Cheteshwar Pujara record double ton boosts Saurashtra in Ranji Trophy

Cheteshwar Pujara warmed up nicely for the Sri Lanka Test series with a patient double hundred ensuring a huge first innings total of 553 for 9 for Saurashtra against Jharkhand in a group B encounter of the Ranji Trophy.

At stumps on the second day, Jharkhand were 52 for 2 with Jaydev Unadkat removing both openers Shasheem Rathour and Nazim Siddiqui.

The day once again belonged to Pujara, who scored 204 off 355 balls hitting 28 boundaries in the process. He was a picture of concentration batting close to 9 and half hours (566 minutes) and was the ninth Saurashtra batsman to be dismissed.

Mumbai hold edge over Orissa

Mumbai gained the upperhand against Odisha on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Group “C” match, dismissing Odisha for 145, thereby gaining a 144 run first innings lead.

At close, Mumbai in their second innings were 58 for three.

Resuming at the overnight 264 for 6, Mumbai could add only 25 runs but hit back strongly to dismiss the rival for 145. For Odisha,Basant Mohanty bagged four wickets.

In response, Odisha started disastrously and lost three wickets without a run on the board. Dhawal Kulkarni dismissed Sandeep Pattanaik off the fourth ball of the innings, having him caught by Surya Kumar Yadav.

Manoj Tiwary ton boosts Bengal

Bengal pacers fought back in the final session after Manoj Tiwary’s splendid century to leave Himachal Pradesh reeling at 163 for 5 in their Ranji Trophy group D fixture at Eden Gardens.

Resuming at an overnight score of 78, Tiwary cracked 128 to guide Bengal to 419 in their first innings.

Profligate with the new ball initially, India pacer Mohammed Shami (2/74) got his sting back when the ball got old and ended Priyanshu Khanduri’s 120-ball vigil at the crease for 52 runs.

Mayank Agrawal double flattens Maharashtra

fter bundling out the hosts for 245, Karnataka piled on the runs and put on a score of 461 losing just two wickets on the second day of Ranji trophy encounter at Maharashtra Cricket Association’s stadium in Gahunje on Thursday. At the end of the day, Mayank Agarwal was playing on 219 with Karun Nair at the other end with 56 runs.

Taking full advantage of Maharashtra’s toothless bowling, Karnataka’s opening pair Ravikumar Samarth and Mayan Agarwal, picked up from previous day’s score of 117 and went on to frustrate the bowling side with a 259-run opening partnership. Samarth scored 129 off 219, hitting 17 boundaries.

Delhi collapse against Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh fought back through left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar to reduce Delhi to 228 for six at stumps on day two of the Ranji Trophy Group A match.

UP, who resumed at 270 for eight, were all out for 291 in the morning.

In response, Delhi were looking good at 125 for one before Gautam Gambhir’s fall triggered a middle order collapse, which saw the team in serious trouble at 187 for five.

Brief Scores

Group C

In Bhubaneshwar: Mumbai 289 & 58/3 (P Shaw 46) vs Odisha 145 (B Samantaray 72*, VGohil 3/26, A Nayar 3/ 27)

In Vizianagaram: Madhya Pradesh 321 (H Bhatia 88, P Yarra 4/56) vs Andhra Pradesh 177/5 (H Vihari 77, B Sumanth 57, M Hirwani 2/33)

In Vadodara: Baroda 521 (V Solanki 116, A Sheth 95*, A Sarkar 3/ 88) vs Tripura 63/1 (S Singha 41)

Group D

In Kolkata: Bengal 419 (A Raman 176, M Tiwary 123, R Dhawan 4/86) vs Himachal Pradesh 163/5 (S Verma 64, P Khanduri 52, A Dinda 2/39)

In Nagpur: Vidarbha 385 (F Fazal 136, G Satish 78) vs Services 141/4 (R Singh 57*, A Wakhare 3/43)

In Raipur: Chhatisgarh 238 vs Punjab 481/6 (A Singh 171*, G Singh 111, S Kharwar 3/90)

Group A

In Delhi (Palam): Uttar Pradesh 291 (M Saif 83, I Sharma 3/38 ) vs Delhi 228/6 (G Gambhir86, D Shorey 65*, S Kumar 3/74)

In Delhi (Karnail Singh): Hyderabad 474/9 dec (A Rayudu 112, R Teja 70, M Rao 3/76) vs Railways 35/1 (R Teja 1/8)

In Pune: Maharashtra 245 (R Tripathi 120, R Vinay Kumar 6/59) vs Karnataka 461/2 (M Agarwal 219*, R Samarth 129)

Group B

In Valsad: Gujarat 236 & 110/2 (P Panchal 61*, A Mishra 2/27). Haryana 157 (R Sharma 65*, P Chawla 4/48)

In Thumba: Kerala 219 & 45/1 (R Dayal 1/12 ) vs Jammu and Kashmir 173 (B Singh 39, K Akshay 4/37)

In Rajkot: Saurashtra 553/9 dec (C Pujara 204, C Jani 108, Ashish Kumar 3/76) vs Jharkhand 52/2 (J Unadkat 2/13)