Seamers Parvindar Awana and S Narwal shared six wickets between them to help Delhi restrict Saurashtra to 234 for nine on the opening day of their four-day Ranji Trophy Elite Division match in Rajkot on Friday.
Crucial knocks by middle-order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara (75 not out) and Sagar Jogiyani (77) helped Saurashtra register their first win in the Ranji one day league as they defeated Baroda with five wickets and two balls to spare at the SCA stadium in Khandheri.
Jharkhand, however, could not make the knockouts from the group as Gujarat topped it with Haryana being the second team to progress. Jharkhand finished third.
It proved to be a good toss to lose for Saurashtra, who succeeded in removing the most impactful Vidarbha batsmen -- Jaffer (23) and captain Faiz Fazal (16) -- cheaply.
Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw and Ajinkya Rahane flopped with the bat as defending champions Mumbai were shocked by Baroda by 84 runs.
Cheteshwar Pujara's brilliant century (148) rescued Saurashtra, as the the Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match against Delhi ended in a tame draw in Delhi on Sunday. Delhi shares the top slot in Group A with Mumbai on eight points from two matches.
Defending champions Mumbai got their Ranji Trophy campaign back on track with an emphatic nine-wicket win over Maharashtra in their second group A league game in Mumbai on Monday, offsetting the heavy loss to Baroda in the opening game.
Replying to Delhi's first innings total of 224, Saurashtra were 175 for 7 at close on day 2 of the Ranji Trophy match.
Skipper Jaydev Shah (57) struck a defiant half century as Saurashtra were struggling at 116 for 8 in reply to Uttar Pradesh's 188 all out on the opening day of the Ranji Elite Group semi-final in Vadodara on Saturday.
Sitanshu Kotak struck a half century but failed to save Sauarashtra from defeat as Uttar Pradesh beat them by 48 runs to enter the finals of Ranji Trophy tournament in Vadodara on Monday.
Widespread rain lashed the Saurashtra region bringing respite from the sweltering heat even as authorities advised fishermen from venturing into the sea.
When the Bharatiya Janata Party's Mukesh Dalal was declared elected unopposed to the Lok Sabha from Surat on Monday, he became the first candidate to achieve the feat from Gujarat since its formation 64 years ago though the erstwhile state of Saurashtra saw a similar instance in 1951.
The 18-year-old cracked an unbeaten century to help Saurashtra reach 325 for four against Tamil Nadu.
Rain-related incidents claimed nine more lives in Gujarat, taking the death toll to 16 in two days, while another 8,500 people were relocated and rescued from flood-affected areas with rains continuing to lash some parts of the state for the fourth consecutive day on Wednesday, officials said.
History and form make them the odds-on-favourites, but Mumbai are not taking things for granted ahead of the Ranji Trophy final against Saurashtra, beginning at the Wankhede stadium on Saturday.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Wednesday.
Chasing 184 for victory in 59 overs, the hosts achieved the target in 49.1 overs for their second successive win in the Ranji Trophy.
Tamil Nadu secured two points after bundling out hosts Saurashtra for 386 in their first innings in the Ranji Trophy.
Saurashtra recovered from the loss of early wickets to post a healthy 298 for 7 on the first day of the Ranji Trophy match against Uttar Pradesh.
A patient, unbeaten century by middle order batsman Arpit Vasavada helped Saurashtra score 469 against Karnataka on the second day of their five-day Ranji Trophy quarter-final at the Saurashtra University ground in Rajkot, on Monday.
It's a mismatch of sorts. One team is attempting to win its 40th title, the other its first! Yet, the final of the Ranji Trophy between Mumbai and Saurashtra, starting Saturday at the Wankhede stadium, promises a lot more.
Vishal Joshi (4-59) and Jaydev Unadkat (3-52) combined to reduce Punjab to 294 for 9 on the third day of the Ranji Trophy semi-final in Rajkot on Friday and assure Saurashtra a huge first innings lead. Replying to Saurashtra's first innings total of 477, Punjab started the day on 41 for no loss but could add another just 253 runs for the loss of nine wickets.
A round-up of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Saturday.
Thanks to half-centuries by Ankit Bawne and Rahul Tripathi, and a splendid final over by Dominic Joseph, Maharashtra beat Saurashtra by four runs in the West Zone Vijay Hazare one-day tournament in Rajkot on Friday.
Mumbai's bid to clinch their 41st Ranji Trophy crown, and the first after two seasons, got a significant boost with the availability of fit-again pacer Dhawal Kulkarni for the final against Saurashtra in Pune. Kulkarni missed the semi-final against Madhya Pradesh at Cuttack, after picking up an injury during their quarter-final victory over Jharkhand at Mysuru. Other than his inclusion, the Mumbai selectors have retained the squad that secured their place for their 45th title clash in Cuttack. Significantly, when Mumbai clinched their 40th crown, Saurashtra were their opponents in the 2012-13 season. The five-day final will begin on February 24.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Tuesday
Spinner Shams Mulani (5/71) and Himanshu Singh (4/77) wreaked havoc by sharing nine wickets between them as defending champions Mumbai crushed Odisha.
In Saurashtra, a region that sends 7 MPs to Parliament, four Koli candidates have been fielded by the Congress and three by the BJP. These numbers offer clear indication of how the scales are tilting in favour of the dominant caste in Bhavnagar and Saurashtra. "The Kolis in this region can no longer be ignored," says Kunwarjibhai Bavaliya, the Congress MP from Rajkot, a Koli.
A three-member committee of England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) visited the newly-constructed Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) Stadium at Khandheri, where the English team is scheduled to play an ODI against India in January.
Round up of the ranji matches being played on Tuesday.
Eight farmers have committed suicide in Saurashtra this month due to crop failure following deficient rains, police said on Tuesday.
Mumbai crushed Saurashtra by an innings and 21 runs in the final to win their 41st Ranji Trophy title, in Pune, on Friday.
Uthappa also spoke on India's four-match T20I series against South Africa saying the contest would help Sanju Samson consolidate his position in the team after his splendid show against Bangladesh.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Sunday
Saurashtra are in sight of a huge victory over a listless Bengal in the Ranji Trophy Group 'A' league encounter in Rajkot. At stumps on Monday, the third day of the match, Bengal were precariously placed at 65 for 3, chasing a huge target of 431 runs.
Unbeaten centuries by Sagar Jogiyani and Ravindra Jadeja helped Saurashtra reach 323 for two in their first innings at stumps on day three in reply to Gujarat's 600 for nine in a Ranji Trophy A match in Surat on Sunday.
Karnataka put up an impressive show and were on course of taking a substantial first innings lead against Saurashtra at stumps on the second day of their four-day Ranji Trophy quarter-final match in Mumbai on Saturday. Karnataka added 40 more runs in their first innings before being bowled out 305 after commencing the day at 265 for eight and then reduced their rivals to a sorry-reading 183 for nine at the Brabourne Stadium.
Rediff editors on the field speak with experts, common people, media personalities and others to project how the election will go in Saurashtra which voted on Thursday.
Sheldon Jackson scored a sparkling century to enable Saurashtra post 477 in their first innings against Punjab on the second day of the Ranji Trophy semi-final, in Rajkot, on Thursday.
