Left-arm spinner Akash Vashisht bowled Himachal Pradesh to a 71-run win over Tamil Nadu with a seven-wicket second innings haul in Dindigul on Thursday. For TN, this was their second straight loss after suffering a heart-stopping defeat against rivals Karnataka last week.
Senior India pacer Umesh Yadav picked up a five-wicket haul as Vidarbha were on top against Rajasthan. This was after the reigning champions had posted an imposing 510/8 declared in the first innings. Akshay Wakhare then picked up two wickets to reduce Rajasthan to 12/3 in the second innings. The visitors are trailing by 238 runs.
Bengal thrashed Kerala inside three days in Thiruvanthapuram with their bowlers putting up a superb display in their second innings. Bengal were all out for 307 and took a 68-run lead. Kerala lost their first four wickets cheaply and were down to a precarious 29/4. Only veteran Robin Uthappa and Vishnu Vinod – 33 each – showed a semblance of a fight. Bengal chased down their 48-run target with ease.
Punjab captain Mandeep Singh was once again in brilliant form, this time hitting a superb double century to put his team in total command against Hyderabad. Mandeep and Anmol Malhotra (80) built a solid 174-run stand. Mandeep was unbeaten on 204 when Punjab declared on 443/6. Punjab ended the day by reducing their opponents to 30/5. Hyderabad trail by a massive 171-run margin.
Shreyas Gopal once again revived Karnataka’s hopes in the game with a fighting half-century against Uttar Pradesh. Karnataka finished at 321 and took at lead 40. UP were 29/1 at the close of play.
Puducherry thrashed Sikkim while Nagaland also registered a massive win over Manipur.
Another defeat for TN
Needing 217 for victory after R Ashwin (4/55) helped Tamil Nadu bowl out Himachal for 154 in the second innings, the home team was bowled out for 145 in 67.5 overs. The Ankit Kalsi-led Himachal team picked up six points to bounce back from a defeat against Saurashtra in the season opener.
Resuming at 133/7, Himachal added 21 runs to the overnight score as Ashwin bagged four wickets to end with match haul of 9/120. K Vignesh (2/19) and R Sai Kishore (2/23) finished with two wickets each.
Tamil Nadu suffered an early jolt in the chase as the experienced Abhinav Mukund fell for a first-ball duck to Vaibhav Arora. They never quite recovered from that jolt and kept losing wickets in regular intervals.
Himachal Pradesh 158 (A Vashist 35, Mayank Dagar 33, Sumeet Varma 30; R Ashwin 5/65, R Sai Kishore 3/22) and 154 (SL Verma 36, Rishi Dhawan 35; R Ashwin 4/55) beat Tamil Nadu 96 (R Ashwin 24, J Kousik 21, Vaibhav Arora 3/21) and 145 (K Mukunth 48, B Aparajith 43*; Akash Vashisht 7/33) by 71 runs
Stephen rocks Delhi
Ricky Bhui cracked an unbeaten 144 while pacer Cheepurapalli Stephen bagged four wickets as Andhra Pradesh took complete control of their Group A Ranji Trophy match against Delhi on the third day on Thursday.
After conceding a 153-run first innings lead to Andhra, Delhi were reduced to 89/6 in 28 overs in their second innings with Stephen running through their top-order. As Delhi still trail by 64 runs with just four second innings wickets in hand and one day left in the match, Andhra can aim for a bonus and grab seven points if they can notch up an innings win on Friday.
Resuming at overnight individual score of 70 and team total of 249/6, Bhui batted for 40 overs with the tail-enders and carried his bat through the innings to take Andhra to 368 all out from 127 overs.
Bhui faced 313 balls during his unbeaten knock and struck 15 boundaries and four sixes. Delhi pacer Navdeep Saini, who was drafted in for injured Deepak Chahar in the Indian squad for the West Indies ODI series, took a five-for but his side had little to cheer apart from that.
In the second innings, Delhi were in a precarious position with Lalit Yadav holding fort on 23 not out from 48 deliveries, along with Vikas Mishra.
Delhi: 215 and 89/6 (Lalit Yadav 23*; Cheepurapalli Stephen 4/74) Andhra: 368 (Ricky Bhui 144*; Navdeep Saini 5/86).
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