Uttarakhand's Mayank Mishra was the cynosure of all eyes with his splendid bowling on Day 3 of the 2022 edition of Ranji Trophy on Saturday (February 26). Mayank stood tall with a sensational spell of 7/44 to restrict Rajasthan to just 129 in the first innings. Mayank's spell included nine maidens as he put the Rajasthan batters in all sorts of bother. Mishra's scalps included openers YB Kothari and MN Singh, Aditya Garhwal, captain Ashok Menaria, Deepak, SK Sharma and tail-ender Kamlesh Nagarkoti.
Rajasthan conceded a lead of 208 runs after Uttarakhand had scored 337 in the first innings after being put into bat first.
In the second innings, Uttarakhand built on their lead as they reached 246/7. The Rajasthan top-order showed some resistance this time around and were placed at 53 for no loss in the second innings.
Agarwal's fifer helps MP trounce Meghalaya by innings and 301 runs
Right-arm medium pacer Anubhav Agarwal claimed a five-wicket haul to help Madhya Pradesh trounce Meghalaya by an innings and 301 runs in their Elite Group A Ranji Trophy game. First MP shot out Meghalaya for a meagre 61 in their first essay and then piled up a staggering 499/6 declared, courtesy centuries by in form batter Shubham Sharma and debutant Akshat Raghuwanshi in their first innings.
MP bowlers led by Agarwal (5/38) then wreaked havoc as they bundled out their opponents for a paltry 137 in their second essay to register a convincing win.
The Chandrakant Pandit-coached side had trounced Gujarat in their lung-opener in an emphatic fashion.
Meghalaya started on their overnight score of 16 for no loss on the third day and needed to bat two days to salvage a draw, but none from their line-up, barring skipper Punit Bisht (38), showed resistance as MP bowlers kept striking at regular intervals at the Saurashtra Cricket Association stadium C.
Agarwal was the more lethal one and his wickets included openers Wallam Kynshi (12), Kishan Lyngdoh (6), one-down batter Chirag Khurana (26), Larry Sangma (4) and D Ravi Teja (10).
Meghalaya’s innings never got going and they were tottering at 62/5 at one stage.
Skipper Bisht, with his 64-ball 38, only delayed the inevitable. But once in form left-arm orthodox spinner Kumar Kartikeya (3/18) dismissed him, it was just a matter of time.
Kartikeya and pacer Gaurav Yadav (2/39), who had claimed a fifer in the first essay, then ripped apart the tail to complete MP's sheer domination.
In another match, Gujarat piled a 77-run lead as they bowled out Kerala to 439 after posting a first innings total of 388. At the end of Day 3, Gujarat are 128/5 with Karan Patel (28) and Umang Rohitkumar (25) still intact on the pitch in their second innings . For Kerala Rohan Kunnummal (129) and Vishnu Vinod (113) struck centuries as Siddharth Desai was pick of the bowlers for Gujarat with a speling spell of 5/132).
Ton-up Shaikh leads Maharashtra's comeback, but Vidarbha have upper hand
Vidarbha gained an upper hand in their Elite Group G Ranji Trophy game against Vidarbha despite Naushad Shaikh's stroke-filled 103 for Maharashtra.
Vidarbha, courtesy Ganesh Satish's 275, had posted a mammoth 569/5 declared in their first essay.
Maharashtra, who started from their overnight score of 46/1 having lost opener Yash Nahar (22), had a mountain to climb. They ended the third day at 273/6.
Maharashtra skipper Ankit Bawane also played his part to perfection by scoring 92.
Maharashtra were reduced to 63/3 as Vidarbha's left-arm spinner Aditya Sarvate (5/64) grabbed two quick wickets, removing Rahul Tripathi (0) and last match's double centurion Pawan Shah (33) cheaply.
But then skipper Bawane, who is known as the 'crisis man' found an able ally in Naushad Shaikh, as the two rallied the innings with their 184-run fourth wicket stand at the Gurgaon cricket ground. The duo easily tackled the strong Vidarbha attack with Shaikh being the more aggressive one. While Bawane struck 10 fours, Shaikh hammered 13 boundaries and a maximum in his 196-ball innings.
Their partnership helped Maharashtra come back into the game. However, when it looked like that Shaikh would frustrate the Vidarbha bowlers more, Sarvate gave Vidarbha a much-needed breakthrough, trapping Shaikh in front of the wicket as Maharashtra lost their fourth wicket at 247.
Bawane and wicket-keeper Vishant More (0) also fell in quick succession as Vidarbha pegged back their rivals.
When the stumps were drawn, Azim Kazi (10 not out) and Satyajeet Bachhav (05 not out) held fort and have a tough task at hand on the final day.
For Vidarbha, Sarvate was the pick of the bowlers. While the match looks headed for a draw, Vidarbha will fancy their chances of grabbing the crucial first-innings lead.
In another match, Uttar Pradesh romped Assam by six wickets while chasing a target of 112. Uttar Pradesh bundled out Assam to just 120 in the second innings, riding on fantastic spells from Yash Dayal (4/37) and Ankit Rajpoot (4/56).
Karnataka reduces J&K to 190 for 4 to eye outright win; Railways gains lead
Karnataka reduced Jammu & Kashmir to 190/4 in the second innings having set them a mammoth 508-run target on the third day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match.
Skipper Ian Dev Singh Chauhan (batting on 65) and Abdul Samad (21 batting) were at the crease with J & K needing a further 318 runs for an unlikely win.
Prasidh Krishna, who had taken six wickets in J & K's first innings, got the first breakthrough for Karnataka with the scalp of Qamran Iqbal (4).
Shreyas Gopal picked up two wickets - Jatin Wadhwan (15) and Shubham Singh Pundir (9) to reduce the opposition to 57 for 3 before Fazil Rashid (65) and Ian Singh fought back with a 79-run stand for the fourth wicket.
After the exit of Rashid, the J & K captain and the highly rated Abdul Samad put on 63 runs and ensured that there were no further setbacks for the team.
Earlier, resuming at 128 for 2, Karnataka went on the offensive and added 170 runs in 29 overs with Karun Nair adding 71 (not out) to his brilliant knock of 175 in the first innings and K V Siddharth hitting 72.
In the other match in the group, Railways secured the crucial first innings lead by replying with 525 for 9 at stumps against Pondicherry, which had scored 342. Arindam Ghosh, who scored a ton in the first match last week, continued his good run, making 100 while Mohammed Saif fell agonisingly short of ton, being dismissed for 99.
Ghosh and Saif added 146 runs in 276 balls and took the game away from Pondicherry, whose bowlers had kept the Railways batters in check on Friday.
Ishant bowls only nine overs, Delhi all but out of quarterfinals race
Ishant Sharma got a wicket in his first spell but never looked incisive in his nine overs as Jharkhand, riding twin centuries from Nazim Siddiqui and Kumar Suraj, put Delhi on the brink of elimination in their group H Ranji Trophy match.
Jharkhand ended the third and penultimate day at 288 for five in 76 overs and, with an overall lead of 315, is all but sure of three points. They would probably bat another hour on the final day to nullify any remote chance of Delhi chasing the target in just five hours.
If Delhi end with another one point, they would only survive in theory as even a seven point game (bonus) against Chattisgarh won't allow them to surpass Tamil Nadu.
In the morning, Jonty Sidhu (79) was the fifth victim of left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem when he tried to give him the charge as Delhi were all out for 224, giving Jharkhand an important 27-run lead.
They did come back strongly during the first session, reducing Jharkhand to 67 for four as both Navdeep Saini (13-2-45-1) and Ishant (9-2-29-1) bowled good opening spells in tandem.
However, once right-handed opener Siddiqui (110, 177 balls, 13x4) and the left-handed Suraj (129 batting off 160 balls, 17x4, 3x6) took charge, Delhi were slowly and surely batted out of the game during the second session when left-arm spinner Vikas Mishra (0/74 in 21 overs) looked flat compared to Nadeem.
Siddiqui played the cover drives well while Suraj was severe square of the wicket with his cuts and pulls.
Ishant bowled two more short spells but never looked in rhythm and, in fact, during his final spell, lost a bit of cool as Suraj treated him with disdain.
Once Delhi went wicket-less at tea, the shoulders started drooping and with Ishant not bowling much with the old ball, Jharkhand batters found other Delhi bowlers easy to negotiate as both off-spinners Lalit Yadav and Nitish Rana looked off-colour.
Tamil Nadu look good for full points
Tamil Nadu reduced Chattisgarh to 257 for eight at stumps after declaring their first innings at 470 for nine.
Chattisgarh still need 64 runs to avoid follow-on with only two wickets in hand. For Chattisgarh, their skipper Harpreet Bhatia played a lone hand with an unbeaten 145 but hardly got any support from the other end. Left-arm spinner Ravi Srinivasan Sai Kishore (4/48) was the most successful bowler.
An outright win on the final day will take Tamil Nadu to nine points and on top of the table before the final match against Jharkhand, while Chattisgarh need to save the match and remain on top with seven points, having won the first game outright.
Debutant Harnoor misses century
In the match between Baroda and Chandigarh, 19-year-old debutant Harnoor Singh did wonders. Harnoor came into the limelight in the recently held Under 19 World Cup. Harnoor made his debut for Chandigarh, but missed his maiden Ranji century by a whisker. Chandigarh's team, who scored only 168 runs in the first innings, made 234 runs for the loss of two wickets in their second innings on the third day of the match. Harnoor (86 off 151) stitched a tremendous partnership of 164 runs for the first wicket along with his opening partner Arslan Khan towards the opening for Chandigarh.
