Ranji Trophy 2015 Group A: Tail-enders, bowlers put Bengal in control against Haryana

Bengal pacer did a fantastic job to put Haryana in trouble. (Source: PTI)

Mukesh Kumar led Bengal’s impressive bowling show as they restricted the Virender Sehwag-led Haryana to 186 for eight to take control of their Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match on Saturday.

Bengal were all out for 329 in their first innings with Sachin Rana returning figures of five for 46 at the CH Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium.

jQuery(document).ready(function(){ jQuery('.rel-article').bxSlider({ maxSlides: 6, slideMargin: 3 }); });

The match’s biggest attraction and Haryana captain Virender Sehwag (28) was bowled by Mukesh Kumar (4/49) after getting a start. The just-retired India player hit three boundaries while facing 46 balls.

Earlier, a ninth-wicket partnership of 78 runs between Pragyan Ojha (51) and Ashok Dinda (45) frustrated the hosts after they had Bengal at 250 for eight at one stage on the first day’s evening.

Overnight 22, Ojha hit three fours and two sixes in his 103-ball knock, while Dinda found the fence six times in his 51-ball innings.

When their turn to bat came, Haryana lost wickets at regular intervals to give the visiting side advantage by the end of second day’s play. They were stuttering at 120 for eight at one stage before a ninth-wicket partnership of 66 runs between Rohit Sharma (55 not out) and Yuzvendra Chahal (33 not out) avoided a humiliation.

At stumps, Sharma and Chahal were at the crease, with the hosts still trailing by 143 runs with just two wickets remaining.

Delhi reduced to 245/7 against Odisha

Suryakant Pradhan’s four-wicket haul did the most damage as Delhi’s batting squandered a good start to be left tottering at 245 for 7 in their first innings on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Group A match against Odisha on Saturday.

Overnight 99 for one, Delhi’s batsmen failed to convert their starts into big scores, allowing the home side to have the upper-hand.

The opening pair of Dhruv Shourey (42) and skipper Gautam Gambhir (41) and Nitish Rana (37) were the other notable contributors to the total.

The middle-order failed miserably with Pradhan being the wrecker-in-chief.

The medium-pacer’s day’s figures read an impressive 4 for 83 in 32.5 overs. Basant Mohanty notched up a couple of wickets.

Brief Scores

Delhi 1st Innings: 245/7 in 115 overs (Milind Kumar 59, Dhruv Shorey 42, Gautam Gambhir 41, S Pradhan 4/83).
Rajasthan reach 219/7 in reply to Karnataka’s 281 in 1st inngs

Rajat Bhatia missed out on a century by just one run as Rajasthan reached 219 for seven, still trailing Karnataka’s first innings total by 62 runs, on the second day of a Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match on Saturday.
At stumps, Deepak Chahar was batting on 13 and K Ajay Singh was on six.

Earlier, resuming on 270 for eight in their first essay, Karnataka could add just another 11 runs to their overnight total, getting all out for 281.

Aniket Choudhary finished with best figures of five for 77 for Rajasthan.

In reply, Rajasthan were struggling at 48 for four before Bhatia came to the team’s rescue.

Brief scores:

Karnataka 1st innings: 281 (Mayank Agarwal 66, Ravikumar Samarth 65; Aniket Choudhary 5/77).

Rajasthan 1st innings: 219 for seven (Rajat Bhatia 99; R Vinay Kumar 2/39, David Mathias 2/41).

Maharashtra trail Vidarbha by 144 runs

Vidarbha had the edge as they restricted Maharashtra to 144 for six after being bowled out for 332 in their Group B Ranji Trophy cricket match on Saturday.

At stumps on day two, Maharashtra were trailing by 188 runs with four wickets in hand at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground.

Vidarbha’s overnight batsman Faiz Fazal top-scored for the hosts with a 273-ball 120, while Shalabh Srivastava and the other overnight batsman Ravi Jangid made 63 and 40 respectively. Fazal struck 16 boundaries during his stay at the crease.