Ranji Trophy round-up: Herwadkar, Yadav tons power Mumbai; 21 wickets fall in TN vs Punjab

Herwadkar, Yadav slam tons to trim Gujarat’s hopes

Mumbai: Mumbai rode on unbeaten centuries from Akhil Herwadkar and Suryakumar Yadav to pile up 370 for 2 on day one of their Group B Ranji Trophy game against Gujarat at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday.

Gujarat’s hopes of securing at least the first innings lead to enhance their hopes of advancing to the quarters took a beating as the hosts, surprisingly asked to bat first by visiting team captain Parthiv Patel, scored at more than four an over to grab the advantage.

Left-handed opener Herwadkar remained unconquered at the end of the day with a patient knock of 143 off 257 balls, inclusive of 16 fours and a six.

He was lucky to be let off twice by wicket keeper and rival captain Patel before he reached 40s.

Yadav, at the other end, stroked his way to 103 not out off 159 balls - studded with 3 sixes and 9 fours.

The third wicket duo, who joined forces at the fall of one-down batsman Shreyas Iyer (75 off 69 balls with 10 fours and a six), had added 196 runs before stumps.

Earlier, put in to bat the home team - already assured of a berth in the last eight - raced to 74 before losing opener Jay Bista, edging left arm R P Singh to ‘keeper Patel, for a breezy knock of 44 that included six hits to the fence.

The ever-aggressive Iyer and Herwadkar then came together to stitch a partnership of 100 runs before the former lost patience and his wicket. In trying to glide Rush Kalaria over the wicket keeper’s head he managed only an edge to Parthiv.

To make things worse, the Gujarat captain let off Herwadkar when on 12, a difficult leg-side catch, and a regulation stumping when the left hander (39) rushed out to the first ball from left- arm spinner Axar Patel and got beaten.

Taking full advantage of these reprieves, Herwadkar reached his half century in 101 balls. He was more aggressive later and reached his second ton of the season in 196 balls.

Yadav, after the fall of Iyer, stroked his way to his half century before tea in 69 balls and then slowed down a bit to complete his hundred in 148 balls.

Brief scores: Mumbai 370 for 2 (A Herwadkar not out 143, J Bista 44, S Iyer 75, S Yadav not out 103).

Punjab in command after bowling out TN for 68

Dindgul (Tamil Nadu): Visitors Punjab took firm control of their Group B Ranji Trophy cricket match after bowling out Tamil Nadu for a meagre 68 and then extending their first-inning lead to 174 runs, as a staggering 21 wickets fell by the wayside on Tuesday.

Punjab, who chose to bat after winning the toss, lost wickets at regular intervals to be all out for 206 in 57 overs at the NPR College Ground on day one of the match.

D T Chandrasekar (3/43), Malolan Rangarajan (2/67) and Rahil Shah (2/68) were the main wicket-takers for the visiting side.

Out of favour India player Yuvraj Singh top-scored for Punjab with 49 off 63 balls. When their turn to bat came, Tamil Nadu surrendered meekly to be bowled out in just 23.4 overs, with left-arm spinner Rajwinder Singh (6/29) doing the star turn.

Opening the bowling with Rajwinder, India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh bagged three for 30. J Koushik (30) was the only batsman to reach double digit in Tamil Nadu’s abysmal batting display. At stumps, Punjab were 36 for one in their second innings.

Bawne’s 87 takes Maharashtra to 212 against Karnataka

Pune: Middle-order batsman Ankit Bawne cracked an unbeaten half-century to help Maharashtra reach 212 in their first innings against Karnataka on the opening day of their Group A Ranji Trophy match on Tuesday.

Bawne blasted eight boundaries and five sixes in his 209-ball innings but none of the batsmen could give him company for long. Swapnil Gugale (30) and Vishant More (25) were the other top scorers for Maharashtra.

For Karnataka, S Aravind (3/35), A Mithun (2/49) and R Vinay Kumar (2/44), H S Sharath (2/56) and S Gopal (1/18) were the wicket-takers.

Karnataka then returned to score 50 for one in 19 overs. At the draw of stumps, Mayank Agarwal (25) and Robin Uthappa (1) were at the crease at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium.

Put into bat, Maharashtra made a good start with openers Gugale and Sangram Atitkar (19) brining up the fifty but just then they lost both the openers in a space of three balls to be reduced to 50 for two in 13.1 overs.

Gugale was removed by Gopal in the fifth ball of 13th over, while in the first ball of next over by Aravind, Atitkar was caught by Pandey.

Next two batsmen – Chirag Khurana (10) and Rahul Tripathi (2) – too were dismissed cheaply, before Bawne took the reins in his hands. He tried to build a partnership but Kedar Jadhav (11) was soon dismissed by Sharath as Maharashtra lost half their side in 32.1 overs.

Bawne and Vishant More (25) then added 39 before the latter was dismissed by Vinay Kumar.

Bawne then single-handedly took Maharastra across the 200-mark, adding 33 and 56 with Nikit Dhumal (1) and Bharatkumar Solanki (7) for the ninth and 10th wicket respectively.

Brief Score:

Maharashtra 1st innings: 212 allout in 62.4 overs (A Bawne 87; S Aravind 3/35)

Karnataka 1st innings: 50/1 in 19 overs (M Agarwal 25; S Mundhe 1/17).

Paliwal’s ton helps Services to 282/5 against Tripura

Agartala: Rajat Paliwal struck a hundred as Services reached 282/5 in their first innings against Tripura on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group C cricket match on Tuesday.

Paliwal’s unbeaten 178-ball 147, which was studded with 19 fours and three sixes, was cornerstone of Services innings after a top-order collapse.

Lower down the order, Devender Lochab also added 31 runs to help Services be in a reasonably good position. For Tripura, Rana Dutta grabbed four wickets for 53 runs in his 20 overs.

Brief Scores: Services: 282/5 in 76 overs (Rajat Paliwal 147 batting, Rana Dutta 4/53).

Sayan shines but Bengal struggle to reach 191/4 vs Assam

Guwahati: Sayan Sekhar Mondal continued with his impressive form after being promoted to opening slot but three quick wickets pegged Bengal back as they were restricted to 191 for four by hosts Assam in an all-important final group A league encounter of the Ranji Trophy on Tuesday.

Put into bat, left-handed Sayan struck his third consecutive half-century scoring a well-compiled 87 as he added 140 runs for the second wicket with another in-form batsman Sudeep Chatterjee (65).

76 overs of play was possible on the day due to fading light which is a common phenomenon in the eastern part of India.

However, the young duo could never force the pace as they batted together for 48.2 overs. After scores of 56 and 58 against Vidarbha and Maharashtra, Sayan’s 87 came off 193 balls with 10 boundaries. Sudeep’s innings was a bit more sedate as his 65 came off 151 balls with seven boundaries to his credit.

It was off-break bowler Gokul Sharma, whose straighter found Chatterjee’s pads.

Sayan, who had by then crawled towards his maiden three figure mark saw part-time leggie Amit Verma bowl one straight and was caught plumb in-front.

Skipper Manoj Tiwary was then caught by verma for 12 off seamer Krishna Das, who had earlier accounted for opener Abhimanyu Easwaran (8) in his first spell.

From 148 for one, it soon became 176 for four before comeback man Laxmi Ratan Shukla (12 batting) and Shreevats Goswami (3 batting) saw off the remaining overs.

Brief Scores: Bengal 1st innings 191/4 (Sayan sekhar Mondal 87, Sudeep Chatterjee 65, Krishna Das 2/39) vs Assam.

Rayudu’s 70 helps Baroda reach 242-5 against UP in Ranji

Greater Noida: Ambati Rayudu (70) and Aditya Waghmode (56) cracked twin half-centuries as Baroda reached 242 for 5 in their first innings against Uttar Pradesh on the opening day of a Group B Ranji Trophy match on Tuesday.

Rayudu’s 184-ball unbeaten innings was studded with seven boundaries and a six, while Waghmode hit six fours and a six during his 113 ball stay at the Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground.

At the draw of stumps, Rayudu was at the crease and giving him company was Irfan Pathan (18).

For Uttar Pradesh, Praveen Kumar (2/34) was the pick of bowlers, while Saurabh Kumar (1/91), Kuldeep Yadav (1/42) and Piyush Chawla (1/36) claimed one wicket each.

Electing to bat, Baroda found themselves at a spot of bother after they lost their opener Kedar Devdhar (0) in the fifth ball of pacer Praveen Kumar but Waghmode and HH Pandya (31) resurrected the innings before the latter was dismissed by Saurabh Kumar in the 20th over.

Waghmode then joined hands with Rayudu and crossed the 100-mark before the opener was trapped in front of wicket by Praveen as Baroda slipped to 108 for three.

Rayudu then took the onus on himself and shared 55 runs with Deepak Jagbir Hooda (30) and stitched a 49-run partnership with Yusuf Pathan (31) for the fourth and fifth wicket respectively to take Baroda across the 200-mark.

Brief Score:

Baroda 1st innings: 242 for 5 in 83 overs (A Rayudu 70; Praveen Kumar 2/34).

Vidarbha reach 284/6 after Fazal ton

Nagpur: Faiz Fazal led the way with a century as Vidarbha posted 284 for six in their final Group A Ranji Trophy match against Haryana on Tuesday.

At stumps on day 1 at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Ravi Jangid (1) was the unbeaten batsman at the crease.

Batting first, Vidarbha rode on Fazal’s 266-ball knock to reach a decent total by the end of day’s play.

Fazal struck 126, hitting 15 boundaries and a six.

Openers Fazal and Aditya Shanware (55) combined to put on valuable 116 runs for the first wicket to give the hosts a sound start.

Fazal then added 92 runs for the fourth wicket with Mumbai veteran Wasim Jaffer (41).

Shanware struck seven fours and a six, while Jaffer hit three boundaries and a six.

Harshal Patel (2/41) and Jayan Yadav (2/97) were the successful wicket-takers for Haryana.

Odisha all out for 151, Rajasthan struggling at 28/6 on Day 1

Jaipur: Rajasthan were reeling at 28 for six after bundling out Odisha for 151 in their first innings on the opening day of their Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match on Tuesday.

Electing to field, Rajasthan’s pace combination of Aniket Choudhary (6/27) and Pankaj Singh (3/53) wreaked havoc as Odisha kept losing wickets at regular interval.

Anurag Sarangi top scored for Odisha with 43 runs.

Replying to Odisha’s modest total, Rajasthan also had a disastrous start with none of their batsmen reaching the double digits after two openers – Manender Singh (10) and Vineet Saxena (11) – got out.

AK Sahoo (4/18) and Basant Mohanty (2/10) did the damage.

At stumps, Rajasthan were still trailing by 123 runs with just four wickets remaining.

Brief scores: Odisha 1st innings: 151 (Anurag Sarangi 43; Aniket Choudhary 6/27, Pankaj Singh 3/53).

Rajasthan 1st innings: 28 for six 6 in 16 overs (AK Sahoo 4/18).

Himachal take first-innings lead against Kerala

Mallapuram: Himachal Pradesh were all out for 163 after bundling out hosts Kerala for 103 in their Group C Ranji Trophy cricket match on Tuesday.

Opting to bat, Kerala were off to a disastrous start and kept losing wickets at regular intervals at the Perintalmanna Cricket Stadium.

Left-arm spinner Rahul Singh returned impressive figures of six for 19 for the visitors.

Himachal, too, struggled despite a better start. In the end the visitors were all out in 37.5 overs, but managed to take a first-innings lead of 60 runs.

K Mohnish (3/60) and Fabid Ahmed (3/12) were the most successful bowlers for Kerala.

Harpreet, Rameez hit half-centuries to take MP to 261/9

Indore: Harpreet Singh (81) and Rameez Khan (73 not out) scored a half-century each to help Madhya Pradesh reach 261 for nine against Andhra on the first day of their Group B Ranji Trophy cricket match on Tuesday.

Opting to bat, MP lost three wickets cheaply to be struggling at 39 for three before Harpreet came to team’s rescue.

Harpreet and Rameez put on a crucial 105-run stand for the fifth wicket to take the team to a respectable position. But Harpreet’s dismissal triggered a collapse and MP suddenly lost four wickets with an addition of just 23 runs to the total.

From 197 for five, the hosts were reeling at 220 for nine before Rameez and Ishwar Pandey ensured that MP was not bundled out on the day.

At stumps, Rameez’s unbeaten knock included eight fours and a six, while Pandey was not on 20.

For Andhra, Bandaru Ayyappa was the pick of the wickets with figures of five for 59.

MP 1st innings: 261 for nine in 90 overs (Harpreet Singh 81, Rameez Khan batting 73; Bandaru Ayyappa 5/59).

PTI