Ranji Trophy 2017-18, Round 6 – Day 2 Review

The business end of the Indian domestic tournament is fast approaching and this is the point where the players try their best to get their names on the watch list of the men who are at the helm of the proceedings. Round 6 of this season’s Ranji Trophy has granted many teams with a ‘make it or break it’ situation, and the performances varied to a great extent.

While Assam failed to get the better of Hyderabad, their neighbours from the east, Bengal are making things tough for Punjab. In reply to Hyderabad’s 326, the men from north-east were bundled out for just 136 runs in the first innings. Young Mudassar took 5 wickets to add a bit more misery to Assam’s poor season.

Bowling a strong Punjabi side out for just 147 runs, Bengal carried out their job perfectly with the bat. Both openers Abhishek Raman and Abhimanyu Easwaran scored centuries, before the trusted men Manoj Tiwary and Sudip Chatterjee failed to capitalize on the great start.

Sharma on the money

In the Palam A Stadium in Delhi, it was absolute helter-skelter for Maharashtra before the home side accumulated 419 strong runs. In reply, the men from West lost 8 wickets for just 53 runs, as only 3 players managed to reach double figures. Indian international Ishant Sharma was under control of this siege, which saw him grab 3 wickets for just 14 runs.

A 1 v 3 match is always going to be a narrowly contested one, as was the Kerala v Saurashtra game. Chasing Kerala’s total of 225, the Saurashtrian batters got the team a crucial first innings lead. Credit should be given to the tail-enders Jaydev Unadkat and JM Chauhan, who nullified Sijomon Joseph’s 4-wicket haul.

Things are heating up at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore, where Tamil Nadu need 73 runs to match Madhya Pradesh’s first innings score of 264. But they only have 4 wickets in hand, since Ishwar Pandey and Puneet Datey took 3 wickets each today. All eyes will be on opener N Jagadeesan, who is batting on 94.

Century for number 9

At the Reliance Stadium in Vadodara, number 9 batter Ninad Rathva scored a century for Baroda, as Odisha have a mountain, in the form of 503 runs, to climb. They have lost two early wickets, and now, a lot depends on Natraj Behera, who is batting on 24.

Double century for Manish Pandey

Suresh Raina’s side Uttar Pradesh was subjected to intense ‘pandeymonium’, as the Indian limited overs batter Manish Pandey struck a double century. However, it wasn’t only Pandey who took Karnataka’s score to 624/7, as Dega Nischal missed out on his twin-ton for just 5 tragic runs.

No end to Panchal’s purple patch

In their Group B clash against Rajasthan, Gujarat amassed 450 runs for the loss of just 3 wickets, before Rajasthani batting was done and dusted for just 153 runs, courtesy Chintan Gaja’s 8-wicket haul. Priyank Panchal came short of Rajasthan’s total by the slightest of margins, as he and Bhargav Merai put up a 179 run partnership. After that, Merai continued the demolition with his skipper Parthiv Patel, who is not out on 119.

Brief Scores

Delhi v Maharashtra, Group A

Delhi first innings: 419/10 (Nitish Rana 174, Rishabh Pant 99; Chirag Khurana 3/106)

Maharashtra first innings: 59/8 (Naushad Shaikh 23; Ishant Sharma 3/14)

Assam v Hyderabad, Group A

Hyderabad first innings: 326/10 (Bavanaka Sandeep 84; Arup Das 5/112)

Assam first innings: 136/10 (Gokul Sharma 39; Mudassar 5/36)

Assam second innings: 36/2 (Gokul Sharma 17*; Ravi Kiran 1/8)

Karnataka v Uttar Pradesh, Group A

Karnataka first innings:  642/7 in 180 overs (Manish Pandey 238, Dega Nischal 195; Imtiaz Ahmed 3/101)

Gujarat v Rajasthan, Group B

Rajasthan 1st innings: 153 all out in 50 overs (Chintan Gaja 8/40)

Gujarat 1st innings: 450/3 in 128 overs (Priyank Panchal 152, Parthiv Patel 119*; Tajinder Singh 1/70)

Kerala v Saurashtra, Group B

Kerala first innings: 225 all out in 78 overs (Sanju Samson 68)

Saurashtra first innings: 232/10 (Robin Uthappa 86; Sijomon Joseph 4/43)

Kerala second innings: 69/1 (Jalaj Saxena 29*)

Jammu Kashmir v Haryana, Group B

Haryana first innings: 184/10 (Amit Mishra 41; Ram Dayal 5/57)

Jammu & Kashmir first innings: 175/7 (Ahmed Bandy 67; Ashish Hooda 2/38)

Tamil Nadu v Madhya Pradesh, Group C

Madhya Pradesh first innings: 264/10 (Ankit Sharma 77; Krishnamoorthy Vignesh 4/32)

Tamil Nadu first innings: 191/6 (N Jagadeesan 94*; Puneet Datey 3/36)

Baroda v Odisha, Group C

Baroda first innings: 503/10 (Ninad Rathva 115, Vishnu Solanki 109; Basant Mohanty 5/85)

Odisha first innings: 64/2 (Natraj Behera 24*; Vishni Solanki 1/6)

Mumbai v Andhra, Group C

Mumbai first innings: 332/10 (Prithvi Shaw 114; Bandaru Ayyappa 4/110)

Andhra first innings: 74/2 (Hanuma Vihari 29*; Abhishek Nayan 1/19)

Bengal v Punjab, Group D

Punjab first innings: 147 all out (Pradipta Pramanik 3/41, Bodupalli Amit 3/31)

Bengal first innings: 309/3 (Abhishek Raman 149*; Siddarth Kaul 2/84)

Goa v Vidarbha, Group D

Goa first innings: 239 all out (Keenan Vaz 72; Akshay Wakhare 4/50)

Vidarbha 199/2 (Sanjay Ramaswamy 87; Amulaya Pandrekar 1/37)

Chattisgarh v Services, Group D

Chattisgarh first innings: 130 all out (Manoj Singh 53; Diwesh Pathania 4/45, Vikas Yadav 3/10)

Services first innings 272 all out (Vikas Hathwala 76; Shahnawaz Hussain 5/59)

Chattisgarh second innings: 24/0 (Abhimanyu Chauhan 14*)