Ranji Trophy wrap: Second day of Mumbai-Himachal washed out, Shahbaz stars for Bengal against Delhi

The second day’s play in the Ranji Trophy game between Mumbai and Himachal Pradesh was washed out without a ball being bowled at Dharamsala. On the opening day on Monday, Sarfaraz Khan struck an unbeaten 226 to propel Mumbai to a commanding 372/5.

A morning drizzle first delayed the start of play and later, umpires S Ravi and Vineet Kulkarni, after consultation with curator Sunil Chauhan, called it off at the picturesque HPCA Stadium.

In the last game against Uttar Pradesh, Sarfaraz had hit an unbeaten triple century and he is now eyeing another one, a rare feat in any kind of cricket. In other Group B encounters, Karnataka reduced Railways to 160/7 at the Karnail Singh Stadium in the national capital.

At the Holkar Stadium in Indore, hosts Madhya Pradesh took a crucial first-innings lead after bundling out Uttar Pradesh for 216 and were placed at 105 for three in their second essay, with skipper Naman Ojha unbeaten on 20 in the company of Yash Dubey (4). Overall, MP led by 119 runs.

At the Motibaug ground in Vadodara, Saurashtra, who are in a spot of bother at 23/2, need another 177 runs for an outright win against hosts Baroda.

Shabhaz brings Bengal back in the game

Shahbaz Ahmed dismissed two batsmen in successive balls as Bengal grabbed four wickets in the final session to put Delhi on the back foot in Kolkata.

Resuming the second day on 286 for five, Bengal endured a terrible first session in which Anustup Majumdar was run out for 99 and that triggered the collapse.

Bengal innings folded for 318 after losing five wickets inside 12 overs. The hosts though fought back by reducing Delhi to 192 for six at close on day two, taking four wickets for 58 runs in the final session. Delhi are still trailing Bengal by 126 runs.

Aided by two brilliant catches, left-arm spinner Shahbaz dismissed Kshitiz Sharma (nine) and Simarjeet Singh (0) off successive balls at close.

First it was Majumdar who took a low catch at the first slip to dismiss Sharma, and then then Kazi Junaid Saifi caught Singh brilliantly in his second attempt at the forward short-leg to put Shahbaz in line for a second hat-trick.

The rookie Bengal all-rounder had taken a hat-trick in their innings and 303-run win over Hyderabad in their last round match at Kalyani. “At the moment we look better. There’s 14 overs left for the new ball and the conditions will be fresh in the morning. We need to bowl well tomorrow,” Bengal coach-cum-mentor Arun Lal said.

With rain forecast for the remaining two days, it remains to be seen whether the match will be completed.

Amit Verma excels with bat and ball

Skipper Amit Verma led from the front with a century and a three-wicket haul as Goa put up a dominant all-round show to tighten their grip over fixture against Arunachal Pradesh at Povorim.

Goa declared their first innings for a mammoth 589/2 with unbeaten centuries from Smit Patel (137) and Verma (122) who put on an unbroken partnership of 237 runs for the third wicket.

On day one, openers Sumiran Amonkar and Vaibhav Govekar slammed identical scores of 160s, as all the top-four Goan batsmen struck centuries, toying the Arunachal Pradesh attack.

Verma was back in action with his legspin as he bowled a tidy 7-5-2-3 and shared seven wickets with Darshan Misal to skittle out Arunachal Pradesh’s first innings for 83.

Following-on, the visitors were 19 for three with the Goan skipper taking all the three wickets en route to another tight figures of 5-2-3-3.

Arunachal trailed by 487 runs with seven wickets in hand as second-placed Goa (30 points) looked set for a seven-point victory, jumping past Puducherry who are ahead by three points.

There was no play at Chandigarh, where Puducherry were tottering for 37/4.

Assam struggle against Odisha

Five batsmen scored half-centuries as Odisha posted a massive 436 and then reduced Assam to 59 for three at stumps on the second day at Cuttack.

After Shantanu Mishra (66), Anurag Sarangi (58), Govinda Poddar (54) had scored fifties on the opening day, Abhishek Raut (71) and Debabrata Pradhan (79) also came up with superb half-centuries to ensure that Odisha got past the 400-mark. Resuming at 215 for 3, the hosts lost overnight batsman Govinda after he had added just four runs to his score.

Abhishek and Debabrata then added 130 runs for the seventh wicket to boost Odisha, which lost three wickets in the space of 24 runs. The two mixed caution with aggression to push Odisha forward and Pradhan hit two big sixes too.

In reply, Assam opener Biplab Saikia fell for a duck in the second over and two more wickets fell before Riyan Parag (14*) and Rishav Das (24*) ensured there were no more setbacks for the team.

In Jammu, no play was possible on the second day of the match against Chhattisgarh. The visiting team led by skipper Harpreet Singh Bhatia’s 116 (196 balls, 16 fours) had made 270/4 on the opening day.

Brief scores

At Povorim: Goa 589/2 (Sumiran Amonkar 160, Vaibhav Govekar 160, Smit Patel 137*, Amit Verma 122). Arunachal Pradesh 83 (Darshan Misal 4/24, Amit Verma 3/2) and following-on 19/3; (Amit Verma 3/3).

Delhi 192/6 (Dhruv Shorey 65, Hiten Dalal 40; S Ahmed 2/11, N Das 2/36).

Mumbai: 372/5 v/s Himachal Pradesh – no play on day two

In New Delhi: Railways 160/7 (Avinash Yadav 62, Arindam Ghosh 50*; Prateek Jain 4/29, Abhimanyu Mithun 2/38) vs Karnataka.

At Indore: Madhya Pradesh 230 and 105/3 (Rameez Khan 32, Rajat Patidar 25; Saurabh Kumar 2/15) v/s Uttar Pradesh 216 (Saurabh Kumar 98*; Rinku Singh 53; Ravi Yadav 5/61; Gourav Yadav 3/73) Madhya Pradesh lead by 119 runs.

At Vadodara: Baroda 154 and 187 (Deepak Hooda 52, Yusuf Pathan 46; Jaydev Unadkat 6/72, Chetan Sakariya 2/39) v/s Saurashtra 142 (Harvik Desai 31, Chirag Jani 29; L Meriwala 5/64; A Sheth 3/25) and 23/2 (Avi Barot 12; L Meriwala 2/17). Saurashtra need 177 runs to win.