On a day both of them were omitted from the BCCI’s list of centrally contracted players, Pragyan Ojha and Robin Uthappa put in sparkling performances for Bengal and Karnataka respectively. Meanwhile, incessant rain in Chennai means there was no play possible between TN and Andhra for the second day running.
Here’s a comprehensive round up of Day 3 action from the Ranji Trophy matches.
UP reply with 350/5 against Mumbai on Day 3
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 on Monday.
Replying to the 40-time champions’ 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.
UP’s reply was earlier built around opener Himanshu Asnora’s patient 92 in six-and-a-half hours, one-down Umang Sharma’s sedate 53 and Mumbai-born youngster Sarfaraz Khan’s quick-fire 44, the most enterprising knock from the visiting side till then, off 51 balls.
The big break for the hosts was given by their partnership breaker Abhishek Nayar, who accounted for both Asnora and Sarfaraz soon after tea, taken when UP were 241 for 3.
Asnora, who batted from yesterday evening, hit 13 fours in his 262-ball knock before getting bowled, while Sarfaraz fell a victim to his impetuosity and was trapped leg before after striking two sixes and four fours. Captain Suresh Raina flopped, making only 9.
For Mumbai, Nayar was the chief wicket taker with 2 for 37 in 18 overs, while the other scalps were shared by left-arm spinner Vishal Dhabolkar (1 for 100) and medium pacer Balwinder Sandhu (1 for 54).
The hosts’ leading new ball bowlers, Shardul Thakur and Dhawal Kulkarni, were yet to take a wicket on the slow track.
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 drivers’ seat
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.
Having claimed his 23rd five-for yesterday, the left-arm spinner added two more to his tally today to return with his best figures of 7/58 as Vidarbha were bowled out for 202, conceding Bengal 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; 8×4) in 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.
The day belonged to the Bengal’s new recruit Ojha who kept a steady line and got vicious turn and bounce to trouble the overnight batsmen duo of Shrikant Wagh and Akshay Wakhare who resumed the day with team’s score of 141/7.
Ojha dismissed Wakhare (6) leg before wicket with just the addition of two runs to his overnight total to give the first breakthrough this morning. But thereafter, Wagh (60 not out; 100b, 10×4, 1×6) counter-attacked Ojha to give the visitors some respite.
Wagh completed his half century from 82 balls in the 65th over and hit Ojha for a six in the spinner’s next over. But Vidarbha soon ran out of steam after Swapnil Bandiwar (4) became Ojha’s seventh victim after he was bowled. “I was confident of doing well… It’s about giving your best and bowling consistently. We have a more important day for us tomorrow. It will become all the more special if we’re able to win tomorrow,” Ojha said after his career-best show.
“The wicket is helping and has enough cracks… We have to bowl in those areas consistently,” he added. Having gone through a difficult time after his action was reported last season, Ojha had to undergo remedial work and joined Bengal ahead of 2015-16.
“It was the biggest challenge… Besides the action, the challenge was to build my mental strength,” said Ojha.
Brief Scores:
Bengal: 334 and 164 in 62.5 overs (Manoj Tiwary 63; Wakhare 5/61) vs 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.
Super Saxena spins MP to nine-wicket win
Gwalior: 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.
The 29-year-old off-spinner Jalaj returned impressive figures of 8/58 to bundle out Railways for 131 in 51.1 overs at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium. Resuming at 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.
Uthappa cracks second ton of season, puts Karnataka in command
Mysuru: India discard Robin Uthappa cracked a century for the second match running 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.
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.
Karnataka, who registered their first outright win against Rajasthan in their previous match, would go for the second outright victory this season when they take the field on fourth and final day of the match tomorrow.
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 the hands of Odisha.
After Odisha succeeded in breaking Nair and Uthappa’s partnership, the visitors did well to restrict the hosts by bagging six wickets for 103 runs, with slow-left-arm orthodox Dhiraj Singh (3/156) leading the fightback and ably supported by right-arm medium Suryakant Pradhan (3/94). Basant Mohanty and Biplab Samantaray claimed two and one wicket respectively. As Singh and Pradhan picked up wickets at regular intervals, lower-order batsmen including Chidamabarm Gautam (20), Stuart Binny (4) and Shreyas Gopal (13) failed to capitalise on Uthappa-Nair partnership.
Resuming at 255 for three, Karnataka soon lost Nair after he added 21 runs to his overnight score of 52. Left-armer Singh had him caught by Pratik Das. Binny lasted for seven balls and was cleaned up by Samantaray after he scored four. Gautam was out for 20 as he became another victim of Singh. Gopal and Jagadeesha Suchith did not last long and fell to Pradhan and Singh rather quickly which prompted Vinay to declare the innings.
Assam at doorstep of 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.
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.
Haryana began the day at 15 for three and together with fellow paceman Krishan Das (4/48), Arup ripped apart Haryana batting line-up. Himanshu Rana was top scorer for them with a 27-run knock.
It was Krishan who started the rot by dismissing overnight opener Nitin Saini (18) and Sachin Rana (6).
Arup then accounted for Himanshu Rana (27), Rahul Dalal (0) and Priyank Tehlan (15) to break the back of Harayana. In no time, Haryana’s second innings was over as they badly missed skipper Virender Sehwag badly as he is playing in US, and Assam gave themselves a good chance to record an outright win.
Assam were in a spot of bother, losing three wickets for just 35 runs but Amit Verma (24 batting) and KB Arun Karthik (48) added 76 runs for the fourth wicket to wrest back the initiative. Karthik was dismissed at the fag end of the day but by
that time Assam were firmly in control of the game.
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).
Baroda sink further, follow-on with 81/4 on Day 3
Valsad: Baroda seemed hapless against a supreme Gujarat showing 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.
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.
If Priyank Kirit Panchal’s 128 stood out in the Gujarat innings, then Axar Patel’s all-round showing has also made it count for the Parthiv Patel-led side. Coming in at No.8, Axar hit a fantastic 81 and has also bagged five wickets in the game so far. The left-arm spinner led the wickets tally with three scalps in the first innings and has also picked up two wickets
till now in the second innings.
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).
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.
Chasing hosts’ mammoth first inings score of 551 for 8 declared, the visitors 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 tomorrow to save the match as they trail by 233 runs.
Jharkhand’s left-arm paceman Jaskaran Singh removed Waseem Raza (0) and Adil Reshi (0) in space of three balls to pile on the misery of the rivals. Shubham Khajuria (0) and Ian Dev Singh (9) will resume J&K second innings.
Brief Scores:
Jharkhand 1st innings: 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.
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.
Kamlesh Makvana picked up three wickets to briefly cause a flutter before Dheeraj Jadhav (30 batting) and Snehal Kauthankar (24 batting) — who was briefly off the field after being hit on the forehead while fielding — closed the day without too much hassle.
Brief Scores:
Goa: 239 and 242 for 4 (Swapnil Asnodkar 104, Kamlesh Makvana 3/58) lead Saurashtra 258 (Avi Barot 58, Kamleash Makvana 39) by 223 runs
Third day’s play also called off in Chennai
Chennai, Nov 9 (PTI) 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. The second day’s play yesterday was also called off without a ball being bowled. When the stumps were drawn on the first day, Tamil Nadu were not able able 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.