Ranji Trophy 2017-18, Round 7 - Day 2 Review

The second day of the seventh round of the ongoing Ranji Trophy saw most of the teams extending their advantage gained on day 1. Gujarat posted yet another score beyond 400 thanks to the stupendous ton from Rujul Bhatt who remained unbeaten on 145. Jharkhand, in reply, stuttered their way to 98 for the loss of three wickets. However, the talking point of the day was an excellent 252 run knock of Anmolpreet Singh from Punjab.

Punjab declared on a massive score 645/6 as the youngster smashed 32 fours and 4 gigantic sixes. Services lost 4 wickets for just 130 runs in response by the end of the day. The tail wagged for Madhya Pradesh against Odisha as they posted a decent total of 388 as the openers of Odisha played out a tricky period of 10 overs harmlessly. Hyderabad lost their way completely in response to 415 posted by Delhi. They ended the day on 194/8 as the bowlers of the visitors scalped wickets at regular intervals.

Assam eked out a crucial 26-run lead as they bundled out Maharashtra for just 253 and then batted sensibly to extend the advantage upto 127 runs with seven wickets in hand. Jaydev Unadkat and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja smashed attacking centuries for Saurashtra which helped them reach 534 against Rajasthan. In reply, the hosts lost two wickets for just 60 runs as they are still 474 runs adrift of their opposition.

Anustup Majumdar held his own for Bengal and scored the second century of the innings backing Shreevats Goswami. His 119 run knock helped his team score 379 runs after which Goa reached 191/5 before the end of the day’s play. Railways responded strongly to the total of 434 posted by Karnataka as they recovered from 83/4 to 241/4 courtesy Arindam Ghosh and Mahesh Rawat. Kerala only trail by 5 runs against Haryana in the first innings and now are set to take a huge lead over them.

Mumbai, in their must-win encounter, are sitting pretty with a lead of 226 runs over Tripura as they ended the day on 421/8. Twin centuries from Jay Bista and Siddhesh Lad helped them gain the advantage as Dhawal Kulkarni also scored a half-century lower down the order. Tamil Nadu batsmen wasted their starts against Baroda and the match is interestingly poised now going into the third day. Faiz Fazal continued his dream run in the tournament with yet another century as Vidarbha ended the day on 237/0 in reply to 353 posted by Himachal Pradesh.

Brief Score:

Group A

Hyderabad v Delhi

Delhi 415/10 ( H Singh 99, K Chandela 64; R Kiran 3/83)

Hyderabad 194/8 (T Agarwal 63; V Mishra 3/36, K Khejroliya 3/40)

Maharashtra v Assam

Assam 279/10 (S Roy 80, G Sharma 87; N Dhumal 5/94) & 101/3

Mahrashtra 253/10 (R Gaikwad 126; R Singh 4/63)

Railways v Karnataka

Karnataka 434/10 (M Agarwal 173, M Pandey 108; K Thakur 3/91)

Railways 241/4 ( A Ghosh 70*, M Rawat 86*)

Group B

Haryana v Kerala

Haryana 208/10 (R Paliwal 46; S Warrier 4/50)

Kerala 203/3 (J Saxena 91, R Prem 79*)

Rajasthan v Saurashtra

Saurashtra 534/10 ( Avi Barot 130, S Jackson 94)

Rajasthan 60/2 (D Jadeja 2/0)

Jharkhand v Gujarat

Gujarat 411/10 (R Bhatt 145*; A Kumar 4/118)

Jharkhand 98/3 (N Siddiqui 52*)

Group C

Madhya Pradesh v Odisha

Odisha 147/10 ( S Mishra 60; C Sakure 4/42) & 18/0

Madhya Pradesh 388/10 ( R Patidar 123; G Poddar 7/102)

Tamil Nadu v Baroda

Baroda 309/10 (S Singh 144; K Vignesh 3/52);

Tamil Nadu 226/5 (B Indrajith 58, B Aparajith 59*)

Mumbai v Tripura

Tripura 195/10 (M Murasingh 43; A Parkar 5/32)

Mumbai 421/8 (J Bista 123, S Lad 123; 5/71)

Group D

Punjab v Services

Punjab 645/6decl (A Singh 252*, S Gill 129)

Services 130/4

Vidarbha v Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh 353/10 ( A Vasisht 69, S Verma 66; R Gurbani 6/113)

Vidarbha 237/0 ( F Fazal 125*, S Ramaswamy 104*)

Bengal v Goa

Bengal 379/10 (S Goswami 139, A Majumdar 119; L Garg 4/89)

Goa 191/5 ( A Desai 53*; A Dinda 3/41)