Ranji Trophy wrap: Karnataka in command against Mumbai as Rahane fails again, Services close to win

Karnataka were in control after reducing Mumbai to 109-5 in their second innings on the second day of the Elite Group B Ranji Trophy game here on Saturday.

Prithvi Shaw, who sustained an injury to his left shoulder while fielding on the first day, did not take the field and later it was announced that he won’t bat in Mumbai’s second innings. He is being rushed to NCA with his upcoming India A tour of New Zealand in doubt.

Karnataka took a slender 24-run first-innings lead despite a fifer from Mumbai off-spinner Shashank Attarde.

But pacer Abhimanyu Mithun (3/52) rattled the Mumbai top-order to give the southern side an advantage before Sarfaraz Khan (53*) and Shams Mulani (31) rallied the hosts with their 83-run stand for the fifth wicket.

Earlier, Karnataka started the day on 79/3 and lost skipper Karun Nair (0) as pacer Royston Dias (1-22) struck on the fourth ball of day. Karnataka were 79/4.

The other overnight batsman R Samarth (86 off 139 balls, 13x4) then found an able ally in all-rounder Shreyas Gopal (31 off 85 balls; 3x4) as the two took Karnataka ahead with their 78-run stand.

Mumbai’s wait for a wicket ended after skipper Suryakumar Yadav took a flying catch at short-midwicket to send Gopal back. Gopal top-edged Attarde’s (5/58) delivery, only to be caught by Surya, as Karnataka lost their fifth wicket at 157.

Attarde then pegged back the visitors by removing Samarth, who was caught by Sarfaraz Khan at short-leg.

The offie took two wickets in seven balls as Karnataka slumped to 158/6.

Attarde was on fire as he cleaned up Abhimanyu Mithun (2) to leave Karnataka teetering at 166/7, still trailing by 28 runs. Attarde took three wickets in 18 balls.

Left-arm spinner Mulani (3/55) wasn’t to be left behind as he removed Ronit More (4) cheaply to leave Karnataka at 171/8.

Wicket-keeper BR Sharath (46 off 54 balls; 7x4, 1x6) survived a stumping chance off Mulani. At lunch, the visitors were 179/8.

However, post lunch, Sharath played a responsible knock to give Karnataka the first innings lead.

He swept a six to take Karnataka ahead in company of V Koushik (4). The duo stitched 42-runs for the ninth wicket.

Sharath’s cameo ended after he tried to pull, but top-edged to keeper Tare off Tushar Deshpande (1/40) in the seventh over after lunch. Attarde took his fifth wicket as he removed Koushik and Karnataka were bundled out for 218, as they took a slender 24 runs lead.

In Mumbai’s second essay, Ajinkya Rahane (1) opened along with Tare (6) but failed again. Rahane survived 16 balls before being trapped by Abhimanyu Mithun.

This has been a disappointing Ranji Trophy season for Rahane as the India Test vice-captain has been able to score only 109 runs from six innings with a lone fifty against Baroda.

Mithun struck again as he lobbed off a return catch of Siddesh Lad (4) with Mumbai at 12/2.

Pacer V Koushik then sent Tare back leaving Mumbai at 12/3. Skipper Suryakumar Yadav (10) too perished early, becoming Mithun’s third victim as Mumbai were in spot of bother at 26/4.

Then Mulani and Khan did the damage control before the former was dismissed on the last ball of the day.

Mumbai lead by 85 runs with two days of play left.

Brief scores:

At BKC: Mumbai 194 and 109/5 (Sarfaraz Khan 53 batting, S Mulani 31; A Mithun 3-52) vs Karnataka 218 (R Samarth 86, B R Sharath 46; Shashank Attarde 5-58, Shams Mulani 3-55). Mumbai lead by 85 runs.

At Kanpur: Tamil Nadu 165/6 (L Suryapprakash 51, V Ganga Sridhar 45; Saurabh Kumar 3-39) vs Uttar Pradesh.

At Vadodara: Baroda 201 and 98 (Vishnu Solanki 44; Himanshu Sangwan 4-44) vs Railways 99 (Dinesh Mor 26; Anupreet Singh 5-39, L Meriwala 4-36) and 0/1. Railways need 201 runs to win.

At Dharamsala: Himachal Pradesh 175 vs Madhya Pradesh 364/7 (Rameez Khan 151 not out; Gautam Raghuvanshi 64; P P Jaswal 4-82). MP lead by 189 runs.

Services in control

Services seized the upper-hand against Maharashtra on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Group C match on Friday, with the visiting team requiring a further 148 runs to avoid an innings defeat in New Delhi.

Services made 285 in their first innings after bundling out Maharashtra for 44 and then reduced the visitors to 93/5 in the second innings.

Resuming at 141/4, Services were well-served by Ravi Chauhan’s half-century (65, 180 balls, 6 fours) and useful knocks of 47 each by Vikas Hathwala and AP Sharma as the lead swelled to 241.

Services then left Maharashtra tottering at 93/5 to take full control of the match at the Air force Complex Ground in Palam.

Ruturaj Gaikwad fell for a first-ball duck after a first-innings score of 4, while the other opener MS Trunkwala (1) was forced to retire hurt.

The experienced Ankit Bawne, who failed in the first innings, once again cut a sorry figure as he was bowled by Sachidanand Pandey for a six-ball duck.

Chirag Khurana (4) was removed by Pandey, while Rahul Tripathi (11) was dismissed by Diwesh Pathania.

Naushad S Shaik (40 batting, 85 balls, 4 fours) and wicketkeeper Vishant More (33 batting, 80 balls, 6 fours) then defied the Services attack for close to 25 overs and ensured that Maharashtra did not suffer any more setbacks.

For the hosts, right-arm medium-pacer Sachidanand Pandey picked up three wickets.

There was no play possible in the game between Tripura and Odisha in Agartala for the second successive day.

Brief scores:

At Delhi: Maharashtra 44 all out in 30.2 overs (PS Poonia 5/11, Sachidanand Pandey 3/18) and 93 for 5 in 34 overs (NS Shaikh 40; Sachidanand Pandey 3/20) vs Services 285 all out in 95.2 overs (Ravi Chauhan 65, AP Sharma 47, Vikas Hathwala 47, Rajat Paliwal 42; MD Ingale 5/73, AA Sanklecha 2/78).

At Ranchi: Jharkhand 259 all out in 84 overs (Saurabh Tiwary 81, Kumar Deobrat 35, Abid Mushtaq 5/56) vs J&K 135 for 3 in 36 overs (Suryansh Raina 76; Ashish Kumar 3/46).

At Dehardun: Assam 294 all out in 92 overs (Riyan Parag 123, Gokul Sharma 47, Kunal Saikia 36; Sunny 3/34, Mayank Mishra 3/55, Rahil Shah 3/71) vs Uttarakhand 32 for 4 in 19 overs (Ranjeet Mali 3/11).

At Raipur: Haryana 123 all out in 28.4 overs (AK Chahal 34 not out, Ankit Kumar 26; Pankaj Rao 3/26) vs Chhattisgarh 119 all out in 35.1 overs (Vishal Singh 45 not out, Jiwanjot Singh 24; AK Chahal 5/25, Harshal V Patel 4/40).

(With PTI inputs)