Ranji Trophy round-up: Chopra slams 338, Gambhir makes 40th first class 100, Andhra edge past TN

Half-centuries by B Sumanth and Ashwin Hebbar gave Andhra Pradesh a crucial lead on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Group “C” encounter against Tamil Nadu at the M A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday.

The headline maker on the day was Prashant Chopra who hit the first triple hundred of the current first-class season as Himachal Pradesh piled up a massive 729 for 8 declared against Punjab on the second day of the Ranji Trophy group D encounter.

Gambhir shines for Delhi

Gautam Gambhir started his new season in the right earnest with a patient century as Delhi made a pedestrian Assam attack toil by reaching 269/4 at stumps on the second day of the Ranji Trophy group A encounter in New Delhi on Saturday.

Courtesy Gambhir’s 40th first class hundred (136 batting, 245 balls) and his 207-run third-wicket stand with another centurion Nitish Rana (110, 158 balls), Delhi are in the driver’s seat with an aim to log home full points.

This was after Assam were all out for 258, starting the day at 224 for 7 with skipper Ishant Sharma returning with best figures of 5 for 38 in 20 overs.

Good day for Andhra

Sumanth and Hebbar helped Andhra wrest the initiative against the star-studded hosts after having been 64 for 5 at one point to end the day at 231 for 7, a lead of 55.

Tamil Nadu had been dismissed for 176 in the first innings on day one.

When Ashwin had Bharat stumped by N Jagadeesan for 32, Andhra looked in trouble at 64 for 5. The TN bowlers had done very well till that point and fielders had played their part too, taking the catches came their way. From 95 for 5 at lunch, Sumanth, who showed great resolve to defy the bowling, took the fight to Tamil Nadu in Hebbar’s company.

Sumanth didn’t resume his knock after the tea interval owing to a hand injury, but Hebbar kept the scoreboard moving. Shoaib Mohammed Khan provided valuable support and they took the total to 182 before Hebbar’s knock ended. He was dismissed by K Vignesh for 64.

Test all-rounder Ashwin, who bowled 23 overs, looked dangerous in the first session but couldn’t make much of an impression in the post-lunch period.

A red-letter day for Chopra

At stumps, Punjab were 110 for 1 with Jiwanjot Singh unbeaten on 34 in company of Uday Kaul (2 batting). Opener Pargat Singh scored an attacking 64 off 69 balls before being dismissed.

The match however belong to Chopra, who had scored in excess of 900 runs last season and was recently a part of the India A team.

Chopra, started the day at 271 and went onto score 338 off only 363 balls with as many as 44 boundaries and two sixes to his credit.

Finally, it was off-break bowler Pargat, who ended Chopra’s incredible effort by taking a return catch. With the Punjab attack sans their skipper Harbhajan Singh in real tatters, Ankush Bains (80), Rishi Dhawan (49) also feasted on the bowling to ensure that they pile up a gigantic score.

In another group B match at the Palam Ground in Delhi, Bengal declared their first innings at 552 for 9, with top three players Sudeep Chatterjee (115), skipper Manoj Tiwary (69) and Wriddhiman Saha (55) amongst runs.

In reply, Services were 103 for 1 at stumps on the second day with Mohammed Shami (1/33) getting the only wicket.

Saurashtra on the verge of a win

Saurashtra seamers Shaurya Sanandia, Jaydev Unadkat and Kushang Patel shared 14 wickets among them across two innings to put their side on the verge of a comprehensive victory over Haryana on the second day of their Group B Ranji Trophy match.

Saurashtra resumed their first innings at 271 for 7 but could only add seven runs to their overnight total with Ashish Hooda (6/61) cleaning up the tail. Haryana’s joy was, however, shortlived as Unadkat (3/35), Sanandia (4/44) and Patel (3/21) ran through their batting order to bowl them out for 107 in their first innings.

Saurashtra skipper Cheteshwar Pujara decided to enforce the follow-on and Haryana were reduced to 93 for 6 at stumps, still 78 short of making Saurashtra bat again at the Ch Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium.

Brief scores (End of day 2):

Group A:

Assam 258 all out in 95 overs (Sarupam Purakayastha 66, Gokul Sharma 51, Ishant Sharma 5/38) Delhi 269/4 (Gautam Gambhir 136 no, Nitish Rana 110, Abu Nechim Ahmed 3/39).

Railways 1st Innings: 182 all out. Uttar Pradesh 1st Innings: 250 all out (A Nath 75, RK Singh 42, A Singh 3/42). Railways 2nd innings: 27/3 in 14 overs.

Group B:

Saurashtra 278 (Prerak Mankad 68, Sheldon Jackson 51; Ashish Hooda 6/61) lead Haryana 107 (Rahul Tewatia 23; Shaurya Sanandia 4/44, Kushang Patel 3/21, Jaydev Unadkat 3/35) & 93/6 f/o (Chaitanya Bishnoi 53 batting; Shaurya Sanandia 2/15) by 78 runs.

Rajasthan vs Jammu & Kashmir: Brief Scores: Rajasthan 330 (Robin Bist 113, Ashok Menaria 69; Mohammed Mudhasir 5/81, Parvez Rasool 3/50) lead Jammu & Kashmir 150/1
(Ahmed Bandy 72 batting, Shubham Khajuria 53; Tanveer-Ul-Haq 1/18) by 180 runs.

Kerala vs Jharkhand: Jharkhand 202 (Ishan Kishan 45; Jalaj Saxena 6/50) trail Kerala 250/8 (Mohammed Azharuddeen 51, Jalaj Saxena 47 batting; Sunny Gupta 6/94) by 48 runs.

Group C

Tamil Nadu 176 all out (Baba Aparajith 51, K Vignesh 25 not out, Bhargav Bhatt 4 for 52, Prithvi Raj Yarra 3 for 39) vs Andhra Pradesh 231 for 7 (B Sumanth 72 batting, Ashwin Hebbar 64, K S Bharat 32, K Vignesh 2 for 46, L Vignesh 2 for 36, R Ashwin 2 for 51) in Chennai.

Madhya Pradesh 551 for 8 declared in 164 overs (Devendra Bundela 99, Shubam Sharma 196, Ankit Sharma 104, Harpreet Singh Bhatia 32, A Sheth 2 for 90, Swapnil K Singh 3 for 136) vs Baroda 36 for 2 in 13 overs (Kedar Devdhar 20 batting) at Indore.

Tripura vs Odisha - Play on day two also washed out without a ball being bowled, at Cuttack.

Group D
Himachal Pradesh 729/8 dec (Prashant Chopra 338, Paras Dogra 99). Punjab 110/1 (Pargat Singh 64)

Bengal 552/9 decl (Sudeep Chatterjee 115, Manoj Tiwary 69, Wriddhiman Saha 55). Services 103/1.