Ranji Trophy: Mayank Agarwal leads Karnataka's reply vs Kerala; Delhi gain first-innings lead over Mumbai

Skipper Mayank Agarwal hit an unbeaten 87 to lead Karnataka, in reply to Kerala’s 342 in the first innings on day two of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match on Wednesday.

Resuming at the overnight 224 for 6, the home team added 118 more runs to the total with the experienced Jalaj Saxena scoring a crucial half-century (57).

Sachin Baby, who was batting on 113 at stumps on day 1, moved to 141 before becoming leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal’s second wicket.

Though Baby and Saxena were dismissed before Kerala reached 300, skipper Sijomon Joseph (24) with help from No.11 Nidheesh MD (22, 2x4s, 1×6) made sure the team made 342.

It was a good recovery from Kerala after being reduced to six for three, thanks to Baby’s third ton of the ongoing Ranji season and Saxena’s knock.

India Test discard Agarwal then overcame the early loss of fellow opener R Samarth (0) to forge an 89-run stand for the second wicket with Devdutt Padikkal (29) to lay a good foundation for the visiting team.

Agarwal hit four boundaries and three sixes in his unbeaten 87 as Karnataka finished the day at 137 for 2, still trailing Kerala by 205 runs.

Brief scores: In Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala 342 all out in 130.1 overs (Sachin Baby 141, Jalaj Saxena 57, Vathsal Govind 46; V Koushik 6/54) vs Karnataka 137 for 2 in 49 overs (Mayank Agarwal 87 batting, Devdutt Padikkal 29).

In Puducherry: Pondicherry 231 all out in 91.4 overs (K B Arun Karthick 68, Paras K Dogra 68, Aravind K 31; Ashish Kumar 3/34, Anukul Roy 3/78) vs Jharkhand 250 for 3 in 84 overs (Virat Singh 79 batting, Saurabh Tiwary 58 batting, Kumar Suraj 45; Sagar P Udeshi 3/93).

In New Delhi: Services 175 all out in 59.2 overs (Pulkit Nagar 52, L S Kumar 32; Vijesh Prabhudesai 3/39) vs Goa 281 for 5 in 18 overs (KD Eknath 85 batting 180, Manthan Khutkar 82, Darshan Misal 58 batting; Pulkit Narang 3/77).

In Jodhpur: Rajasthan 360 all out in 93 overs (Samarpit Joshi 123, Mahipal Lomror 47, MJ Suthar 64 not out, SS Dhiwan 41; Ravi Kiran 4/108, Vasudev Bareth 3/68) vs Chhattisgarh 198 for 9 in 77 overs (Ajay Mandal 48, Vasudev Bareth 42; Aniket Choudhary 4/25, MJ Suthar 3/45)

Siddharth Desai spins out Vidarbha, puts Gujarat in sight of win

Left-arm spinner Siddharth Desai shone bright with a six-wicket haul to put Gujarat on the verge of victory against Vidarbha on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Group D match on Wednesday.

On an action-filled day, Gujarat resumed at 188 for five before being bowled out for 256, giving the visiting side a 182-run lead. Aarya Desai (88) and Bhargav Merai (40) were the main contributors in Gujarat’s total, while left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate (5/64) was the best bowler for Vidarbha.

In the second innings, Jitesh Sharma (69) top-scored for the home team and there were useful contributions from Atharva Taide (44), Nachiket Bhute (42) and Akshay Wadkar (34), but they were bowled out for 254 in 65.5 overs.

The 22-year old Siddharth did the star turn for Gujarat, picking up six wickets including that of Wadkar, Bhute and Sanjay Ramaswamy (18).

Requiring 73 runs for victory, Gujarat were on 6 for 1, losing Priyesh Patel for a duck. The visitors need 67 more runs for an outright win. Meanwhile in Mohali, Punjab had defending champions Madhya Pradesh in trouble, reducing them to 150 for 6 at stumps on day two after piling up 443, thanks to a superb double ton by Nehal Wadhera (214).

Brief scores: At Nagpur: Vidarbha 74 all out in 30.3 overs (Tejas Patel 5/19, Chintan Gaja 5/31) and 254 all out in 65.5 overs (J M Sharma 69, Atharva Taide 44; S A Desai 6/74) vs Gujarat 256 all out in 70.1 overs (Aarya Desai 88, B H Merai 40; AA Sarvate 5/64) and 6 for 1. At Mohali: Punjab 443 all out in 116.2 overs (Nehal Wadhera 214, Anmolpreet Singh 124; Puneet Dubey 3/91) vs Madhya Pradesh 150 for 6 in 54.4 overs (Yash Dubey 50, Shubham Sharma 50; Abhishek Sharma 2/26, Mayank Markande 2/37).

At Jammu: Jammu & Kashmir 241 for 3 in 103 overs (Abhinav Puri 121, Shubham Khajuria 53, Vivrant Sharma 55) vs Tripura.

At Chandigarh: Railways 386 all out in 108.1 overs (Vivek Singh 108, Upendra, Yadav 113, Karn Sharma 30; Sandeep Sharma 6/116) vs Chandigarh 212 for 2 in 67 overs (Manan Vohra 113 batting, Kunal Mahajan 66 batting).

Rawal, Singh hand Delhi first-innings lead over Mumbai

Vaibhav Rawal struck a fine century, while skipper Himmat Singh returned to his class with a fifty as Delhi took a vital first-innings lead over Mumbai in a Group B Ranji Trophy match on Wednesday.

After bowling out Mumbai for 293 in their first innings on Tuesday, Delhi rode on Rawal and Singh’s fine knocks to reach 316 for 7, a lead of 23 runs on the second day of the four-day match.

But the start was far from rosy for Delhi as they lost both their openers — Vaibhav Sharma and Dhruv Shorey — early.

Hrithik Shokeen made a stroke-filled 45 off 60 balls.

But IPL specialist Nitish Rana and Shokeen fell in quick succession as Delhi slumped to 88 for 4.

Then Rawal and skipper Singh joined hands and carried Delhi forward with a 195-fifth-wicket stand.

But just when Singh was looking dangerous, he was stumped by Prasad Pawar off the bowling of Shams Mulani in the 80th over.

Rawal, who made 114 off 195 balls with the help of 16 boundaries, followed suit soon, bowled by Mulani.

Delhi lost another wicket in the form of wicket-keeper Anuj Rawat (14).

At stumps on the second day, Pranshu Vijayran (4 not out) and Divij Mehra (8 not out) were at the crease.

Brief Scores: At Delhi: Mumbai 293 vs Delhi 316 for 7 in 90 overs (Vaibhav Rawal 114, Himmat Singh 85; Mohit Avasthi 2/42).

At Rajkot: Andhra 415 all out in 141.3 overs (Ashwin Hebbar 109, Ricky Bhui 80; Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 3/137) vs Saurashtra 122 for 3 in 31 overs (Sheldon Jackson 63 not out; Nitish Kumar Reddy 2/26).

At Chennai: Tamil Nadu 540 all out in 132.3 overs (Pradosh Ranjan Paul 153, Narayan Jagadeesan 125, Vijay Shankar 112; Riyan Parag 4/101) vs Assam 120 for 4 in 45 overs (Riyan Parag 48; Ajith Ram 2/41).

At Pune: Maharashtra 385 all out in 96.2 overs (Naushad Shaikh 152, Kedar Jadhav 71; Kartikeya Kak 7/91) vs Hyderabad 176 for 5 in 75 overs (Rohit Rayudu 68, Rahul Radesh 55; Pradeep Dadhe 2/36).