A round-up of Ranji matches played across India on Thursday.
Left-arm spinner Rakesh Dhruv (3/51) and paceman Kushang Patel (2/74) shared five wickets between them as Gujarat fought back to reduce Punjab to 227 for seven on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Group A match, in Valsad on Sunday.
'He is the best technically sound batsman I have seen till date and that too without a helmet.'
Assam kept their knockout hopes alive as they took three vital points by virtue of their first-innings lead against Andhra in their Ranji Trophy Group C match, which ended in a draw in Guwahati.
Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir's poor run of form continued as the formidable Delhi batting line-up put up only 235 against Uttar Pradesh on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy group league match in Ghaziabad On Friday.
Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar feels one reason for the recent dwindling dominance of oft-crowned Ranji champions Mumbai could be because other teams are getting stronger.
BCCI's North Zone curator Sunil Chauhan overwatered the Feroz Shah Kotla pitch and then, breaching protocol, left the venue before the start of Delhi-Madhya Pradesh Ranji Trophy match on Saturday, his indiscretion leading to a delay of two and half hours.
Robin Uthappa's 16th first-class century helped Karnataka take a big first-innings lead of 263 to take the home side to a strong position on second day of their Ranji Trophy Group A match against Jammu and Kashmir.
Middle-order batsman Rohit Sharma will lead Mumbai in the absence of regular skipper Ajit Agarkar in their Ranji Trophy Group A match against hosts Hyderabad from November 24. Agarkar was ruled out of the game following an injury.
Riding on Tushar Deshpande's five-wicket haul, defending champions Mumbai registered a comfortable 10-wicket win over Railways and grabbed six points in their Ranji Trophy Group A match in Mysore on Tuesday. On the fourth day, Deshpande snapped three wickets -- Faiz Ahmed (28), Ashish Yadav (26) and DN Bansal (3) -- to go with the two wickets he had taken yesterday, while Shardul Thakur, Vijay Gohil and Balwinder Sandhu picked up one wicket each to dismiss Railways for 208 after they resumed their second innings at an overnight total of 135-4 on Tuesday.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Monday.
During the current Ranji Trophy season, a star son has been launched. But for 25-year-old Agni Dev Chopra, he never had the luxury of a re-take that his film-maker father Vidhu Vinod Chopra has had throughout his illustrious career.
Vidarbha produced a brilliant bowling display as they bowled out Odisha for just 121 to place themselves in the drivers' seat in their Ranji Trophy group league match on the second day in Cuttack on Sunday.
Former champions Mumbai claimed three points against Baroda after their four-day Elite Group A Ranji Trophy game ended in a draw at the Wankhede Stadium.
Niranjan Behera (103) and Biplab Samantray (107) scored a century each as Odisha took the first innings lead on the third day of their Ranji Trophy group league match against Maharashtra in Sambalpur on Monday. The duo ensured Odisha were 126 runs ahead on the first innings in the Group B match at the Veer Surendra Sai stadium.
Kerala blew away home favourites Bengal by nine wickets and with a day to spare for their second successive win in the Ranji Trophy, consolidating the position atop the Elite Group B standings.
Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh celebrated his return to the Test side by leading Punjab to an innings victory over Hyderabad on the fourth and final day of their opening Ranji Trophy group league match in Mohali on Monday.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Monday
Pacer Parvinder Awana got his second consecutive five-wicket haul as Delhi skittled out Karnataka for a paltry 192 in a Ranji Trophy Group league encounter at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
Vidarbha earned three valuable points thanks to the significant contribution made by their lower middle-order as they went past Tamil Nadu's first innings score on the final day of their Ranji Trophy Group B match.
Ravindra Jadeja's monumental 331 helped Saurashtra pile up a massive 576 for 9, but Railways replied strongly, finishing the third day's play on 157 for 1, in the Ranji Trophy Group league encounter in Rajkot on Monday.
Former India batsman Hemang Badani scored a fighting, unbeaten 84 while Shalabh Shrivastava a sedate 63 to help Vidarbha post 219 for 8 against Baroda on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group B match in Vadodara, on Friday. Badani's patient 84 came off 221 balls while Shrivastava faced 129 deliveries during his impressive knock.
A summary of the Ranji Trophy Group A and Group B matches played across India on Sunday.
In a dramatic turn of events, the Ranji Trophy Group C match between Himachal Pradesh and Goa was cancelled but resumed later on Sunday after BCCI president N Srinivasan intervened to sort out a political tug of war.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Wednesday
Senior off-spinner Harbhajan Singh is recuperating well from his shoulder injury, which has kept him out of action from Punjab's last two Ranji Trophy encounters, and is expected to return to competitive cricket in another 10 days time.
Medium pacer Sourav Sarkar and comeback man Shib Shankar Paul shared five wickets between them as Bengal reduced Railways to 214 for nine in the Ranji Trophy Group A encounter in Kolkata.
Opener Unmukt Chand struck 82 while Mohit Sharma and Mithun Manhas also made half-centuries to help Delhi finish the first day's play against Vidarbha at 254 for four in the final Ranji Trophy group league encounter in Nagpur.
Robin Uthappa and rookie Kunal Kapoor hit centuries as Karnataka batted out the whole of final day to manage a point against Haryana in their penultimate Ranji Trophy group league encounter in Hubli.
Courtesy of Wasim Jaffer's brisk knock of 67 laced with 13 fours and Aditya Tare's quickfire 42 off 44 balls, after being promoted to open the innings, Mumbai finished the day on192 for five in 63 overs.
Struggling India spinner regained some of the lost touch with a three-wicket haul as Punjab restricted Gujarat to 261 for nine on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group A match, Valsad on Saturday.
Kedar Devdhar scored only his second ton in first class cricket and together with Aditya Waghmode shared an unbroken century stand to guide Baroda to 256 for three on the opening day of their four-day Ranji Trophy Group B match against Maharashtra in Pune on Saturday.
Skipper Devendra Bundela scored an unbeaten 92 while opener Jalaj Saxena struck a fluent half-century to help Madhya Pradesh post 281 for five against Punjab on the first day of their Ranji Trophy Group A match in Gwalior on Saturday.
His mother sold her gold chain so Dhruv could buy a cricket kit after his father, a Kargil War veteran, told him to give up the game because it was too expensive.
Baroda humiliated Odisha by 10 wickets, with a day to spare, and pocketed seven points, including bonus, from their Ranji Trophy Group B match, in Vadodara, on Monday. The hosts added just 11 runs to their overnight total before being dismissed for 301 in their first innings, in reply to Odisha's 181.
Captain Ian Dev Singh led from the front with an unbeaten 117 before Kerala left-arm pacer Chovvakkaran Shahid scalped eight wickets to bowl out Jammu and Kashmir for 215 in their first innings.
Services skipper Soumik Chatterjee slammed a century while Yashpal Singh hit an unbeaten 92 to take Services to 284 for four on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group C match against Goa in Porvorim on Saturday.
Gujarat posted a mammoth 566 in their first innings after skipper Parthiv Patel and Manprit Juneja struck hundreds to give the hosts an overwhelming upperhand against Hyderabad in their Ranji Trophy Group B match in Valsad on Sunday.
Utkarsh Patel and Bhargav Bhatt held their nerves under tremendous pressure to lead Baroda to a thrilling one-wicket win over Haryana in their Ranji Trophy Group B match in Rohtak.
Govind Podder (51) crafted a patient half-century and Deepak Behera a crucial unbeaten 35 under pressure to lead Odisha to a four-wicket win over Haryana in their Ranji Trophy Group B match, in Rohtak, on Tuesday.