Ranji Trophy: Ojha five-for spoils Jaffer's big day, Uthappa continues good form and Delhi post big win

Ojha five-for, Chatterjee century put Bengal on top on special day for Jaffer Kolkata: Sudip Chatterjee struck an elegant century under pressure before Prgyan Ojha terrorised Vidarbha with a five-for to put Bengal in command against Vidarbha on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Group A cricket match. On a day Wasim Jaffer of Vidarbha became the first batsman in the 81 years’ history of the tournament to notch up 10,000 runs, it was the hosts who brightened their hopes for their first outright win this season at the Jadavpur University second campus ground in Saltlake. [caption id=“attachment_1221347” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of Wasim Jaffer. PTI[/caption] Resuming at 217 for seven, Bengal rode on Chatterjee’s fighting 116 (200b; 14x4, 1x6) with the lower order to post a fighting 334 in the first innings on a track that started to assist spinners. This was Chatterjee’s third century from five matches this season, and fourth from 21 first-class outings. In reply, Vidarbha closed the day with 193 runs in arrears after being 141 for seven with Ojha (5/30) notching up his first five-wicket haul for Bengal, and 23rd overall. Ojha gave the first breakthrough of the day when he bowled out Jaffer (9) moments after he completed the milestone. Down with a knee injury, Ojha was a doubtful starter but the ignored India spinner returned to match fitness in time and displayed superb control as Vidarbha batsmen failed to get in terms against his guile. Ojha was at his best in his second spell when he scalped four wickets in 37 balls that included two in two balls – Subramaniam Badrinath (2) and Shalabh Shrivastava (0) – and was in line for a hattrick as he broke the Vidarbha’s back. Centurion in their win against Maharashtra in their last outing, Faiz Fazal (63 from 120 balls; 6x4s) fought a lone battle but the left-handed opener too was dismissed when Ashok Dinda castled him. Earlier in the day, Chatterjee, who was unbeaten on 49, showed fine application to hung in and got fine support from Ojha (unbeaten on one) who batted at no 9. Chatterjee struck back-to-back fours to Shrikant Wagh in the second and third balls of the 112nd over to reach his third century this season as it came off 186 balls with 12 boundaries. The duo added 53 runs for the eighth wicket before Ojha (17; 88b, 2x4s) got out and after that Ashok Dinda contributed a valuable 24 (41b; 4x4s, 1x6s) in another 53-run partnerhsip to frustrate Vidarbha. Brief Scores: Bengal 334 in 115.4 overs (Sudip Chatterjee 116, Abhimanyu Easwaran 58, Sayan Sekhar Mondal 56; Wakhare 4/85, Wagh 3/53, Thakur 2/61) vs Vidarbha 141/7 in 52 overs (Faiz Fazal 63; Prgayan Ojha 5/30). UP chase huge Mumbai first innings score Mumbai: Uttar Pradesh were fighting with their backs to the wall in quest of the first innings lead after Mumbai ran up a mammoth, season-high score of 610 for nine declared on day two of the four-day Ranji Trophy Group B game on Sunday. In reply, UP plodded their way to 51 for no loss in 27 overs, trailing the home team by 559 runs, with left-handed openers Tanmay Srivastava (30) and Himanshu Asnora (21) the unbeaten men at stumps at the Wankhede Stadium after batting for the entire final session of play. In the morning, Mumbai commenced at their commanding overnight score of 407 for 4 and with Rohit Sharma at the crease on an impressive 110, there were hopes of some sparkling stroke-play. But Rohit flashed outside the off stump against tall UP medium pacer Ankit Rajput and perished for 113 after a stay of 206 minutes. [caption id=“attachment_2473222” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  File image of Mumbai Ranji team. PTI[/caption] The UP bowlers then kept things tight though they could not produce something extra to defeat the new pair of overnight unbeaten Siddhesh Lad and Abhishek Nayar. The runs came at a trickle as the two batsmen added 90 runs in two and a half hours before left-handed Nayar departed for an unconvincing 42 off 113 balls, in the second over after lunch. Lad, at the other end, was slightly more enterprising and hit ten fours and a six in his 176-ball essay that consumed 281 minutes, but generally the home team batting lacked aggression. The arrival of Shardul Thakur at the crease at the fall of Dhawal Kulkarni saw the scoring rate perk up as the medium pacer made a brisk 56 off 61 balls, striking six fours and a six. Lad finally fell to leg spinner Piyush Chawla while Thakur holed out in the deep in the first over from part time bowler Umang Sharma who was brought on to bowl after the score crossed the 600 mark. Mumbai declared the innings closed at 610 for 9 and tea was called, after adding 203 runs in 65 overs and 291 minutes from morning. In a generally unimpressive bowling display, Bhuvneshwar Kumar took 2 for 99 while Rajput secured 2 for 112. Brief scores: Mumbai 610 for 9 decl. (A Herwadkar 58, S Iyer 137, R Sharma 113, S Yadav 58, S Lad 89, A Nayar 42, S Thakur 56, B Kumar 2 for 99, A Rajput 2 for 112). UP 51 for no loss (T Srivastava not out 30, H Asnora not out 21). Delhi trump Maharashtra by nine wickets, pocket six points New Delhi: Young batsman Dhruv Shorey hit his maiden first class hundred before Delhi orchestrated another Maharashtra batting collapse en route to an impressive nine-wicket win in their Ranji Trophy Group match, which finished on the second day. Delhi resumed their first innings at 157 for four and ended up 230 all out, to take a crucial 150-run lead. No Delhi batsman, except Shorey, offered resistance. Playing only his second first class game, Shorey resumed at 57 and remained unconquered but others struggled. His 104-run knock came off 176 balls with nine fours and four shots over the ropes. None of the other Delhi batsmen managed double-digit score but the hosts made up with another strong bowling performance as they bowled out the visitors for just 176. Many Maharashtra batsmen got starts but they could not convert them into big ones. Left-arm spinner Manan Sharma was the most successful bowler for Delhi with four for 47. Manan ripped apart the Maharashtra middle-order. Off-spinner Pawan Negi took two wickets. Chasing 27 runs to win, Delhi took 14 overs to complete the comprehensive win. They lost Unmukt Chand (12) while Shorey remained unbeaten at 11 in the second innings too. Brief Scores: Maharashtra 80 and 176 in 56 overs.(Sangram Atitkar 30, Harshad Khadiwale 26; Manan Sharma 4/47.) Delhi 230 & 30 for 1 in 14 overs. Karnataka take first-innings lead against Odisha Mysore: Karnataka secured the first-innings lead after their batsmen guided the hosts to a solid 255 for three in their Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match against Odisha. Robin Uthappa top-scored with an unbeaten 83 off 181 balls, while opener Mayank Agarwal struck 78 off 149 balls as Karnataka took a lead of 23 runs with seven wickets remaining at the Srikantadatta Narasimha Raja Wadeyar Ground. [caption id=“attachment_1736481” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Robin Uthappa. BCCI[/caption] At stumps on day three, Karun Nair was giving Uthappa company on 52, which came off 130 deliveries. Abhishek Reddy made 36 off 102 balls with the help of two fours and a six. Resuming at overnight score of 16 for no loss, Karnataka lost Ravikumar Samarth for the addition of just three runs in the day’s first over. After Agarwal’s departure with the team score reading 128 for three, Uthappa and Nair was involved in an unbeaten century stand, comfortably taking the team past the visiting side’s total of 232 all out. Uthappa hit seven fours and a six, while Nair found the fence thrice and cleared it once. Tripura 118/2 in reply to Kerala’s 347 Malappuram: Kerala rode on Rohan Prem’s 118 and Sachin Baby’s 70 to score 347 all out in their first innings against Tripura on the second day of their Group C Ranji Trophy cricket match. In reply, Tripura were 118 for two in 42 overs at stumps with opener Udiyan Bose retiring hurt on 52. Tripura still trail Kerala by 229 runs in their quest for the vital first innings lead. Earlier resuming at the overnight score of 223 for four, Prem, batting on 94 last evening, completed a fine century that came off 264 balls. He struck eight boundaries and two sixes. Besides Prem and Baby, Akshay Chandran (41 not out), Robert Fernandez (37) and MD Nidheesh (34) also made useful contributions with the bat for Kerala. Rana Dutta (5/50) picked up a five-wicket haul for Tripura. Brief Scores: Kerala: 347 all out in 129.5 overs (Rohan Prem 118, Sachin Baby 70; Rana Dutta 5/50). Tripura: 118 for two in 42 overs (Udiyan Bose 52 retired hurt; S Sandeep Warrier 1/34) Services 105 for no loss in reply to HP’s huge 531 Dharamsala: Captain Soumik Chatterjee hit an unbeanten fifty while Aanshul Gupta made 46 to take Services to 105 for no loss in their first innings in reply to Himachal Pradesh’s mammoth 531 on the second day of their four-day Group C Ranji Trophy cricket match. At stumps, Chatterjee was unbeaten on 57 off 115 deliveries while Gupta was batting on the threshold of a half-century. Chatterjee struck eight boundaries while Gupta hit three fours and two sixes. Services still trail Himachal Pradesh by 426 runs. Earlier resuming their first innings at the overnight score of 352 for four, veteran Paras Dogra, who was batting on 174 not out yesterday, completed a fine double hundred. Dogra made 227 off 280 balls with the help of 18 boundaries and eight hits over the fence during his knock. Besides Dogra, Nikhil Gangta made 98. For Services, Diwesh Pathania (3/108) picked up three wickets while Anshul Gupta (2/16) and Vikas Hathwala (2/67) shared four wickets between them. Brief Scores: Himachal Pradesh: 531 all out in 138.3 overs (Paras Dogra 227, Nikhil Gangta 98; Diwesh Pathania 3/108). Haryana-Assam match headed for early finish Lahli: Haryana lost three wickets quickly in their second innings but still managed to stretch their overall lead to 63 runs in their Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match against against Assam. At stumps on the second day, Haryana were struggling at 15 for three, with Arup Das (2/5) doing the bulk of early damage. 16 wickets fell during the the second day’s play. Earlier, resuming at overnight 140 for seven, the hosts were bowled out for 168 as Assam medium pacer Krishna Das returned impressive figures of 6/56. Haryana fought back strongly, bundling out Assam for 120 in 52.2 overs. Ashish Hooda was the most successful bowler for the home side, picking up four wickets for 27 runs. Harshal Patel had three while Mohit Sharma picked up two wickets. Starting their second innings with a handy lead of 48 runs, Haryana were in trouble straightaway as Arup Das and Krishna Das struck three quick blows to leave the match evenly poised. Nitin Saini (11) and Himanshu Rana (0) were the two unbeaten batsmen at the crease when thumps were drawn for the day. Jharkhand take control of game against J&K Jamshedpur: Ishank Jaggi (93) and Kaushal Singh (81) scored half-centuries as Jharkhand continued their splendid batting show to post a mammoth 551 for eight declared against Jammu and Kashmir in their Ranji Trophy Group C match. The hosts resumed from overnight 304 for three and the batsmen carried forward the good work done on the opening day. J&K skipper Parvez Rasool took three wickets (3/127) and paceman Ram Dyal two. Jharkhand then removed J&K opener Shubham Khajuria (6) and with his wicket, stumps were drawn for the day. Adil Reshi (7) was at the crease for the visitors. Brief Scores: Jharkhand 1st innings: 551 for 8 declared in 171.2 overs. (I Kishan 109, A Singh 124, I Jaggi 93, K Singh 81; P Rasool 3/127) Jammu & Kashmir 1st innigs: 17 for 1 in 7.3 overs. Patidar ton gives MP first innings lead Gwalior: Rajat Patidar struck a strokeful century to help Madhya Pradesh gain a first-innings lead of 20 runs on the second day of their Ranji Trophy cricket match against Railways. Patidar hit 113 off 131 balls with the help of 18 fours to do the bulk of scoring for Madhya Pradesh as the home side were all out for 276 in reply to Railways’ first innings total of 256 at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium. Captain Devendra Bundela and Rameez Khan contributed 47 and 53 respectively to resist Railways’ threat after Madhya Pradesh began the day at a precarious 7 for 2, trailing by 249 runs. Patidar took charge and had a dogged Naman Ojha (31 off 151 balls) for company at the other end. The two put on 136 runs off 224 balls. They were the only ones to score in double-figures among the top five. The tail had similar trouble as Railways managed to keep themselves in the hunt and bowled MP out for 276. For the visitors, leg-spinner Karn Sharma took 5 for 102 while Anureet Singh got three wickets for 40 runs. Railways also made a shaky start in their second innings as they finished the day at 42 for 1 after 16 overs for an overall lead of 22 runs. Ashish Singh was bowled in the third over off the bowling of Jalaj Saxena. Brief Scores: Railways: 256 & 42/1 in 16 overs (Saurabh Wakaskar 24 batting) Madhya Pradesh 1st Innings: 276 all out in 90.2 overs (Rajat Patidar 113, Rameez Khan 53; Karn Sharma 5/102) Gujarat in command against Baroda after Day 2 after Irfan Pathan’s six-for Valsad: Gujarat rode on valuable contributions from the middle-order to post a mammoth 505 all out and then reduced Baroda to 82 for three to take an upperhand in their Group B Ranji Trophy cricket match. Starting their first innings at the overnight score of 281 for four, Indian ODI team all-rounder Axar Patel scored a brisk 81 off 90 balls while Rush Kalaria (68), Rujul Bhatt (61) and Manpreet Juneja (55) made half-centuries to guide Gujarat beyond the 500-run mark that came in 148.2 overs. Earlier, openers Priyank Panchal (128) hit a century and Smit Patel made 57 to give a fillip to Gujarat’s innings. India discard Irfan Pathan, returning to action after a long injury lay-off, stole the limelight with the ball for Baroda, picking up six wickets for 47 runs. In reply, Baroda were struggling at 82 for three in 31 overs. Aditya Waghmode (38) and Abhimanyu Chauhan (31) got starts before being dismissed. At stumps, skipper Ambati Rayudu (4 not out) was unbeaten at the crease along with Deepak Hooda (3 not out). Jesal Karia (1/5), Rush Kalaria (1/19) and another India discard Rudra Pratap Singh (1/40) picked up a wicket each. Brief Scores: Gujarat: 505 all out in 148.2 overs (Priyank Panchal 128, Axar Patel 81; Irfan Pathan 6/47). Baroda: 82 for three in 31 overs (Aditya Waghmode 38, Abhimanyu Chauhan 31; Jesul Karia 1/5). Rain washes out 2nd day’s play between TN and Andhra Chennai: Persistent rainfall forced the umpires to abandon the second day’s play without a ball being bowled in the four-day Group B Ranji Trophy cricket match between Andhra and Tamil Nadu. Andhra were bowled out for 203 in their first innings after electing to bat. In reply Tamil Nadu played just one over last evening and are yet to open their score. The on-field umpires made three inspections before deciding to abandon the day’s play at 3.00 pm local time PTI