A round-up of Ranji Trophy Group B matches on October 24, 2015
ESPNcricinfo staff24-Oct-2015
ScorecardUday Kaul struck 139, but Punjab could not claim a first-innings lead•PTI
Railways lost 16 wickets on the day and careened to a loss by an innings and 36 runs against Gujarat in Delhi.The first vestiges of the slide began last evening when three Railways batsmen were shot out with the score on 168. The bogey score struck again this morning – Prashant Awasti and Mahesh Rawat dismissed between the 53rd and 55th overs. So simply put, Railways went from 168 for 1 to 168 for 6.There was no such drama the second time they batted because the score didn’t even get that high. Railways were bowled out for 117 in 39.4 overs having been asked to follow on and Gujarat walked away with a cool seven points. RP Singh and Jasprit Bumrah had been the architects of Railways’ bad luck in the first innings, taking four each. Second time around the loot was a lot more spread out, with Bumrah and Mehul Patel claimed three each and Singh and Rush Kalaria taking two each.
ScorecardA 12th first-class five-wicket haul for seamer Dhawal Kulkarni ensured Mumbai are on course to claim the first-innings lead against Baroda in Vadodara.Considering the visitors had put on 447, that does not seem the most unlikeliest of events but Kedar Devdhar and Aditya Waghmode had provided excellent resistance last evening. Baroda, resuming on 133 for 1, would have been looking forward to a continuation of their good work, but neither man could kick on and make it to triple-figures.Devdhar got very close though – 95 off 145 balls with 12 fours. His partnership with Waghmode – 129 runs – had kept Mumbai waiting nearly 45 overs for a breakthrough. But once Devdhar feathered Abhishek Nayar to the wicketkeeper, the tap was open. Baroda fell from 197 for 2 to 214 for 6.Kulkarni got two of those wickets – vital ones because he removed Yusuf Pathan (8) cheaply and ended Waghmode’s resistance for 57 off 190 balls. Then he took care of the tail to make sure Pinal Shah’s rearguard effort – 47 off 106 – did not trouble Mumbai much. Baroda went to stumps at 326 for 9, with No. 10 Murtuja Vahora and No. 11 Sagar Mangalorkar still batting.
ScorecardA lower order fightback from Uttar Pradesh has given them an outside chance when none seemed on offer in Ongole. The hosts Andhra should still consider themselves favourites, though, as they finished 157 runs away from the target.”Our strength is fast bowling,” MSK Prasad, director (cricket operations) Andhra Cricket Association had said and it was on show as P Vijay Kumar and company dismantled UP’s top order. He took 4 for 68 while his new-ball partner D Siva Kumar delievered a spell of 20.5-10-34-2. Getting them away was proving difficult, as a scorecard that read 52 for 5 makes clear.But UP was patched up with Eklavya Dwivedi’s counterattack. He struck 72 off 135 balls, with 12 fours and the rest of the tail followed his example. Particularly captain Praveen Kumar who made a free-wheeling 53 off 59 with six fours of two sixes. An additional half-century from Mohammad Saif (56 off 102) helped UP put up 309 in their second innings.The early wicket of DB Prashant Kumar before stumps would have helped keep their morale high, but Andhra have an in-form Srikar Bharat and the experience of Mohammad Kaif to bank on.
ScorecardPunjab and Madhya Pradesh were neck-and-neck for the first-innings lead in Patiala. But eventually Uday Kaul’s century was trumped by left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma’s five-for as the visitors secured those three points by a margin of 12 runs.Ishwar Pandey helped MP get off to the start they wanted with a couple of early wickets. He removed the set batsman in Mandeep Singh off the fifth ball of the day and also accounted for the dangerous Yuvraj Singh, who had slammed an imperious 187 only last week.Meanwhile, the other end was firmed up with Kaul as he moved from an overnight score of 55 to record his 15th first-class hundred. The problem, though, was the man who dismissed him for 139 off 266 balls. Ankit picked away at the lower-middle order to finish with 38-5-122-5. That left the tail open, which was shot out quickly by Jalaj Saxena’s offspin and MP claimed the narrowest of leads.Still Punjab’s hopes weren’t entirely lost with Sarabjit Ladda nipping out three of the MP batsmen in their second innings. Saxena is unbeaten on 31, his team is on 81 for 3 at stumps and much will depend on him on the final day.