Ranji wrap: Tamil Nadu rout Railways to grab first win, Tiwary’s triple ton puts Bengal in control

Tamil Nadu defeated Railways by an innings and 164 runs on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Group B match in Chennai on Monday, to register its first win of the season.

The home side made 330/10 after bundling out Railways 76/10 in the first innings before dismissing the opponent for 90 to secure seven points.

Left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore did the star turn, picking up five wickets, conceding just 16 runs to rout Railways.

Resuming at the overnight score of 236/4, Tamil Nadu suffered an early jolt when the experienced Dinesh Karthik fell to left-arm spinner Harsh Tyagi, adding just one run to his 57.

Baba Indrajith (58, 118 balls, 8 fours) held firm and guided the team to 330, a massive 154-run first innings lead.

Young left-arm spinner Tyagi bowled well to finish with figures of 5/98.

The Railway batsmen fared worse in the second innings, being shot out in 36.4 overs after having capitulated in 39.1 overs in a session on Sunday.

It was a morale-boosting win for Tamil Nadu after a poor run so far. Left-handed opener Abhinav Mukund starred with the bat, scoring a ton in his 100th Ranji game.

It was a dampener for the Railways team which had recorded a superb innings win over Mumbai earlier in the tournament.

Brief scores: Railways 76/10 in 39.1 overs (Saurabh Singh 22; R Ashwin 4/26, M Siddharth 4/32) and 90/10 in 36.4 overs (Arindam Ghosh 22; R Sai Kishore 5/16, R Ashwin 3/36) lost to Tamil Nadu 330/10 in 91 overs (Abhinav Mukund 100, Dinesh Karthik 58, B Indrajith 58, L Suryapprakash 50; Harsh Tyagi 5/98, Avinash Yadav 3/107).

Tamil Nadu : 7 points, Railways: 0.

Tiwary stars for Bengal

Senior batsman Manoj Tiwary cracked his first triple century to put Bengal in the driver’s seat against Hyderabad in their Ranji Trophy Group A clash in Kalyani on Monday.

The 34-year-old, who has played 12 One-Day Internationals and three T20 Internationals, was at his sublime best, smashing 30 fours and five sixes, en route to his unbeaten 303 from 414 balls at a strike rate of 73.19. Bengal immediately declared their first innings at 635/7.

Tiwary, who last played for India in 2015, also became the only second batsman from Bengal to hit a triple ton – after Devang Gandhi’s 323 versus Assam at Guwahati in 1998-’99 season. His previous best was 267 as Bengal skipper against Madhya Pradesh in a drawn encounter in Kolkata in 2011-12 season.

After Tiwary’s sensational innings, it was time for Bengal pace duo of Akash Deep (3/46) and Mukesh Kumar (2/29) to wreak havoc as they reduced Hyderabad to 83/5 in the final session. Hyderabad still trail Bengal by 552 runs with two days left.

Rookie Bengal pacer Akash Deep gave the first breakthrough with an unplayable rising delivery as Akshath Reddy (2) failed to duck and edged it to Arnab Nandi at the gully in the fourth over.

In his next over, he dismissed Tanay Thyagarajan (7) taken by Abhimanyu Easwaran at the slip before Mukesh opened his account, knocking off T Ravi Teja’s off stump in the ninth over.

Jaweed Ali (19) and Tanmay Agarwal (10) were at the crease at stumps on day two as Hyderabad have a tough task in hand to avoid a fifth defeat from six matches.

Slipped to 10th position in the Elite cross pool, Bengal will look for a bonus point victory to remain in the hunt.

Brief Scores: Bengal: 635/7 declared from 151.4 overs (Manoj Tiwary 303 not out, Shreevats Goswami 95, Arnab Nandi 65 not out, Shahbaz Ahmed 49; Ravi Kiran 3/74) vs Hyderabad 83/5 from 20 overs (Akash Deep 3/46, Mukesh Kumar 2/29).

Uttar Pradesh pile pressure on Mumbai

Batsman-wicketkeeper Upendra Yadav’s first double ton propelled Uttar Pradesh to a mammoth 625/8 declared on the second day of their Elite Group B Ranji Trophy game against Mumbai on Monday.

Twenty three-year-old Yadav was the cynosure of all eyes at Wankhede Stadium as he took a listless Mumbai attack to the cleaners first in the company of Saurabh Kumar (44 off 47 balls) and then with skipper Ankit Rajpoot (32 off 63 balls) and Yash Dayal (41 not out).

Yadav (203 not out off 239 balls) conjured 72 runs for the seventh wicket with Saurabh to take the game away from Mumbai, and then forged a 119-run eight-wicket stand with Rajpoot, as Uttar Pradesh took complete control. Adding to Mumbai’s woes, Yadav and Dayal put up an unbroken 131-run stand for the ninth wicket.

Yadav, who registered the highest score by a number 7 batsman against Mumbai, smashed 27 fours and one six in his 239 balls unbeaten knock. UP declared the innings as soon as Yadav reached his double hundred. Mumbai will rue the missed chances. Earlier, resuming at 281/4, overnight centurion Aksh Deep Nath (115) was dismissed on the second ball after being yorked by medium-pacer Tushar Deshpande.

Deshpande gave UP another blow after he trapped Rinku Singh (84) in front of the wicket, leaving it at 6-303.

However, Mumbai bowlers failed to make inroads as the UP lower-middle order batsmen made merry. In reply, Mumbai were teetering at 20-2 when stumps were drawn, trailing by 605 runs.

Brief Scores: Uttar Pradesh 625/8 declared (Upendra Yadav 203 not out; Akshdeep Nath 115; Royston Dias 3/103) vs Mumbai 20/2. Mumbai trail by 605 runs.

At Dharamshala: Himachal Pradesh 496 (AP Vashisht 86, A R Kumar 80; Swapnil Singh 3/80) versus Baroda 150/2 (Vishnu Solanki 85 not out; Vaibhav Arora 1/42). Baroda trail by 346 runs.

At Indore: Saurashtra 344 (Sheldon Jackson 186, Cheteshwar Pujara 47; Gaurav Yadav 5/105) versus Madhya Pradesh 183/5 (Yash Dubey 50 not out; Venkatesh Iyer 50 not out; Jaydev Unadkat 2/27). MP trail by 161 runs.

Bowlers give Odisha the advantage

Odisha enjoyed a slight advantage in their Ranji Trophy Group C match against Jammu and Kashmir by taking an overall lead of 173 runs on the second day in Cuttack on Monday.

Fourteen wickets fell on the second day after the bowlers had shone by picking up 13 wickets on day one.

The home side, who was sent in to bat by J&K on Sunday, were bowled out for 161 in their first knock. The Odisha bowlers, led by right-arm medium-pacers Basant Mohanty (4 for 42) and Debabrata Pradhan (3/12), sent the opposition batsmen packing for 124 in 45 overs to ensure a first innings lead of 37 runs.

However, the Odisha batsmen did not fare too well in the second innings as none of them could build on the starts they got. Odisha were 136 for 7 in their second innings from 62 overs at the draw of stumps.

The openers – Shantanu Mishra (26) and AR Sarangi (26) – put on 52 for the first wicket before J&K captain Parvez Rasool dismissed the latter.

The visiting team bowlers struck at regular intervals to claw their way back into the match. The Odisha batsmen, on the other hand, will look to increase the lead when play resume on the third day on Tuesday. In Raipur, Chhattisgarh trounced Tripura by an innings and 28 runs to notch up seven points.

Brief Scores: Odisha 161/10 in 64.3 overs (Shubhranshu Senapati 42; Aquib Nabi 5/39) and 136/7 in 62 overs (Shantanu Mishra 26, Anurag Sarangi 26; Auqib Nabi 2/40) versus J&K 124 all out in 45 overs (Shubham Khajuria 40; Basant Mohanty 4/42).

At Ranchi: Uttarakhand 227/10 in 53.2 overs (Saurabh Rawat 66, Tanmay Srivastava 49; Ajay Yadav 6/55, Ashish Kumar 4/52) and 4.0 versus Jharkhand 298/10 in 87 overs (Kumar Deobrat 85, K Suraj 57; Mayank Mishra 5/100).

At Guwahati: Maharashtra 175/10 in 43.4 overs (Ankit Bawane 75, SS Bachhav 40; Arup Das 4/66, Ranjeet Mali 4/55) and 106/ 2 in 36 overs (JS Pande 52 batting) versus Assam 244/10 in 78.1 overs (Rishav Das 94; SS Bachhav 4/44).

At Raipur: Tripura 53/9 in 18.1 overs (Pankaj Rao 5/11, Veer Pratap Singh 3/53) and 144/10 in 42 overs lost to Chhattisgarh 225/10 in 50 overs (Shashank Singh 73, Veer Pratap Singh 40; Abhijit Sarkar 3/57, Ajoy Sarkar 3/62) by an innings and 28 runs.