Ranji Trophy Group C: Rajasthan secure 1st innings lead; Assam rout Haryana

Rajasthan have won all their three games so far and would be hoping to record their fourth successive victory when they take the field Saturday

Rajasthan secured a crucial first innings lead against Uttar Pradesh after bundling out the hosts for 214 in their Elite Group C match here Friday.
The visitors rode on splendid performance by left-arm pacer Aniket Choudhary (5-64) at the Green Park Stadium here after posting 311 in their first essay.

Thus, the visitors took 97-run first-innings lead and then extended it to 233 runs as they ended the penultimate day of the four-day game at 136/4.

Choudhary got excellent support from co-pacers T M Haq (3-55) and Nathu Singh (2-47).

For Uttar Pradesh, only wicket-keeper Upendra Singh showed some resistance with a valiant knock of 67, But he was devoid of partners.

Rajasthan have won all their three games so far and would be hoping to record their fourth successive victory when they take the field Saturday. In the second innings, Rajasthan opener Amitkumar Gautam continued his good form as he remained unbeaten on 66 at close of play.

Gautam had missed a century by just seven runs in the first innings.

Meanwhile at Guwahati, Assam thrashed Haryana by an innings and 35 runs as Arup Das and Mukhtair Hussain picked four wickets each in the second innings to bowl out the visitors for 178.

At Cuttack, Odisha need another 104 runs for an outright victory against Tripura, but have only five wickets in hand.

At Palam in New Delhi, Services are on the brink of a win against Jammu and Kashmir as they require another 38 runs with five wickets in hand.

Brief scores:

At Kanpur: Rajasthan 311 and 136/4 (Amitkumar Gautam 66 not out, Robin Bist 32, Ankit Rajpoot 2-31) versus Uttar Pradesh 214 (Upendra Yadav 67, Suresh Raina 33, Aniket Chaudhary 5-64). Rajasthan lead by 233 runs.
At Guwahati: Assam 310 versus Haryana 97 and 178 (Chaitanya Bishnoi 78, Poonish Mishra 70 not out, Arup Das 4-37). Assam won by an innings and 35 runs.

At Cuttack: Odisha 212 and 111/5 (Subranshu Senapati 43 not out, Rajesh Dhuper 37, Manisankar Murasingh 4-37) versus Tripura 122 and 304 (M B Mura Singh 75, Basant Mohanty 4-53). Odisha need 104 runs to win.

At New Delhi (Palam): Jammu and Kashmir 95 and 261 (Parvez Rasool 115, Waseem Raza 30, Arun Bamal 4-93) versus Services 252 and 67/5 (Aanshul Gupta 21, Parvez Rasool 2-11). Services need 38 runs to win.

At Porvorim: Goa 364 and 10/1 versus Jharkhand 390 (Anukul Roy 127, Utkarsh Singh 75, Amulya Pandrekar 3-78). Goa trail by 16 runs