The Madhya Pradesh pacers ran through the Baroda lineup to bring the team within a wicket of victory in the penultimate round of Ranji Trophy 2016-17.
As the teams fight to avoid relegation, Baroda were at No 8 with nine points ahead of the penultimate round while Uttar Pradesh were at the bottom of the table with four points. Suresh Raina, who got out for 91 for the second time in the match has given his team a shot at victory. Meanwhile, Baroda are unlikely to gain even a single point and would finish at the bottom of the table at the end of the round.
In Belgaum too, Gujarat pacers dominated the day’s play as they bundled Punjab out and forced the side to follow on.
Group A, Round 8 – Day 3 Round-up:
Bengal vs Mumbai in Nagpur: Bengal 1st inn 99/10 (S Chatterjee 35, S Thakur 6/31, D Kulkarni 3/22); Mumbai 1st inn 229/10 in 58 overs (S Thakur 25, D Kulkarni 22, A Dinda 5/88, M Kumar 3/56); Bengal 2nd inn 433/8 in 131 overs (M Tiwary 169, S Chatterjee 130, D Kulkarni 4/108) Lead by 303 runs
Coming together at 56 for three, Manoj Tiwary and Sudip Chatterjee stemmed the fall of wickets and revived Bengal’s second innings. The pair had taken Bengal to 198 for three at stumps on Day 2 and when they resumed on the third morning, they continued to carry the team forward. Their partnership was worth 271 runs when Chatterjee was trapped lbw by Abhishek Nayar on 130 off 304. The Mumbai allrounder then followed up with the wicket of Agniv Pan. The Bengal skipper continued to rally on as they looked to set Mumbai a target after being bowled out for a meager 99 in the first innings. He had taken the team to 356 when Tiwary was run out for 169 off 288 balls.
Dhawal Kulkarni then followed up with wickets of Ashok Dinda and Shreevats Goswami to leave Bengal on 390 for eight. Pragyan Ojha and Amit Kuila then looked to add to the total and were batting on 30 and 18 respectively with Bengal on 433 for eight when the day’s play was called off.
Baroda vs Madhya Pradesh in Dharamsala: MP 1st inn 217/10 in 67.5 overs (D Bundela 86, B Pathan 5/48, I Pathan 2/51); Baroda 1st inn 164/10 in 48.1 overs (D Hooda 61, I Pandey 5/29, P Datey 3/40); MP 2nd inn 293/10 in 87.2 overs (HS Bhatia 73, P Datey 41*, A Sheth 4/51, IK Pathan 2/51); Baroda 2nd inn 114/9 in 35 overs (K Devdhar 18, C Sakure 4/17, I Pandey 2/19) Need 233 runs to win
Bowled out for 293 after resuming their second innings on 126 for five, Madhya Pradesh set Baroda a 347-run target in the penultimate round game. Harpreet Singh Bhatia’s 73 off 140 balls followed by sizeable contributions from the rest of the lower order including an unbeaten 41 by Puneet Datey, helped MP set-up the match.
The MP pacers then wrecked the Baroda lineup and left them reeling on 114 for nine at stumps. While Ishwar Pandey claimed the openers, Chandrakant Sakure (four for 17) and Puneet Datey (two for 49) dismantled the rest of the lineup. The pace attack didn’t allow any batsman to reach the 20-run mark. MP need a wicket to seal a thumping win.
Gujarat vs Punjab in Belgaum: Gujarat 1st inn 624/6 decl in 156.4 overs (P Panchal 314*, A Patel 65, B Merai 65, S Sharma 3/126); Punjab 1st inn 247/10 in 85.2 overs (M Vohra 68, G Khera 35*, R Kalaria 4/41, H Patel 2/24); F/o Punjab 2nd inn 36/1 in 12.1 overs (M Vohra 14*,) Trail by 341 runs
Rush Kalaria sent back night-watchman Sandeep Sharma in the morning to leave Punjab on 48 for two and then followed up with the wicket of Uday Kaul just after the team had reached the three-figure mark. Even as opener Manan Vohra looked to build the innings, he kept losing partners as the pacers struck. Jasprit Bumrah claimed Mandeep Singh while RP Singh accounted for stand-in captain Gurkeerat Mann to leave Punjab wobbling on 129 for five.
Kalaria then followed up with the wicket of Vohra to end Punjab’s resistance. The 23-year old left-arm pacer the wrapped up the innings with the wicket of Kamal Passi and then returned to deal the first blow after Punjab were asked to follow on.
Opening the batting with Vohra, Khera was sent back for seven. The opener then saw the team through to stumps with Jiwanjot Singh.
Uttar Pradesh vs Railways at Rajkot: UP 1st inn 259/10 in 70.3 overs (S Raina 91, S Kumar 53, K Sharma 4/48, A Singh 4/67); Railways 1st inn 213/10 in 79.4 overs (S Wakaskar 74, A Gosh 58, I Ahmed 5/34); UP 2nd inn 330/10 in 90 overs (S Choudhary 124, S Raina 91, K Sharma 5/71, K Thakur 3/82); Railways 2nd inn 35/5 in 27 overs (S Shukla 13, P Kumar 2/8) Need 342 to win
Left on 101 for three, Shivam Choudhary (124) and Suresh Raina (91) helped set up a contest with a 150-run stand for the fourth wicket as UP fight to avoid relegation. The young opener’s maiden century knock was ended by Karn Sharma leaving UP on 251 for four. The leg-spinner also accounted for his opposite number 20 runs later. The Railways captain finished with a five-for in the innings as he partnered with Karan Thakur (three wickets) to bowl UP out for 330.
Chasing the 377-run target, Railways were left tottering on 35 for five by the Praveen Kumar-led attack. The senior pacer claimed two while Ankit Rajpoot, Imitiaz Ahmed and Kuldeep Yadav picked a wicket each.
