Ranji Trophy 2022 Updates: Jharkhand beat Delhi, Kerala beat Gujarat and Mumbai beat Goa.
The second fixtures of the group stage of Ranji Trophy 2021-22 kicked off at various venues across the country. Here is a brief round-up of the top performances of the day.
Delhi Vs Jharkhand: Jharkhand trounced Delhi in a nail-biting finish by 15 runs
Delhi and Jharkhand battled out on Day 2 of the elite group H match at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Sunday. While chasing a modest target of 335 runs against Jharkhand, Delhi started the chase positively. Opener Dhruv Shorey (136) hit a phenomenal knock of 136 runs off 177 deliveries and gave the momentum to his side. Shorey added 60 runs with his opening partner Yash Dhull and later 87 runs with Jonty Sidhu (59) for the fifth wicket.
However, Jharkhand’s most successful bowler of the game, Shahbaz Nadeem dismissed Sidhu, when the latter was batting at 59 runs and changed the course of the game. Delhi was 289/6 and needed just 46 runs for victory. But the downfall of their batters accelerated as the rest of the batters surrendered and got bowled on 319 runs. Delhi gave away the last five wickets in just 30 runs and ended up losing the game by 15 runs. Right-arm orthodox spinner Shahbaz Nadeem picked the second fifer in the game to help his side to steamroll Delhi. He bagged vital wickets of Shorey and Sidhu to turn the match upside down and took the Player of the Match award.
Before that Jharkhand had made 307/7d in their second innings owing to the phenomenal century by Kumar Suraj, who remained unbeaten on 131* off 162 deliveries.
Gujarat Vs Kerala: Kerala won by eight wickets on Day 4
Gujarat and Kerala took the field on Day 4 of the elite group A match at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot on Sunday. While chasing a modest target of 214 runs, Kerala lost the opener Ponnam Rahul (7 runs off 21 balls) cheaply early at the beginning of their chase. On contrary, opener Rohan Kunnummal remained unbeaten on 106* and got into a crucial 143-run partnership with Sachin Baby (62), and outsmarted Gujarat bowlers completely. Kunnummal slammed a century and propelled his side to victory by eight wickets in the final session.
Earlier, Gujarat posted 264 in their second innings after failing to stand the Kerala bowlers Jalaj Saxena (57/4) and Sijoman Joseph (48/3), who accounted for the side’s seven wickets.
Read More: Ranji Trophy 2021-22 Round-up: Saurashtra’s Chirag Jani’s 235 helps his side post 501
Karnataka Vs Jammu & Kashmir: Karnataka vanquished Jammu & Kashmir by 117 runs
Karnataka had posted a daunting target of 508 runs for Jammu & Kashmir, which was anchored by Karun Nair in both the innings (175 & 71* runs). Although J&K were bundled at 93 runs in their 1st innings, they put up a battle in their second innings. J&K managed 390 runs in their 2nd innings, wherein their skipper Ian Dev Singh scored a century (110 runs off 188 balls), followed by Abdul Samad (70 runs), and Parvez Rasool (46 runs). J&K fell short of 117 runs as they succumbed to the strong bowling attack of Karnataka.
For Karnataka, Prasidh Krishna bowled yet another fiery spell and bagged 4/59 in the final innings. Thus, Krishna completed his ten-for in this game. Spinner Shreyas Gopal bagged four wickets for 155 runs. Karun Nair took the player of the match award for his knocks in both the innings that helped his side defeat J&K by 117 runs.
Tamil Nadu Vs Chhattisgarh: Chhattisgarh steals draw despite Baba Aparajith’s all-round show
Tamil Nadu (TN) resumed Day 4 with Chhattisgarh at Nehru Stadium in Guwahati on Sunday. Tamil Nadu had posted 470 runs in the first innings against Chhattisgarh on the back of century knocks from Baba Aparajith (166 runs off 267 balls) and Indrajith (127 runs). Chhattisgarh had responded with 304 runs in their 1st innings, with their skipper Harpreet Singh Bhatia batting on 149* at the stumps yesterday added another 21 runs to his 170-run knock. Sai Kishore (4/68) and Baba Aparajith (3/55) bagged wickets for TN.
TN inflicted follow-on of 166 runs to Chhattisgarh and put them into bat in the 3rd innings. Chhattisgarh added 172 runs at the loss of eight wickets in their second innings, wherein Shashank Singh (67) and skipper Bhatia (43*) remained top-scorers. They did manage to curb TN’s first-innings lead and went on to add six runs to their lead before the match concluded on a draw. Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore (3/44) and Manimaran Siddharth (3/48) bagged three wickets each, while Baba Aparajith took 2/24.
Read More: Ranji Trophy 2021-22 Round-up: Het Patel, Karan Patel centuries rescue Gujarat from precarious 90-5
Saurashtra vs Odisha: Saurashtra won by an innings and 131 runs
Saurashtra and Odisha played Day 4 of the Elite Group D match ongoing game at Sardar Patel Stadium B Ground on Sunday. After making a monumental total of 501 runs on the back of Chirag Jani’s monumental double century (235), Saurashtra bowled out Odisha on the paltry score of 165 runs. They bestowed the follow-on to Odisha, to which Saurashtra replied with a total of 205 and lost the game by an innings and 131 runs. Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, who picked 4/48 in the first innings, bagged another seven wickets (7/88) in the second innings and helped the side rout Odisha by an innings and 131 runs.
Vidarbha Vs Maharashtra: Vidarbha took the first-innings lead in the drawn game
Vidarbha and Maharashtra resumed Day 4 at Gurgaon Cricket Ground with Maharashtra continuing their 2nd innings at 273/6. Vidarbha had put up an astronomical total of 570 runs in the first innings owing to the mammoth knock from Ganesh Satish, who scored 275 runs. Maharashtra managed to add another 55 runs to their Day 3 score before getting all out on 328 runs. They came in to bat again after suffering a follow-on and added 69 runs at the loss of four wickets in their 2nd innings before the match concluded on a draw. Aditya Sarwate finished as Vidarbha’s top bowler with 6/79 & 1/27 in both the innings with the ball.
Ganesh Satish became the player of the match for his 275-run knock that helped Vidarbha take the drivers’ seat at the beginning of the game.
Read More: Ranji Trophy 2021-22 Round-up: Yash Dhull strikes centuries in both innings on debut for Delhi
Mumbai Vs Goa: Mumbai won by 119 runs tough battle due to the second five-for of Shams Mulani
Mumbai and Goa resumed Day 4 of the elite group D clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Goa had already troubled the Ranji giant Mumbai, after having bundled them on 163 runs, owing to a brilliant bowling display from Lakshay Garg (6/46) and Amit Yadav (4/47). Goa took a 164-run lead over Mumbai’s 1st innings by scoring 327/10 in their first innings to the credit of the collective efforts by their batters. However, Mumbai replied with 395-9d and put the target of 229 runs for Goa, which was mainly because of the efforts from the middle and lower-order batting. Tanush Kotian (98) and Shams Mulani (50) remained as top-scorers, especially down the batting order for the side.
Chasing the target of 232 runs, Goa failed miserably and got bundled for a paltry 112 runs. Shams Mulani, who had slammed fifty before, bagged a fifer (5/60) to help his side to defeat Goa by 119 runs. Mulani had also scalped 6/107 runs in the first innings and for that reason, lifted the player of the match award in the 119 runs win for Mumbai.
Bengal Vs Hyderabad: Bengal won by 72 runs, following Shahbaz Ahmed’s all-round show
Bengal had posted 242 runs in the first innings anchored by the 73-run knock from Abishek Porel. In response, Hyderabad was bundled out on 205 runs despite T Ravi Teja’s 81 off 196 deliveries down the batting order. With a lead of 37 runs, Bengal scored 201 runs in their second innings and posted the target of 239 runs to Hyderabad.
Hyderabad looked lackluster in front of Bengal’s streamlined bowling attack and faltered on 166 runs and lost the game by 72 runs. Spin all-rounder Shabaz Ahmed bagged 3/41 runs after top-scoring (51) in the second innings for Bengal, while Akash Deep took the most 4/41 for Bengal in restricting Hyderabad for the loss. For Hyderabad, Tilak Varma fought a lone battle and made 90 runs off 152 deliveries studded with nine boundaries and a six.
Bengal won by 72 runs and Shahbaz Ahmed won the player of the match for his all-round efforts in scripting the win for his team.
Read More: Ranji Trophy 2021-22 Round-up: Shahrukh Khan misses double ton by six runs; Faiz Fazal hits 192
