Ranji Trophy 2018-19: Punjab inch closer towards win after Delhi collapse; Mumbai eye first innings lead against Gujarat

New Delhi: Delhi suffered another batting collapse to brighten Punjab's prospects of recording an outright victory in their Ranji Trophy Group B match in New Delhi on Thursday.

At stumps on the second day, Delhi were 106 for six in reply to Punjab's first innings score of 282. The hosts trailed by 69 runs as they were bowled out for a paltry 107 in their first innings.

The opening pair of Gautam Gambhir and Hiten Dalal provided Delhi with a solid start, adding 72 runs before the latter was trapped leg before by left-arm spinner Vinay Choudhary.

Two balls later Choudhary claimed the wicket of vice-captain Dhruv Shorey, who was dismissed for a duck.

Representative image. Reuters

Seamer Siddarth Kaul, who had a six-wicket haul in the first innings, claimed the wicket of skipper Nitish Rana before Himmat Singh and veteran Gambhir were dismissed in an over, leaving Delhi struggling at 99 for four.

Earlier, Punjab captain Mandeep Singh picked up from where he had left on Wednesday, scoring 90 runs with the help of eight boundaries.

Punjab had taken a lead of 176 runs by the time they were bowled out for 282. Simarjeet Singh and Vikas Mishra starred with the ball for Delhi, picking up four wickets each.

Brief Scores: Delhi 107 & 106/6 (Gambhir 60; Vinay Chaudhary 3/23, Siddarth Kaul 2/35)

Punjab 282 all out.

TN bowls out Bengal for 189, takes first innings lead

Chennai: Tamil Nadu gained the upper hand, securing a 74-run first innings lead against Bengal on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group 'B' match at the MA Chidambaram stadim in Chennai Thursday.

After ending their first innings at 263 all out, built on Baba Aparajith's superb knock of 103, Tamil Nadu struck back with medium pacer M Mohammed (4 for 39) and spinner Rahil Shah (5 for 46) ripping through the visitor's batting line up to bowl them out for 189 in 65.5 overs.

At close, the hosts were 12 for 1 at stumps, an overall lead of 86 runs.

Earlier, Tamil Nadu resuming at overnight 218 for 7, adding 45 runs with Aparajith reaching the well-deserved ton.

His 273-ball knock studded with eight fours and a six ended when he holed out to Manoj Tiwari of Pradipto Pramanik's bowling.

The eighth-wicket partnership between Aparajith and Mohammed (24, 66 balls) yielded 64 runs and enabled Tamil Nadu push the total past the 250 mark.

Aparajith, who came in at No 3, was the ninth batsman to be dismissed.

For Bengal, young paceman Ishan Porel, who struck vital blows, emerged the best bowler with 5 for 48.

In reply, Bengal suffered two early jolts as the impressive Mohammed sent back Kousik Ghosh (2) and Sudip Chaterjee (0) with just eight runs on the board.

Things got worse in the sixth over when Mohammed got skipper Tiwari caught by Abhinav Mukund for a duck and Bengal were reeling at 11 for 3.

Left-handed opener Abhishek Kumar Raman (98, 173 balls, 10X4, 1X6) waged a lone valiant battle.

He negotiated the spin and pace with equal felicity and was the ninth batsman to be dismissed.

Shah, who has had a fluctuating performance before this match, came into his element on the sluggish Chepauk surface to pick a five-wicket haul.

His victims included Abhishek Raman apart from Anustup Majumdar (16).

Tamil Nadu began their second innings with the aim of tightening its grip on the match but lost the experienced Mukund early as he was castled by veteran Ashoke Dinda for 2.

Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 263 all out in 106 overs (B Aparajith 103, M Kaushik Gandhi 51, Ishan Porel 5 for 48, Pradipta Pramanik 3 for 82) vs Bengal 189 all out in 63.5 overs (Abhishek Raman 98, Rahil Shah 5 for 46, M Mohammed 4 for 39).

At Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala 62 and 38 for 4 in 12 overs vs Madhya Pradesh 328 all out in 120 overs (Rajat Patidar 73, Naman Ojha 79, Jalaj Saxen 4 for 120).

At Hyderabad: Himachal Pradesh 351 all out in 126.4 overs (P S Chopra 110, M J Dagar 61, Tanay Thyagarajan 4 for 86) vs Hyderabad 146 for 1 in 51 overs (Akshat Reddy 86 batting).

Mumbai reduce Gujarat to 232/8; eye first innings lead

Mumbai: Mumbai bowlers, led by left-arm medium pacer Royston Dias, raised the team's chances of taking the crucial first-innings lead as they reduced Gujarat to 232/8 on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match in Mumbai on Thursday.

At stumps, Gujarat still trail by 65 runs and all their hopes are pinned on wicket-keeper Dhruv Raval (60 not out), who showed resistance despite being devoid of partners at the other end.

Mumbai, courtesy all-rounder Shivam Dubey's hundred, had posted 297 in their first essay.

Gujarat openers Kathan Patel (28) and skipper Priyank Panchal (31) added 49 for the first wicket.

But when the two looked set for a big score, Dias broke the stand as Panchal edged to wicket-keeper Aditya Tare.

From then on, the Mumbai bowlers did not look back and kept picking wickets at regular intervals on a greenish Wankhede wicket.

Dias (3-52) was the most successful bowler and was ably supported by skipper Dhawal Kulkarni (2-50) and Dubey (2-45), who had a good time with the ball too.

Part-time bowler Jay Bista also chipped in with one wicket.

Gujarat batsmen, apart from BH Merai (4), got starts but failed to convert them into big scores.

Manprit Juneja (37), Rujul Bhatt (41) and Roosh Kalaria (23) were dismissed when they looked set.

Wicket-keeper Raval, on his part, played a composed knock that included eight fours and two sixes.

And he would be keen to take his side ahead with the help of the last two batsmen.

Meanwhile, at Rajkot, Saurashtra skipper Jaydev Shah led from the front with his 165 as the hosts piled up 521 on the board in their first-innings.

In reply, Baroda were 10/0 and have a mountain to climb.

At Raipur, Faiz Fazal struck a half century as Vidarbha ended the day on 119/3 as they trail hosts Chhattisgarh by 113 runs.

At Mysuru, Karnataka managed to take the crucial first innings lead against Maharashtra. They reduced the visitors to 48/3 in the second essay as Maharashtra are still 25 runs adrift.

Brief scores: At Mumbai: Mumbai 297 all out versus Gujarat 232/8 (Dhruv Raval 60 not out, Manprit Juneja 37, Royston Dias 3-52) Gujarat trail by 65 runs.

At Raipur: Chhattisgarh 232 all out (Manoj Singh 77 not out, Aditya Thakare 5-56) versus Vidarbha 119/3 ( Faiz Fazal 53, Onkar Verma 2-33). Vidarbha trail by 113 runs.

At Rajkot: Saurashtra 521 (Jaydev Shah 165, Aarpit Vasavada 120, Atit Sheth 3-74) versus Baroda 10/0. Baroda trail by 511 runs.

At Mysuru: Maharashtra 113 and 48/3 against Karnataka 186 (Shreyas Gopal 40, Dega Nischal 39, Satyajeet Bachhav 3-43). Maharashtra trail by 25 runs.

Ranji Group C: Rajasthan reduce Uttar Pradesh to 146/7

Kanpur: Rajasthan pacers rose to the occasion and put up a spirited performance as they reduced Uttar Pradesh to 146/7 on the second day of their Elite Group C Ranji Trophy game in Kanpur Thursday.

In search of their fourth win on the trot, Aniket Choudhary (4-34) and Tanvir Mashrat ul-Haq (3-39) wreaked havoc on the Uttar Pradesh batsmen as wickets kept tumbling at regular intervals.

Choudhary, a left-arm medium pacer, ran through the UP top-order as the hosts were reduced to 36-4 at one time.

Experienced campaigner Suresh Raina (33) and Rinku Singh then tried to steady the ship as they helped their side pass the 100-run mark.

But then Haq bowled Raina to break their fledgling resistance. Haq also sent Rinku and Saurabh Kumar back to the pavilion.

At stumps, Upendra Yadav (21 not out) and Shivam Mavi (9 not out) held fort as the hosts still trailed Rajasthan by 165 runs.

Earlier, Rajasthan rode on Robin Bist's valiant 96 and equally effective 93 by opener Amitkumar Gautam to post a competitive 311/9 in their first innings.

Bist, who retired hurt on 68 Wednesday, resumed his innings Thursday, and added 28 runs to his overnight tally. But the batsman again retired hurt Thursday.

Meanwhile, Assam are in sight of an outright win after they bundled out Haryana for a paltry 97 in the first innings and reduced them to 78/7 on follow-on in the second essay after putting a respectable 310 in their first innings.

For Assam, right-arm medium Arup Das has picked up nine wickets in the match so far.

At Porvorim, Jharkhand trailed Goa by 217 runs, while at Palam in New Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir skipper Parvez Rasool claimed eight wickets as Services were bundled out for 252 in their first innings.

Rasool was unbeaten on 53 in J&K's second innings, but his side still trailed by 42 runs.

Brief scores:

At Kanpur: Rajasthan 311/9 (Robin Bist 96 retired hurt, A V Gautam 93, Ankit Rajpoot 5-61) versus Uttar Pradesh 146/7 (Suresh Raina 33, Rinku Singh 31, Aniket Choudhary 4-34). Uttar Pradesh trail by 165 runs.

At Guwahati: Assam 310 (Gokul Sharma 96, Sibsankar Roy 49) verses Haryana 97 (Jayant Yadav 30, Arup Das 5-52) and 78/7 (Chaitanya Bishnoi 39 not out, Arup Das 4-23). Haryana trail by 135 runs.

At Cuttack: Odisha 212 (Biplab Samantaray 89, Subransu Senapati 41, A K Sarkar 3-33) versus Tripura 122 and 130/5 (B B Ghosh 48, Rajesh Mohanty 3-42). Tripura lead by 40 runs.

At New Delhi (Palam): Jammu and Kashmir 95 and 115/6 (Parvez Rasool 53 not out, Diwesh Pathania 3-24) versus Services 252 (Aanshul Gupta 59, Navneet Singh 58, Parvez Rasool 8-85). Jammu and Kashmir trail by 42 runs.

At Porvorim: Goa 364 (Amit Verma 154, Sumiran Amonkar 95; Ashish Kumar 3-71) versus Jharkhand 147/2 (Nazim Siddiqui 71, Saurabh Tiwary 39 not out).

Gurinder puts Meghalaya on top, Uttarakhand eye fourth win on trot

Kolkata: Gurinder Singh put up an all-round show as Meghalaya had Manipur on the mat in their Ranji Trophy Plate Group fixture at the Jadavpur University Saltlake Campus ground in Kolkata on Thursday.

Gurinder first excelled with the bat with a fine 55, as three other Meghalaya batsmen -- opener Raj Biswa (87) and Puneet Bisht (92) -- struck half centuries to give their side a first innings lead, notching 326.

Left-arm spinner Gurinder then returned with an impressive 5/21 to restrict Manipur to 125/8 at close on day two for a slender 10-run lead.

Skipper Yashpal Singh waged a lone battle with an unbeaten 69 in Manipur's second innings.

Riding on Kartik Joshi's maiden first-class double century, Plate group leaders Uttarakhand remained on course for a fourth successive win in their match against 'home' team Arunachal Pradesh at the DN Singha Stadium in Goalpara in Assam.

After bundling out Arunachal Pradesh for a paltry 105 on day one, Uttarakhand had the home side at 98/2 at close of play on day two.

Arunachal Pradesh still trailed by 267 runs with eight wickets in hand and Uttarakhand will be eyeing a third bonus-point victory.

Playing in his third first-class match, the 22-year-old Joshi slammed an unbeaten 208 from 308 balls (19x4).

Skipper Rajat Bhatia struck a brisk 152 not out from 142 balls (17x4, 3x6) as the duo put on an unbroken 244 runs before declaring their first innings for 470/4.

Overnight 99, Joshi showed fine composure to get to his first triple figure before his skipper Bhatia joined the party.

Brief Scores

In Kolkata: Manipur 211 and 125/8; 34 overs (Yashpal Singh 69; Gurinder Singh 5/21).

Meghalaya 326; 87.4 overs (Puneet Bisht 92, Raj Biswa 87, Gurinder Singh 55; Kabrambam Meitei 3/27, Nungleppam Singh, Thokchom Singh 2/71, Bishworjit Konthoujam 2/75).

In Goalpara: Arunachal Pradesh 105 and 98/2; 30 overs (Samarth Seth 60). Uttarakhand 470/4 declared; 108.4 overs (Kartik Joshi 208 not out, Rajat Bhatia 152, Vaibhav Panwar 59).

In Puducherry: Mizoram 92. Puducherry 163/3; 33 overs (M Viknesh 79 batting).

In Patna: Bihar 288 and 150/4; 48 overs (MD Rahmatullah 66; Milind Kumar 3/39). Sikkim 81; 39.4 overs (Ashutosh Aman 5/19, Vishal Das 2/14, Vivek Kumar 2/26).

With inputs from PTI