A dogged century by Chirag Jani (121 off 297 balls) and his 157-run seventh-wicket partnership with Perak Mankad (80) helped Saurashtra pile up 419 in the first innings against Andhra on the second day of its Ranji Trophy quarter-final match in Ongole on Friday.
Skipper Jaydev Unadkat removed Andhra opener DB Prasanth (1) and Jyothisaikrishna (17) to leave the hosts at 40/2 at stumps, still trailing by 379 runs.
Resuming at 226/6, Jani (on 53) and Mankad (80, 177 balls, 8 fours) frustrated the Andhra bowlers and were still at the crease at lunch. They defied the attack led by Y Prithvi Raj (3/51) and scored whenever presented with the opportunity.
Jani reached his ton from 249 balls. Though it was a slow knock, it helped Saurashtra recover from 140 for five to post a big score. This season, Jani has scored 427 runs in eight matches with two centuries and one fifty. Mankad too complemented Jani well and helped the visitors’ cause. For the home team, left-arm medium-pacer Prithvi Raj and right-arm medium-pacer KV Sashikanth picked up three wickets each.
Andhra opener CR Gnaneshwar was batting on 22 at close of play and a lot will depend on him and skipper KS Bharat and Ricky Bhui.
Saurashtra 419 (Chirag Jani 121, Perak Mankad 80, Vishvarajsingh Jadeja 73, Sheldon Jackson 50; Prithvi Raj Yarra 3/51, K V Sasikanth 3/149) vs Andhra 40/2 (Jaydev Unadkat 2/20)
Odisha slip up
Odisha let the opportunity slip in the final hour, losing three wickets in quick time as Bengal took an upper hand in Tangi. Fighting half-centuries from opener Shantanu Mishra (62) and Debasish Samantray (68) frustrated Bengal bowlers after their first innings folded for 332.
But a lapse in concentration from Samantray, who chased a widish delivery, triggered the collapse as Bengal seamer Nilkantha Das finally ended their dogged 125-run partnership, which came off 317 balls.
Shahbaz Ahmed and Ishan Porel then fired in quick succession as Odisha lost three wickets for 16 runs to end day two on a disappointing 151/4, still 181 runs behind Bengal.
Bengal’s find of the season, all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed, then got into the act cleaning up the well-set Mishra with a delivery that skidded off rough patches. The left-arm spinner bowled with drift as the ball skidded from the rough and a clueless Mishra missed the line completely to see his off-stump unsettled.
Bengal immediately brought in Ishan Porel, who gave the new batsmen duo of Govinda Poddar and night watchman Debabrata Pradhan some anxious moments before dismissing the former. Porel bowled with pace and bounce and almost dismissed the former Odisha captain Poddar with a yorker but it missed both the pads and stumps.
In his next over, Porel bowled a rising bouncer and Poddar had no answer but to edge it to Anustup Majumdar in the slip cordon.
No play on second day of J&K-Karnataka Ranji QF
The second day’s play between Karnataka and Jammu & Kashmir was called off without a ball being bowled because of wet ground conditions in Jammu. Despite the sun shining brightly on Friday, water seepage under the covers after last night’s downpour left wet patches near the run-up area at one end.
The on-field umpires conducted as many as five inspections before eventually calling off the day’s proceedings. Karnataka were wobbling at 14/2 at stumps after only six overs were possible due to bad light on the opening day on Thursday.
Play started after tea and only six overs were possible on the opening day during which Karnataka struggled against Jammu & Kashmir new ball pair of Aquib Nabi (1/6) and Mujtaba Yousuf (1/5). Karnataka lost both their openers – Ravikumar Samarth (5) and Devdutt Padikkal (2).
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