Ranji Trophy Group B: Punjab in line for 7 points; TN gain advantage against Bengal

Ranji Trophy Group B Round-up: Tamil Nadu gained the upperhand, securing a 74-run first innings lead against Bengal on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group 'B' match at the M A Chidambaram stadim

Delhi vs Punjat at New Delhi

Delhi suffered another batting collapse to brighten Punjab's prospects of recording an outright victory in their Ranji Trophy Group B match here Thursday.

At stumps on the second day, Delhi were 106 for six in reply to Punjab's first innings score of 282. The hosts trailed by 69 runs as they were bowled out for a paltry 107 in their first innings.

The opening pair of Gautam Gambhir and Hiten Dalal provided Delhi with a solid start, adding 72 runs before the latter was trapped leg before by left-arm spinner Vinay Choudhary.

Two balls later Choudhary claimed the wicket of vice-captain Dhruv Shorey, who was dismissed for a duck.

Seamer Siddarth Kaul, who had a six-wicket haul in the first innings, claimed the wicket of skipper Nitish Rana before Himmat Singh and veteran Gautam Gambhir were dismissed in an over, leaving Delhi struggling at 99 for four.

Earlier, Punjab captain Mandeep Singh picked up from where he had left on Wednesday, scoring 90 runs with the help of eight boundaries.

Punjab had taken a lead of 176 runs by the time they were bowled out for 282. Simarjeet Singh and Vikas Mishra starred with the ball for Delhi, picking up four wickets each.

Brief Scores: Delhi 107 & 106/6 (Gambhir 60; Vinay Chaudhary 3/23, Siddarth Kaul 2/35)
Punjab 282 all out.

 

Tamil Nadu vs Bengal at Chennai

Tamil Nadu gained the upperhand, securing a 74-run first innings lead against Bengal on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group 'B' match at the M A Chidambaram stadim Thursday.

After ending their first innings at 263 all out, built on Baba Aparajith's superb knock of 103, Tamil Nadu struck back with medium pacer M Mohammed (4 for 39) and spinner Rahil Shah (5 for 46) ripping through the visitor's batting line up to bowl it out for 189 in 65.5 overs.

At close, the hosts were 12 for 1 at stumps, an overall lead of 86 runs.

Earlier, Tamil Nadu resuming at overnight 218 for 7 added 45 runs with Aparajith reaching the well-deserved ton.

His 273-ball knock studded with eight fours and a six ended when he holed out to Manoj Tiwari of Pradipto Pramanik's bowling.

For Bengal, young paceman Ishan Porel, who struck Vital blows, emerged the best bowler with 5 for 48.

In reply, Bengal suffered two early jolts as the impressive Mohammed sent back Kousik Ghosh (2) and Sudip Chaterjee (0) with just eight runs on the board.

Things got worse in the 6th over when Mohammed got skipper Tiwari caught by Abhinav Mukund for a duck and Bengal were reeling at 11 for 3.
Left-handed opener Abhishek Kumar Raman (98, 173 balls, 10X4, 1X6) waged a lone valiant battle.

He negotiated the spin and pace with equal felicity and was the ninth batsman to be dismissed.

Rahil Shah, who has had a fluctuating performance before this match, came into his own on the sluggish Chepauk surface to pick a five-wicket haul.

His victims included Abhishek Raman apart from Anustup Majumdar (16).

Tamil Nadu began their second innings with the aim of tightening its grip on the match but lost the experienced Mukund early as he was castled by veteran Ashoke Dinda for 2.

Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 263 all out in 106 overs (B Aparajith 103, M Kaushik Gandhi 51, Ishan Porel 5 for 48, Pradipta Pramanik 3 for 82) vs Bengal 189 all out in 63.5 overs (Abhishek Raman 98, Rahil Shah 5 for 46, M Mohammed 4 for 39).

Kerala vs MP at Thiruvananthapuram

BRIEF: Kerala 62 and 38 for 4 in 12 overs vs Madhya Pradesh 328 all out in 120 overs (Rajat Patidar 73, Naman Ojha 79, Jalaj Saxen 4 for 120).

Himachal vs Hyderabad at Hyderabad

BRIEF: Himachal Pradesh 351 all out in 126.4 overs (P S Chopra 110, M J Dagar 61, Tanay Thyagarajan 4 for 86) vs Hyderabad 146 for 1 in 51 overs (Akshat Reddy 86 batting).