Ranji Trophy round-up: Iyer, Tare lead Mumbai's impressive chase in win over Railways; Assam stun Delhi

Assam stun Delhi by 5 wickets

Guwahati: Riding on their team's good bowling show, Assam outplayed table-toppers Delhi by 5 wickets in a low-scoring Group A encounter to notch up their third win of theRanji Trophy cricket season on Wednesday.

Chasing 165 for a win, Assam, who started the fourth and final day on 70 for three, achieved their target in the second session with man-of-the-match Arun Karthik unconquered on 55. Delhi slumped to their first loss of teh season.

The victory though was set up by their bowlers, who bundled the visitors for 149 after putting the Gautam Gambhir-led side into bat.

Assam players pose for a group photo after winning the Ranji match against Delhi at Barshapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Wednesday. PTI

New-ball bowlers Krishna Das (4-38) and Arup Das (3-49) shared seven wickets each to rattle the Delhi top-order.

The Gokul Sharma-led Assam then took a slender lead after posting 157 in their first innings. Karthik top-scored with a gritty 81.

Delhi bowlers Manan Sharma (4-41) and Pradeep Sangwan (3-33) made it count at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium.

But Delhi's second batting outing was also a short affair after the Assam bowlers once again made life difficult for the visiting batsmen, who could only muster 172.

Even though Unmukt Chand scored a gutsy 44 in the second innings, Gambhir, who managed 4 and 0 in the first and second innings respectively, failed to lead by example.

Left-arm spinner Jamaluddin Syed Mohammad and leg-spinner Amit Verma bagged three wickets each, while Krishna and Gokul picked two apiece.

The Delhi bowlers once again tried to make a match in the final innings but the fourth-wicket 83-run partnership between Karthik and Rahul Hazarika (59) helped the hosts bag six points.

Assam are closing the gap on Delhi (24 points in 7 matches) with 22 points in 6 games with third-placed Vidarbha also having the same number of points but a game more in their bucket.

Two more rounds to go and both the teams have put themselves in a strong position to secure a quaterfinals berth from Group A.

Brief Scores: Delhi 149 and 172

Assam 157 and 168/5 in 56 overs (Rahul Hazarika 59, Arun Karthik 55 not out; Manan Sharma 2-51).

Points: Assam 6, Delhi 0.

Mumbai notch up six-wicket win over Railways

Mumbai: Hosts Mumbai took up the challenge set by Railways to score at above four an over and notched up a comprehensive six-wicket victory in the four-day Group BRanji Trophy game on Wednesday to move to the top of the table again.

Set a stiff task of scoring 295 in a minimum of 70 overs after Railways declared their second innings closed at 408 for 4, the 40-time champions raced to victory with six overs to spare.

File image of Aditya Tare. Agencies

Opener Akhil Herwadkar (75), who scored 145 in their first essay, and in-form batsman Shreyas Iyer (91) laid the platform with a fourth-wickert stand of 143 in 183 balls that brought down the asking rate to less than four.

Though the home team lost both these batsmen and Suryakumar Yadav, skipper Aditya Tare struck form with a fluent 71 not out and also put on an unconquered partnership of 95 for the fifth wicket in 82 minutes and 124 balls to help Mumbai win on a canter.

The only time Mumbai faced some anxiety during the run-chase was when left-arm spinner Sagar Mishra caught and bowled Herwadkar, who struck 7 fours and a six in his 111-ball knock, and Yadav in successive overs.

Mumbai later lost Iyer, who batted fluently once again to carry on from his first innings 57 and struck 5 fours and 2 sixes in his 112-ball innings, when 96 runs were needed four minutes before tea.

The hosts, 203 for 4 at the break, did not take their feet off the pedal and romped home with both Tare, who hit 7 fours in 82 balls, and Lad flaying the attack with impunity.

Railways were let down by their fielders with four chances going abegging, three of them off Herwadkar off trump card - leg spinner Karn Sharma, who ended up with only Iyer's wicket while going for over 100 runs.

Sharma also did not get the sort of purchase he secured in the first innings when he picked up 7 for 91.

While Mumbai picked up six points to take their tally to 26, Railways are out of the reckoning with just 6 points.

Brief Scores: Railways 217 and 408 for 4 decl. (S Wakaskar 185, V Cheluvaraj 133 not out; V Dabholkar 3 for 115).

Mumbai 331 and 295 for 4 (A Herwadkar 75, S Iyer 91, A Tare not out 71, S Lad not out 41; S Mishra 2 for 53).

UP grabs 3 points against TN in Ranji

Kanpur: Owing to their first innings lead, Uttar Pradesh grabbed three points against Tamil Nadu after their Group B match ended in a draw at the Ranji Trophy cricket tournament on Wednesday.

Abhinav Mukund (71) and Baba Aparajith (71) shared a 135-run opening partnership to help Tamil Nadu post 212 for four in their second innings on the fourth and final day while chasing UP's 391 at Green Park here.

Resuming their second innings at 5 for no loss, Tamil Nadu rode on the opening partnership between Mukund and Aparajith. While the former cracked 10 boundaries, Aparajith hit eight fours.

Skipper Mukund was the first to be dismissed when he was caught by Dwivedi off Rajpoot's bowling. Aparajith and new man Dinesh Karthik (38) then tried to stitch a partnership before the former was removed by Saurabh Kumar in the 67th over.

Saurabh then got rid of V Shankar (0) in his next over as Tamil Nadu slipped to 171 for three. Once B Indrajith (21) was trapped infront of wicket by Akshdeep Nath, the two teams signed truce.

Brief Score: Uttar Pradesh: 348 & 273/5d

Tamil Nadu: 231 & 212/4 in 84 overs (A Mukund 71, B Aparajith 71; Saurabh Kumar 2/30).

RP Singh 5-wkt haul helps Guj beat MP by 153 runs

Surat: Paceman RP Singh's five-wicket haul on the final day helped Gujarat secure a 153-run victory over Madhya Pradesh in their Group B Ranji Trophy cricket match on Wednesday.

RP Singh ran through Madhya Pradesh's batting line-up in their chase of 314 as the visiting side were shot out for 160 in just 49.5 overs.

Resuming the day at four for no loss, MP needed another 310 runs on the final day but that proved to be a tall task in the face of a brilliant bowling show by Gujarat led by RP Singh at the Lalabhai Contractor Stadium.

MP lost half of their batsmen at 32 runs and they never recovered from there. Only Ankit Sharma provided Gujarat with some lower-order resistance by scoring 55. The next highest contributor was number 10 batsman Ankit Khuswah who made 29.

RP Singh's 5 for 33 in the second innings -- and match figures of 7 for 74 -- earned him the Man-of-the-Match award.

Gujarat collected six points from the win while MP got none.

Brief Scores: Gujarat: 311 & 202 for 9 declared

Madhya Pradesh: 200 & 160 all out in 49.5 overs (Ankit Sharma 55; R P Singh 5/33).

Haryana draw against Odisha

Rohtak: Forced to follow on, Haryana managed to sneak away with a draw after making 250/4 on the fourth and final day of their Ranji Trophy Group A cricket match against Odisha on Wednesday.

Overnight 42/1 in the second innings after being bowled out for 216 in the first essay, Haryana's batsmen put up an improved show to hold on for a draw.

This was in reply to Odisha's mammoth first innings total of 529 for 6 declared.

Nitin Saini (64), Chaitnya Bishnoi (86), and Rohit Sharma (42) were the notable performers for the home side, helping it notch up a point from the match.

Saini and Bishnoi put together a partnership of 86 runs for the second wicket to give a sound foundation before the Haryana middle-order chipped in with useful contributions.

For Odisha, who picked up three points, Suryakant Pradhan and Dhiraj Singh picked up two wickets apiece.

Brief Scores: Odisha: 529/6d

Haryana: 216 and 250/4 (f/o) in 103 overs (Nitin Saini 64, Chaitnya Bishnoi 86, Suryakant Pradhan 2/56).

Services-Hyderabad settle for draw in Group C

New Delhi: Hosts Services' effort to set up an outright win went in vain as their Ranji Trophy Group C match against Hyderabad ended in a tame draw on Wednesday

Resuming the day at the 77 for three, Services overnight batsmen - Yashpal Singh and Amit Pachhara - started patiently, and the runs started flowing after Pachhara was run out.

No. 9 batsman Diwesh Pathania came up with a late blitzkrieg with a 29-ball 42, a knock that featured four fours and two sixes as Services eventually declared their second
innings 217 for seven, thereby setting Hyderabad a target of 299 in 55 overs for an outright win.

Hyderabad, who have not won a match in the season, got off to an aggressive start but lost Tanmay Agarwal in the sixth over, subsequently prompting them to shut up shop.

Akshath Reddy continued from where he left in the first innings and scored an unbeaten half-century -- 72 off 188 balls.

Hyderabad finished their second innings at 140 for three in 43 overs.

Kamal Passi (2/34) picked up two wickets for Sevices as they climbed to third on the points table in Group C with 20 points.

Services pocketed three points from the match by virtue of first innings lead while Hyderabad returned home with one point.

Brief Scores: Services: 353 & 217 for seven decl in 57 overs (Yashpal Singh 41; Chama Milind 2/42).

Hyderabad: 272 & 140 for three in 43 overs (Akshath Reddy 72 not out; Kamal Passi 2/34).

Bengal earn three points in drawn match against Maharashtra

Pune: Putting up a much better show, Bengal bowlers took wickets swiftly on the final day to ensure that they get first innings lead against Maharashtra and walk away with three points on Wednesday.

Maharashtra started at a strong position of 296 for three but were all out for 406 as left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha took three wickets.

It was crucial for Maharashtra that overnight batsmen Rahul Tripathi (132) and Ankit Bawne (65) continue in the same way they batted on Tuesday but they could not.

Pratap Singh castled Bawne and Tripathi was dismissed by Mukesh Kumar in same fashion.

Once the two batsmen departed, it was easy for Bengal to wrap up the Maharashtra innings.

Bengal scored 100 for in their second innings with opener Abhimanyu Easwaran remaining unbeaten on 53.

Brief Scores: Bengal 528/8d and 100 for 1 in 33 overs

Maharashtra 406 all out in 129.2 overs. (R Tripathi 132; P Ojha 3/73).

Sarwate sets up Vidharbha's 8 wkt win over Rajasthan

Nagpur: Left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate is witnessing a fabulous debut season as his second first-class five-wicket haul in four games set up Vidharbha's emphatic eight-wicket win over Rajasthan in a Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match, here today.

Sarwate's second first-class five-for now takes him to 25 wickets in four games which helped Vidarbha to register their third win of the season.

Sarwate finished with impressive figures of five 58, to finish with seven wickets in the match.

Chasing a paltry 199 for an outright win, Ganesh Satish (61 not out) and captain S Badrinath (70 not out) struck unbeaten half-centuries to overwhelm the target in in 61.4 overs for the loss of just two wickets.

Defending the total, Rajasthan needed early wickets to make a match against a batting line-up that featured three of the best professionals in the Ranji circuit.

Although Wasim Jaffer did not bat, Satish and Badrinath combined for an unbeaten 127 runs for the third wicket to seal the game in Vidharbha's favour.

Earlier, Sarwate needed only one ball on the fifth day to wrap up Rajasthan's second innings on their overnight score of
226.

Besides Sarwate, Umesh Yadav had taken a hat-trick in the first innings.

By virtue of the six points which they earned after today's victory, Vidarbha consolidated their place at the third position on the Group A points table.

Vidharbha now have 22 points from seven, same as Assam, who have played only six matches.

Brief Scores: Rajasthan: 216 & 226 all out in 78.1 overs (Ashok Maneria 76, Vineet Saxena 54; Aditya Sarwate 5/58).

Vidharbha: 247 & 199 for two in 61.4 overs (S Badrinath 71 not out, Ganesh Satish 61 not out; Tanveer-Ul-Haq 1/21).

HP secure three points despite Saurashtra fightback

Rajkot: Himachal Pradesh secured three points for gaining first innings lead despite a valiant effort from the Saurashtra lower order in a Group C Ranji Trophy match that ended in a draw here today.

Saurashtra, resuming the day at 261/6, went on to make 437 in their first innings but it was not enough to overcome Himachal Pradesh's 551.

Jaydev Shah, who was 96 overnight, rallied on to make 142 off 358 balls in a marathon effort that in vain. His innings comprised 12 fours and four sixes.

Getting past the visitors' total was anyway going to be a daunting task for Saurashtra but their tail-enders Jaydev Unadkat (54) and Kamlesh Makvana (38 not out) put up a spirited show to make the game exciting.

Brief scores: Himachal Pradesh 1st innings: 551

Saurashtra 1st innings: 437 all out in 172 overs (Jaydev Shah 142, Jaydev Unadkat 54; Rishi Dhawan 2/68, Akash Vasisht
3/101).