Ranji Trophy round-up: R Ashwin bags five wickets for TN, Kerala’s Sanju Samson hits gritty century

Kerala’s Sanju Samson might have not got an opportunity to shine in national colours in Thiruvanathapuram against West Indies recently but held the Kerala innings together with a gritty century against Bengal on Tuesday in the second round of the Ranji Trophy.

Samson built an important 138-run stand for the fourth wicket with senior batsman Robin Uthappa (50) but the rest of the Kerala batsmen failed to make an impact, with the side labouring to 237/7 at the close of play. Samson was dismissed for 116, which came off 182 balls and his innings was studded with 16 fours and a six at St. Xavier’s KCA Cricket Ground, Trivandrum, once again highlighting his immense potential.

Elsewhere, Harshal Patel picked up seven wickets tor Haryana as they bundled out Tripura for just 63.

In Dindigul, Ravichandran Ashwin picked things up from where he left against Karnataka, picking up a five-for as Tamil Nadu ran through Himachal Pradesh.

Here is a round-up of how events unfolded on day one of round two of the Ranji Trophy:

Ashwin’s good run continues

Spin ace Ashwin starred with a five-wicket haul to help Tamil Nadu bundle out Himachal Pradesh for 158 in 71.4 overs on the opening day in Dindigul.

Baba Aparajith, leading the team in the absence of Vijay Shankar who missed out due to a niggle, elected to bowl and the bowlers justified the decision as Ashwin (5/67) and left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore (3/22) had the HP batsmen in a spin.

The visiting team looked in danger of being bowled out for a sub-100 score before Akash Vashist (35, 94 balls, 4 fours) and Mayank Dagar (33, 62 balls, 3 fours) got together at 76/7 to add 53 runs and lend respectability to the total.

Ashwin, who had taken eight wickets (four in each innings) during the narrow loss to Karnataka in the opening round, was at it again as he bowled beautifully to trouble all the batsmen.

Tamil Nadu made five changes to the side that played Karnataka, bringing in Ganga Sridhar Raju, K Mukunth, T Natarajan, J Kousik and M Shahrukh Khan in place of Dinesh Karthik, M Vijay, Vijay Shankar, M Ashwin and M Siddharth.

Brief scores: Himachal Pradesh 158 (A Vashist 35, Mayank Dagar 33, Sumeet Varma 30; R Ashwin 5/65, R Sai Kishore 3/22) vs Tamil Nadu 8/0.

Juyal hits ton

Young Uttar Pradesh opener Aryan Juyal struck a gritty 100, as he guided his side to a modest 232/5 on the opening day in Hubli. Electing to bat first at the KSCA cricket ground, 18-year-old Juyal (109 off 251 balls, 11x4) stood tall as he played a responsible and mature knock to pull his team out of trouble.

Juyal did not take any unnecessary risks and ensured that he converted his start into a three-figure mark. He was ably supported by Mohammed Saif (56* off 124 balls, 8x4) who came in at No 5. The duo stitched together a 109-run stand and resurrected the innings.

Opener Almas Shaukat (22 off 76 balls; 3x4) and Juyal had a 56-run stand for the first wicket, before Karnataka pacer Ronit More dismissed Shaukat.

Karnataka then pegged back the visitors as their medium-pacer Abhimanyu Mithun trapped one-down Madhav Kaushik (15) to leave them in a spot of bother at 80/2.

Brief Scores: Uttar Pradesh 232/5 (Aryan Juyal 109, Mohammed Saif 56*; Abhimanyu Mithun 3/45) vs Karnataka.

Maharashtra dismiss J&K for 209

Anupam Sanklecha’s four-wicket haul helped Maharashtra dismiss Jammu & Kashmir for 209 in the first innings in Pune. The home team finished the day at 51/3 in 15.4 overs, trailing by 158 runs.

Sent in to bat, Jammu & Kashmir struggled against the Maharashtra attack led by veteran medium-pacer Sanklecha (4/56) and slipped to 42/5 and 79/6 before left-handed Abid Mushtaq (50, 55 balls, 2 fours, 4 sixes) batting at No 9 began the rescue act. His 54-run last wicket partnership with M Mudhasir (18 not out, 1 four, 1 six) proved valuable as it took J&K past the 200-run mark.

The 37-year old Sanklecha bowled with a lot of purpose and kept the rival batsmen on a leash and was rewarded with four wickets.

Jammu & Kashmir 209 (Ahmed Banday 76, Abid Mushtaq 50; A Sanklecha 4/56, DR Deshmukh 2/15) vs Maharashtra 51/3 (MS Trunkwala 31*, Abid Mushtaq 2/14).

Delhi bundled out for 215

Delhi put up a disappointing batting performance to be bowled out for 215 against Andhra in Ongole. By stumps, Andhra were also struggling at 16/2, with both their openers back in the hut.

Playing their second match of the season following the draw against Kerala, Delhi lost the previous game’s centurion, Kunal Chandela, early after being put in to bat.

Kunwar Bidhuri (22) and Nitish Rana (51 off 51) repaired the innings with a 60-run stand for the fourth wicket before a mini collapse pushed them on the back foot. Their innings ended in 70.6 overs.

Rana, who had scored a match-saving century against Kerala last week, saved Delhi the blushes again with a run-a-ball effort comprising nine fours and a six. Lalit Yadav (50 off 104) put up a much-needed fight while batting with tail-enders, taking his team past 200. Medium pacer KV Sasikanth (5/38 in 20.1 oves) was the pick of the bowlers for Andhra, claiming his fourth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket.

Other matches

At Indore: Madhya Pradesh 125 (Yash Dubey 48, Himanshu Mantri 20; Anureet Singh 3/24; Soyeb Sopariya 3/38) vs Baroda 86/3 (Vishnu Solanki 27*, Krunal Pandya 22*; Avesh Khan 2/18). Baroda trail by 39 runs.

At Visakhapatnam: Railways 202/9 (Pratham Singh 98, Karn Sharma 52; Jaydev Unadkat 4/34, Prerak Mankad 2/33) versus Saurashtra.

Uttarakhand 120 (D Negi 29; AJ Mandal 3/17, PM Datey 3/42) vs Chhattisgarh 109/5 in 35 overs (AN Khare 33*; Gaurav Singh 2/22).

Services 271 (NH Verma 53, RS Paliwal 58, Rahul Singh 55; Basant Mohanty 6/69) vs Odisha 43/0 (AR Sarangi 33*).

Assam 162 (Riyan Parag 55, Sibshankar Roy 27; Anukul Roy 4/28, Shahbaz Nadeem 3/55, Ashish Kumar 3/25) vs Jharkhand.

Tripura 63 (Tanmay Mishra 29; Harshal Patel 7/29, AH Hooda 3/14) vs Haryana 131/2 in 33 overs (CK Bishnoi 63*, SR Chauhan 39).

More to follow...

(With PTI inputs)