Saurashtra brushed aside Vidarbha by an innings and 85 runs to book their place in the semi-final of the Ranji Trophy 2015-16. Mumbai’s Shreyas Iyer became the first batsman this season to aggregate 1000 runs as the tournament favourites set Jharkhand a massive target of 490 runs. Assam continued their impressive performance and now need just two Punjab wickets for a win. In Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh have almost batted Bengal out of the tournament with a massive lead of 565 runs.
QF 1 - Vidarbha vs Saurashtra: Sau 375 (Sagar Jogiyani 130, Sheldon Jackson 122, Umesh Yadav 5-81) beat Vid 151 (Jaydev Unadkat 5-70) and 139 (Wasim Jaffer 48, Jaydev Unadkat 4-35) by an innings and 85 runs
Vidarbha were bowled out in the final session on Day Three for just 139 runs. Resuming their innings on the overnight score of 17 runs, Vidarbha were bowled out in 68.1 overs. Left-arm pacer Jaydev Undakat took four wickets in the second innings to register a match tally of nine wickets while Deepak Punia took 3/32. Veteran Wasim Jaffer top-scored with 48 runs, but regular fall of wickets hurt Vidarbha. The biggest stand in the final innings was worth 44 for the fifth wicket between Jaffer and Ravi Jangid. Fast bowler Umesh Yadav did not bat after injuring his ankle on the previous day.
QF 2 - Assam vs Punjab: Assam 1st inn 323/10 (Syed Mohammed 121, D Bansal 3/75) and 101/10 (Arup Das 31, Barinder Sran 5, Siddharth Kaul 4/25) and Punjab 1st inn 137/10 (M Sidhana 80*, A Das 3/41, K Das 3/54) 224/8 (Gurkeerat Mann 64, Mayank Siddana 43, Arup Das 6/82)
A tantalizing finish awaits in Valsad as Assam are two wickets away from registering a win while Punjab, their more fancied opponents, need 64 runs to win. Arup Das did whatever he could to take Assam to down Punjab on an action packed third day. After striking a useful 31 in Assam’s total of 101/10, the medium pacer claimed six wickets for 82 runs in 20 overs. He removed the top three as Punjab were reduced to 26/3 at one stage. A 70-run stand for the fourth wicket between Gurkeerat Mann and Mandeep Singh then put the innings back on track as Punjab heaved a sigh of relief. The partnership was broken by Dheeraj Goswami, who first removed Mandeep and then claimed the big wicket of Gurkeerat as Punjab were five down for 133. The fall of wickets continued and a lot now depends on Gitansh Khera who is unbeaten on 35 with Punjab 224/8 when third day’s play ended.
QF -3 Bengal vs Madhya Pradesh: MP 348/10 (D Bundela 58, VP Singh 5/76, A Dinda 3/85) and 338/5 (Rajat Patidar 137, Devendra Bundela 72, Ashoke Dinda 1/65) Bengal 1st inn 121/10 (A Easwaran 48, I Pandey 4/45, P Datey 3/30, C Sakure 3/38) Lead by 565 runs
Bengal bowlers were made to toil hard on Thursday as Madhya Pradesh amassed a gigantic lead of 565 runs. Resuming on 14/1, the batters made sure Bengal had no way to come back after ending the third day at 338/5. One-drop Rajat Patidar struck his third hundred in five games and shared a 141-run stand with Naman Ojha for the fourth wicket and added 114 runs for the fifth wicket with captain Devendra Bundela. The senior player missed out on a century when Pragyan Ojha got rid of him for 72. For the left-arm spinner it was his 400th first-class wicket.
QF 4 - Jharkhand vs Mumbai: Jharkhand 172 (Kaushal Singh 43, Herwadkar 3-26, Thakur 3-37) and 28 for 1 trail Mumbai 416 (Herwadkar 107, Suryakumar Yadav 75, Nadeem 5-140) by 462 runs
Jharkhand are facing elimination after trailing by 462 runs at the end of third day’s play. Mumbai, who had a huge lead of 244 runs, decided to bat again and posted 245/10 in their second essay. Shreyas Iyer made 81 from 106 and although he missed out on a century, he became the first batsman this season to aggregate 1000 runs in the Ranji Trophy. Iyer, who became the fourth Mumbai batsman to achieve the mark, is the third youngest batsman after Rusi Modi and Ajinkya Rahane to achieve the feat. Set a target of 490 runs, Jharkhand were 28/1.
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Punjab captain Harbhajan Singh was not required to bowl as Assam were bowled out for 101 runs. He was later dismissed for eight runs
Barinder Sran picked up five wickets for 43 runs in 15 overs
In his final Ranji Trophy innings this season, Wasim Jaffer made 48 runs
Subramaniam Badrinath was out for 12 runs
Pragyan Ojha bowled 23 overs and got one wicket of Madhya Pradesh skipper Devendra Bundela
