Just when one one was soaking in Swapnil Gugale and Ankit Bawne's record-breaking partnership on Friday, 19-year-old Rishabh Pant scored a thrilling triple century on Sunday as the Delhi-Maharashtra contest at the Wankhede Stadium fizzled out towards a draw. Dinesh Karthik scored a big century to lead his side, Tamil Nadu to a win while Yuvraj Singh also ended up on the winning side with Punjab, leading from the front with a Man of the Match display.
Rishabh Pant goes big
The odds were stacked against him but 19-year-old Rishabh Pant made a big statement with a whirlwind triple-century, just taking 320 balls to bring up the landmark. The match headed towards a draw but the Pant's smashing knock with Varun Sood's solid support was certainly a stand-out in a contest that has seen many a great knock, including Swapnil Gugale and Ankit Bawne's marathon 594-run partnership. Pant was dismissed for 309, which came off just 326 deliveries.
Gony's ten wicket haul stands out
Just when one thought Ishwar Pandey's 11 wicket match haul was enough for Madhya Pradesh to get to their second win of the season, Manpreet Gony skittled through Devendra Bundela's side. The sparse crowd at Rohtak had become Yuvraj Singh's cheerleaders, and the MP batsmen were insipid as they tried to chase down a stiff total of 306, falling short by a whopping 126-run margin. Despite many excellent bowling displays in the match, Yuvraj Singh was handed the Man of the Match award.
Odisha humble Saurashtra
Odisha pulled off a terrific 32-run win, defending a modest target of 312 in the fourth innings. Saurashtra's brittle batting order was exposed by Suryakant Pradhan, who scalped a five-wicket haul. Barring Sagar Jogiyani, Sheldon Jackson and Aarpit Vasavada, none of the other Saurashtra batsmen got to double digits, which led to their downfall at Hyderabad.
Tamil Nadu pull off excellent recovery act
Tamil Nadu romped to a comfortable 174-run win against Railways in Bilaspur with the batsmen and the bowlers coming to their absolute best. Abhinav Mukund's century set the tone and Dinesh Karthik followed suit with a ferocious 163, which came off just 146 balls. Malolan Rangarajan's all-round display turned the tide in Tamil Nadu's favour. Despite the loss, Saurabh Wakaskar scored a flawless ton.
Brief scores:
Maharashtra 635 for 2 decl. (Swapnil Gugale 351 not out, Ankit Bawne 258 not out & 58/0 (Harshad Khadiwale not out 38, Chrag Khurana not out 19) drew with Delhi 590 (R Pant 308; Mohsin Sayyed 3 for 121, Chirag Khurana 3 for 143)
Punjab 378 (Yuvraj Singh 177; Ishwar Pandey 8/102) & 175/9 (Yuvraj Singh 76; Ishwar Pandey 3/25) beat Madhya Pradesh 247 (Shubham Sharma 53; Manpreet Gony 6/36) & 180 (Shubham Sharma 37; Manpreet Gony 4/41) by 126 runs
Odisha 228 (Sandeep Patnaik 123; Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 4/67) & 169 (Subranshu Senapathy 57; Deepak Punia 5/39) beat Saurashtra 186 (Jaydev Shah 64; Basant Mohanty 4/58) & 179 (Sagar Yogiyani 68; Suryakant Pradhan 5/69) by 32 runs
Railways 173 (Mrunal Davdhar; T Natrajan 4/51) & 226 (Saurabh Wakaskar 120; Malolan Rangarajan 4/37) lost to Tamil Nadu 121 (Malolan Rangarajan 36 not out; Deepak Bansal 4/48) and 452/8 decl. (Dinesh Karthik 163, Abhinav Mukund 100; Karn Sharma 4/109) by 174 runs
Other brief scores
Mumbai 323 & 224/5 drew with Baroda 305 & 383/5 decl.
Uttar Pradesh 410 & 70/0 drew with Bengal 466 & 274/6 decl.
Madya Pradesh 247 & 180 lost to Punjab 378 & 175/9 decl. by 126 runs
Jharkhand 374 drew with Karnataka 577/7 decl. & 162/3
Rajasthan 272 beat Assam 195 & 69 by an innings and 8 runs
Hyderabad 191 & 224 lost to Haryana 331 & 85/2 by 8 wickets
Andhra 199 & 256/7 drew with Chhattisgarh 394
Tripura 275 & 340/3 decl. beat Services 233 & 163 by 219 runs
Goa 77 & 295 lost to Jammu and Kashmir 227 & 261 by 116 runs Kerala 248 & 115 lost to Himachal 261 & 103/4 by 6 wickets
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