting 98 and Parvez Rasool (55) also hit a half-century but that was no enough for Jammu and Kashmir to stop Jharkhand from taking a huge 242-run lead in their Ranji Trophy Group C match, on Monday.
Chasing the hosts' mammoth first innings score of 551 for 8 declared, the J&K were all out for 309 after beginning at 17 for one this morning.
J&K batsmen fought hard and got starts but could not play long innings as Shahbaz Nadeem (107) and Kaushal Singh (4/38) shared eight wickets between them.
Jharkhand imposed a follow on and the visitors were in trouble, having lost two batsmen with only nine runs on the board.
J&K will now have to bat out the whole day on Tuesday to save the match as they trail by 233 runs.
Brief Scores:
Jharkhand: 551/8 declared
Jammu and Kashmir: 309 and 9 for 2 in 4 overs.
Saurashtra take first innings lead against Goa
Rajkot: Kamlesh Makvana and Jaydev Unadkat put on 65 runs for the ninth wicket as Saurashtra took a first-innings lead against Goa on the third and penultimate day of their Ranji Trophy cricket match on Monday.
Overnight batsmen, Makvana (39) and Unadkat (31 not out), frustrated Goa bowlers as Saurashtra were all out for 258 to take a 19-run first innings lead.
Left with no choice but to go for a result, Goa batsmen did well in their second innings as they ended the day at 242 for 4 for an overall lead of 223.
Goa's batting effort in the second innings was led by Swapnil Asnodkar, who hit 11 fours in his 104. He briefly found support from Sagun Kamat, who made 37.
Brief Scores:
Goa: 239 and 242 for 4 (Swapnil Asnodkar 104, Kamlesh Makvana 3/58)
Saurashtra 258 (Avi Barot 58, Kamleash Makvana 39)
Paliwal, Yashpal smash hundreds on day three
Dharamsala: Rajat Paliwal and Yashpal Singh slammed unbeaten hundreds to help Services reach 344 for three on day three of their Ranji Trophy match against Himachal Pradesh on Monday.
Paliwal and Singh were batting on 106 and 102 at stumps with Services still trailing the hosts by 187 runs. Himachal had made 531 in their first innings.
Brief scores:
Himachal Pradesh: 531 all out
Services: 344/3 in 122.5 overs (Rajat Paliwal batting 106, Yashpal Singh batting 102).
Image: Uttar Pradesh's Himanshu Arora plays a shot during their Ranji Trophy match against Mumbai at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Monday.
Photograph: PTI
