Ranji wrap: Lad, Patil rescue Mumbai on bowlers day out

Young Turks Siddesh Lad and Nikhil Patil rescued Mumbai with counter-attacking, unbeaten half centuries and placed the hosts at a comfortable 342 for 5 at stumps on day 1 of the four-day Ranji Trophy Group A cricket match against defending champions Karnataka. Lad was unconquered on 94 while Patil, playing only his second game of the season, was not out on 85 as the sixth- wicket duo put the visiting team attack to the sword with an unfinished partnership of 175 in just over two and a half hours after combining forces midway through the second session of play at the Wankhede Stadium. [caption id=“attachment_2084311” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Siddhesh Lad scored 94 against Karnataka during their Ranji trophy game in Mumbai. PTI[/caption] The duo came together when Mumbai, whose quarterfinal hopes rest on securing an outright victory over the group leaders, were tottering at 167 for five following the dismissals of opener Shrideep Mangela (4), captain Aditya Tare (72 in 92 balls with 15 fours), Shreyas Iyer (20), Abhishek Nayar (36) and Suryakumar Yadav (19). It was a tricky time as another wicket would have sent Mumbai crashing for a low total in the first innings after they had chosen to bat, but the two youngsters showed splendid fighting spirit to pull the 40-time champions out of trouble with aggressive stroke-play. Karnataka also did not take all their chances as Lad was twice let off, when on 13 in a team score of 148 for 5 by Manish Pandey off captain Vinay Kumar and then on 55 by R Samarth off Abhimanyu Mithun. The no. 6 batsman took full advantage of these reprieves to be unbeaten after a stay of 164 minutes during which he faced 119 balls and struck 18 fours. His partner Patil was marginally ahead of him at the tea score of 230 for 5 after a brisk beginning but then played a bit more sedately to remain unconquered at the end after facing 129 balls and striking two sixes and 11 fours. For Karnataka, Vinay Kumar bagged the first two wickets ? Mangela and Iyer, to end with decent figures of 2 for 65. Off- spinner Udit Patel also picked up two wickets in the space of seven balls when he sent back experienced batsmen Nayar and Yadav to finish the day with 2 for 68. But the big disappointment was young leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal who had Tare caught off a cut shot, but bowled a spate of short balls for the Mumbai captain to rock back and pull with disdain. He ended the day with figures of 1 for 71 in 14 overs. Bowlers impressed most on the first day of the Ranji Trophy final round matches with Baroda, Haryana, Gujarat, Saurashtra and Delhi being bowled out for 149, 129, 125, 218 and 249, respectively, Friday. At the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara, Baroda’s batsmen faltered against Tamil Nadu. right-arm medium pacer R. Ashwin Crist (four for 40) and left-arm pacer Prsanth Parameswaran (three for 46) broke the backbone of the hosts batting line-up. The visitors reached 77 for two at stumps. Haryana and Gujarat’s batsmen came a cropper at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad. The visitors were troubled by off-spinner Ramesh Powar (five for 40) and pacer Rush Kalaria (four for 36) in the first innings. Haryna bowlers also rose to the occasion and dismissed the hosts for 125 runs with spinners Amit Mishra (five for 37) and Jayant Yadav (four for 45) leading the pack. However, Haryana continued to struggle and were reeling at 71 for six in the second innings. Kalaria has already taken four for 17. At the at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack, Basant Mohanty (four for 40), Alok Mangaraj (four for 57) and Deepak Behera (two for 38) helped Odisha dismiss Saurashtra for 218. Bowlers continued to have a successful day. Punjab bowlers’ Sandeep Sharma (three for 38), Vinay Choudhary (three for 45) and Rajwinder Singh (three for 64) bowled Delhi out for 249 runs at the Dhruve Pandove Stadium in Patiala. The hosts also lost two wickets for 30 runs at stumps. Brief Scores: At Ongole (Andhra Pradesh), Andhra vs Goa, Andhra 1st innings 408 for one (Srikar Bharat 226 not out, Murumulla Sriram 108 not out; Amogh Sunil Desai 1/40). At Vadodara, Baroda vs Tamil Nadu, Baroda 1st innings 149 all out (Saurabh Wakaskar 51; Aswin Crist 4/40, P Parameswaran 3/46) Tamil Nadu 1st innings 77 for two (Murali Vijay 32). At Ahmedabad, Haryana vs Gujarat, Haryana 129 all out (Jayant Yadav 38; Ramesh Powar 5/40, Rush Kalaria 4/36) Gujarat 1st innings 125 all out (Parthiv Patel 43; Amit Mishra 5/37, Jayant Yadav 4/45) Haryana 2nd innings 71 for six (Sachin Rana 30; Rush Kalaria 4/17). At Hyderabad, Himachal Pradesh vs Hyderabad, Himachal Pradesh 269 for five (Paras Dogra 101, Bipul Sharma 83; Pragyan Ojha 3/89). At Jamshedpur, Services vs Jharkhand, Services 230 all out (Hardik Sethi 61; Rituraj Singh 3/46, Varun Aaron 3/46) Jharkhand 1st innings 102 for two (Ishan Kishan 47). At Kannur, Kerala vs Assam, Assam 1st innings 197 for four ( Dheeraj Jadhav 73 not out). At Indore, Madhya Pradesh vs Bengal, Madhya Pradesh 1st innings 274 for one (Aditya Shrivastava 118, Jalaj Saxena 109). At Pune, Maharashtra vs Vidarbha 262 for four (Swapnil Gugale 76, Ankit Bawne 56). At Mumbai, Mumbai vs Karnataka 342 for five (Nikhil Patel 85, Siddesh Lad 94 not out; Vinay Kumar 2/65). At Cuttack, Saurashtra vs Odisha, Saurashtra 1st innings 218 all out (Chirag Jani 99 not out; Basant Mohanty 4/40, Alok Mangaraj 4/57). At Patiala, Punjab vs Delhi, Delhi 249 all out (Manan Sharma 77 not out; Sandeep Sharma 3/38, Vinay Choudhary 3/45) Punjab 1st innings 30 for two. At Delhi, Railways vs Uttar Pradesh, Railways 331 for nine (Mahesh Rawat 146, Karn Sharma 56; Praveen Kumar 5/68). With inputs from agencies