Ranji Trophy round up: Mumbai get first win of the season, Delhi chase down 252

The fourth round of Ranji Trophy matches across the four groups ended on Saturday and here’s a comprehensive round-up of all the action from the final day:

Mumbai record first win

Mumbai registered its first win of the season, thrashing Odisha by 120 runs in their Ranji Trophy Group C match at KIIT Stadium on Saturday. Resuming at 93/4, Odisha capitulated in less than two sessions as Akash Parkar and Dhawal Kulkarni finished with three wickets apiece.

Chasing 413 for an unlikely win, the home side was never in the hunt, losing wickets at regular intervals with only captain Govind Poddar hitting a knock of 87. Poddar put on 90 runs with Shantanu Mitra (49) before falling to Abhishek Nayar, who also ended Biplab Samantaray’s doughty resistance, by bowling him for 31.

With the win, the 41-time Ranji champion moved to 10 points in the group. Mumbai next faces Baroda at home in what would be its 500th Ranji Trophy game, beginning November 9.

Odisha face Tamil Nadu in its next fixture at Cuttack from November 9.

In other Group C games, Andhra Pradesh cruised to an eight-wicket win over Madhya Pradesh to gain six points. Subsequently Andhra moved to the top of the points table with 15 points, one more than MP.

Brief Scores (Group C)

Mumbai 289 all out beat Odisha 145 all out & 292 all out (Govind Poddar 87; Dhawal Kulkarni 3/74). Points - Mumbai: 6; Odisha: 0.

At Vizianagaram: Madhya Pradesh 321 & 119 all out lost to Andhra Pradesh 376 & 65/2 2. Points - Andhra Pradesh: 6; MP: 0.

At Vadodara: Baroda 521 all out 85/6 drew with Tripura 436/10 (Smit Patel 158, Yashpal Singh 90). Points - Baroda: 3; Tripura: 1.

Nitish, Milind anchor chase as Delhi beat UP

Nitish Rana’s fluent 67 and a patient unbeaten 48 from vice-captain Milind Kumar saw Delhi chase down a tricky target of 252 on the final day against Uttar Pradesh in their Ranji Group A encounter. Delhi with 16 points from 3 games are second in the group behind leaders Karnataka with 20 from equal number of games. Starting the day at 224/7, UP lasted only for 28 balls as Navdeep Saini polished off the remaining three wickets with visitors second innings ending at 229. With a minimum of 83 overs to reach the target, Delhi knocked off the runs in 72.1 overs.

Brief Scores (Group A)

In Delhi (At Palam): UP 291 and 229 (Akshdeep Nath 110, Navdeep Saini 4/46, Ishant Sharma 3/38) lost to Delhi 269 and 256/6 (Nitish Rana 67) by 4 wickets. Points: Delhi 6, UP 0.

In Delhi (At Karnail Singh Stadium): Hyderabad 474/9 and 23/0 beat Railways 246 and 250 all out (Mehdi Hassan 4/35). Points: Hyderabad 7; Railways 0.

In Pune: Maharashtra 245 and 247 (Abhimanyu Mithun 5/66) lost to Karnataka 628/5 decl. Points: Maharashtra 0; Karnataka 7.

Bengal settle for frustrating draw

Rishi Dhawan’s all-round show enabled Himachal Pradesh to stop hosts Bengal from logging home full points in a Ranji Trophy group D encounter.

Having conceded a huge 213-run lead, Himachal Pradesh gave a much better account of themselves scoring 353 in the second innings - courtesy contributions from Priyanshu Khanudri (95), Prashant Chopra (81), Nikhil Gangta (57) and Dhawan (51 not out)

Mohammed Shami and Ashok Dinda could not recreate the magic of the first innings as Dhawan played 90 balls and more importantly had a ninth wicket stand of 39 with Sidharth Sharma (1) which consumed an hour and half’s play. A target of 141 in the final session under fading light was next to impossible and Dhawan’s four-wicket burst ensured that captains decided to shake hands when Bengal were 65/4 in 15 overs.

It was a moral victory for Himachal having bounced back from being asked to follow-on.

Punjab now lead the group D table with 15 points while Vidarbha with 14 are currently second.

Bengal had a definite chance to take the lead but the draw meant they slipped to third place with 13 points. Bengal will play three more matches against Punjab, Vidarbha and Goa.

Brief Scores (Group D)

In Kolkata: Bengal 419 and 65/4 drew with Himachal Pradesh 206 and f/o 353 (Priyanshu Khanduri 95, Prashant Chopra 81; Mohammed Shami 5/109, Ashok Dinda 3/74). Match drawn. Points: Bengal 3; Himachal Pradesh 1.

In Nagpur: Vidarbha 385 and 223/6 declared beat Services 317 and 99 (Akshay Wakhare 5/16, Karn Sharma 3/42) by 192 runs. Vidarbha 6 points Services 0.

In Raipur: Chhattisgarh 238 and 297 (Ashutosh Singh 119; Sandeep Sharma 4/89, Barinder Sran 3/65) lost to Punjab 653/9 by an innings and 118 runs. Punjab 7 points Chhattisgarh 0.

Saurashtra beat Jharkhand

Saurashtra beat Jharkhand by six wickets in a Ranji Trophy group B encounter bagging six points and move to third spot in the points table.

After following on, Jharkhand scored 341 in their second innings, courtesy a whirlwind 99 off 75 balls by Nazim Siddiqui, who hit 13 boundaries and two sixes. Wicketkeeper Sumit Kumar scored 108 off 147 balls with 12 boundaries and five sixes. Chasing a target of 59, Saurashtra achieved the target in 14 overs despite losing four wickets.

Brief Scores (Group B)

In Pune: Saurashtra 553/9 decl and 59/4 beat Jharkhand 270 all out 341 all out by 6 wickets. Points: Saurashtra 6; Jharkhand 0

In Valsad: Gujarat 236 and 281/9 beat Harayana 157 and 122 (Suddharth Desai 5/46, Piyush Chawla 5/44) by 238 runs. Points: Gujarat 6; Haryana 0.

In Thumba: Kerala 219 and 191 beat Jammu and Kashmir 173 and 79 (KC Akshay 5/21) by 158 runs. Points: Kerala 6; Jammu and Kashmir 0.