At the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Sarfaraz Khan and Aakarshit Gomel hammered hundreds to take Mumbai to a commanding 352/4 in a dead rubber game against Madhya Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy. Gomel made his first-class debut. Both teams have already missed out on a spot to the knockouts.
For Mumbai, Sarfaraz (169*) and Gomel (122) steadied the ship with their 275-run stand after their top order failed once again. This season belonged to Sarfaraz, who has hit a triple hundred, double hundred and now a hundred. In Bengaluru, Karnataka bowlers shot out Baroda for paltry 85 and then took the first innings lead.
Meanwhile, Saurashtra bowlers led by skipper Jaydev Unadkat, dished out a clinical show to restrict Tamil Nadu to 250/7 in Rajkot.
While the result of the game would not affect Saurashtra, as they have qualified for the knockouts already, it would have a bearing on Tamil Nadu’s prospects as nothing short of a win would help the side. For Tamil Nadu, the experienced Abhinav Mukund (86) and N Jagadeesan (61*) scored fifties.
Jagadeesan’s knock ensured that the visitors reached the 250-run mark. Tamil Nadu openers Mukund (86 off 112 balls) and L Suryaprakash (10) added 49 runs for the first wicket, before Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (1/72) removed the latter at the SCA Stadium in Khandheri.
Left-handed Mukund continued his good run of form and notched up half-century in 67 balls. However, Tamil Nadu slipped to 132/4 from 102/2, as Undakat (3/25) took two quick wickets. First, the left-arm pacer trapped V Ganga Sridhar (13) in front of the wicket and then removed a well-set Mukund in a similar fashion to put Tamil Nadu in a spot of bother.
Then skipper Baba Aparajith (20) and wicket-keeper Jagadeesan tried to rally the Tamil Nadu innings with their 42 run stand for the fifth wicket. But as the two were looking good, Chirag Jani (2/44) broke the stand sending Aparajith back to the pavilion. Tamil Nadu took tea at 181/5.
After tea, Unadkat took his third wicket, as Tamil Nadu were reeling at 181/6. Then Jagadeesan played a responsible knock and he first got able support from R Sai Kishore (27). Jagadeesan and M Mohammed (1) were at the crease when stumps were drawn.
Half-centuries from Pundir, Khajuria
A late strike by Abid Mushtaq helped Jammu & Kashmir reduce Haryana to 2/1 after the home side were bundled out for 340 in Jammu.
Electing to bat, J&K rode on half-centuries from Shubham Singh Pundir (84) and Shubham Khajuria (62) besides useful contributions from captain Parvez Rasool (49) and Ram Dayal (43) to post a good total. For the visiting team, leg-spinner Rahul Tewatia did a good job, picking up seven wickets.
Medium-pacer Ajit Chahal struck an early blow for Haryana, dismissing opener Suryansh Raina (14) before some substantial partnerships helped J&K’s cause.
After the second wicket fell at 64 when Jiyaad Magrey got out for 18, Khajuria and Pundir were involved in a 66-run stand for the third wicket. The left-handed Pundir then added 80 runs with the skipper Rasool (49).
However, Haryana hit back strongly to reduce the home side to 249/7 before Pundir and the lower-order including Ram Dayal (43) and Abid Mushtaq (29*) ensured that the total went past 350-mark.
Pundir hit 10 fours in his 183-ball knock and looked set to get a ton before Haryana captain Harshal Patel bowled him. When Haryana batted, Abid Mushtaq struck with his fourth ball, having Himanshu Rana got by Suryansh Raina for a duck.
Brief scores
In Rajkot: Tamil Nadu 250/7 (Abhinav Mukund 86; N Jagadeesan 61*; Jaydev Undakat 3/25) vs Saurashtra.
In Mumbai: Mumbai 352/4 (Sarfaraz Khan 169*, Aakarshit Gomel 122; Kuldeep Sen 3/67) vs Madhya Pradesh.
In Bengaluru: Baroda 85(AA Pathan 45; K Gowtham 3/25, Abhimanyu Mithun 3/26) vs Karnataka 165/7 (Karun Nair 47; Soyeb Sopariya 3/40). Karnataka lead by 80 runs.
In Lucknow: Himachal Pradesh 220 (N R Gangta 49; Aaqib Khan 5/42, Ankit Rajpoot 3/57) vs Uttar Pradesh 23/1. UP trail by 197 runs.
Jammu & Kashmir 340 all out in 87 overs (Shubham Singh Pundir 84, Shubham Kajuria 62, Parvez Rasool 49, Ram Dayal 43; Rahul Tewatia 7/98) vs Haryana 2/1.
At Guwahati: Tripura 387/7 in 89 overs (AA Sinha 90, M B Mura Singh 82*, Pratyush Singh 63, Milind 53; Ranjeet Mali 4/91) vs Assam.
At Baramati: Maharashtra 207 (A Palkar 60, VV More 59, N S Shaikh 47; Agrim Tiwari 3/49, Pradeep Chamoli 3/52) vs Uttarakhand 112/3 (Kamal 51*, Vaibhav Bhatt 33; SS Bachhav 2/26).
At Cuttack: Odisha 205/4 (Debasish Samantray 67*, Anurag Sarangi 65; Ashish Kumar 3/41) vs Jharkhand.
At Raipur: Chhattisgarh 179 (Amandeep Khare 97; Raushan Raj 4/53) vs Services 81/3 (Mumtaz Qadir 31; Puneet Datey 2/31).
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!