RANJI TROPHY 2017-18

Ranji Trophy wrap: Gujarat, Kerala reach quarterfinals

by Cricbuzz Staff • Last updated on

Kerala became the second team to qualify for the knockouts from Group B. Photo - KCA. © Agencies

GROUP A

The clash between Hyderabad and Delhi ended in a draw after the hosts were asked to follow on. Hyderabad ended their second essay on 442 for 8 after twin tons from Akshath Reddy and Rohith Rayudu.

Hyderabad started the day on 233 for 2 and continued to frustrate the visitors who were looking for a bonus point win to top the group. B Sandeep made 93 as the middle order continued to fight despite Vikas Mishra's five-wicket haul.

Brief scores: Delhi 415 (Himmat Singh 99; Ravi Kiran 3-83) drew with Hyderabad 205 (Tanmay Agarwal 63; Vikas Mishra 4-36, Kulwant Khejroliya 4-48) & 442/8 f/o (Akshath Reddy 107, Rohit Rayudu 103; Vikar Mishra 5-116).

K Gowtham's seven-wicket haul helped Karnataka beat Railways by 209 runs and seal the top spot in the group. Karnataka declared after Mayank Agarwal was dismissed for 134. The second ton from the opener helped the team reach 275 for 4 and stretch the overall lead to 376.

The Railways batsmen got starts but failed to dig deep and hold onto their ends. Pratham Singh scored 36 while Manish Rao and Mahesh Rawat got dismissed after getting a start. Gowtham bowled the most number of overs in the innings to turn the match towards Karnataka.

Brief scores: Karnataka 434 (Mayank Agarwal 173, Manish Pandey 108; Karan Thakur 3-91) & 274/4 dec (Mayank Agarwal 134) beat Railways 333 (Mahesh Rawat 124, Arindam Ghosh 91; Shreyas Gopal 4-102, K Gowtham 3-70) & 167 (K Gowtham 7-72) by 209 runs.

GROUP B

Gujarat cantered to a bonus point win over Jharkhand and sealed a spot in the quarterfinals, trouncing the hosts by ten wickets after being set 15 to win at the JSCA International Stadium Complex.

Jharkhand started the day on 106 for 2 after being asked to follow-on, but were able to post just 183. They lost Utkarsh Singh and Ishank Jaggi early on in the day and failed to recover from that. Virat Singh and Ishan Kishan resisted for a brief while but once the duo was dismissed, Jharkhand nosedived towards a defeat.

Samit Gohel and Priyank Panchal then polished off the chase in just 1.4 overs to end the contest before Lunch.

Brief scores: Gujarat 242 (Rujul Bhatt 145; Ashish Kumar 4-118) and 16/0 beat Jharkhand242 (Kumar Deobrat 80; Kamlesh Thakor 3-43) and 183 (Kumar Deobrat 53; Hardik Patel 4-9) by 10 wickets.

Kerala became the second team to qualify from Group B as they hammered Haryana by an innings and eight runs at the Chaudhry Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium.

Haryana started the day on 85 for 5 after conceding a 181-run lead. Things barely moved ahead for them but they managed to frustrate the visitors by not losing a wicket in the first hour. However, Rajat Paliwal's resistance was brought to an end by Basil Thampi and that opened the floodgates.

They slipped to 119 for 7 when Amit Mishra was dismissed for a 79-ball 40. There was not much resistance as the match ended after the first session was extended.

Brief scores: Haryana 208 (Rajat Paliwal 46; Sandeep Warrior 4-50) and 173 (Amit Mishra 40; MD Nidheesh 3/27 lost to Kerala389 (Rohan Prem 93, Jalaj Saxena 91; Ajit Chahal 5-90) by an innings and eight runs.

The Ranji Trophy Group B game between Saurashtra and Team Rajasthan ended in a stalemate, with the latter notching up 394 for 7 in their second essay. Saurashtra finished the Group stages of the tournament with 26 points, which also meant that they missed out on qualification for the quarterfinals. Gujarat (34 points) and Kerala (31) progressed to the next round from the group.

The home side's batsmen gave a good account of themselves in the second innings as Amitkumar Gautam (110), Chetan Bist (109) and Rajesh Bishnoi (103*) compiled hundreds. Saurashtra tried as many as eight bowlers but couldn't clean up the opposition. With Kerala cantering to an innings win versus Haryana, Saurashtra's players perhaps coultn't lift their game. Dharmendrasinh Jadeja bagged a five-fer for the visitors. Earlier, the visitors had notched up a substantial 534 in the first essay with Team Rajasthan being asked to follow-on after they compiled 275 in the first innings.

Brief scores: Saurashtra 534 (Avi Barot 130, Sheldon Jackson 94; Deepak Chahar 3-110) drew with Rajasthan 275 (Robin Bist 63, Mahipal Lomror 52; Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 3-42, Shaurya Sanandia 3-62) & 394/7 f/o (Chetan Bist 109, Rajesh Bishnoi 103*; Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 5-167)

GROUP C

Tamil Nadu crashed to a 102-run loss against Baroda and ended their campaign with five draws and one loss. Starting the day at 2 for no loss, they folded for 130 in 65.1 overs.

Set a target of 233, Lukman Meriwala and Swapnil Singh collaborated to spell doom for the visitors who had their game shifted to Vadodara due to inclement weather in Chennai. Baba Indrajith fought hard with a 175-ball 60 but with no support from any other batsmen, the Tamil Nadu chase fell well short.

They lost Abhinav Mukund even before they could add to their overnight score and failed to arrest the slide as the innings progressed.

Brief scores: Baroda 274 (Swapnil Singj 144; K Vignesh 3-52) and 197 (Swapnil 49; Vignesh 3-46) beat Tamil Nadu 274 (Baba Aparajith 59; Lukman Meriwala 3-37) and 130 (Aparajith 60; Swapnil 4-21, Meriwala 4-22) by 102 runs.

Madhya Pradesh sealed a seven-wicket win over Odisha and became the second team to qualify from Group C for the quarterfinals. Set 110, the hosts lost three cheap wickets but Devendra Bundela and Harpreet Bhatia polished off the chase without much fuss.

Odisha start the day with a lot promise at 237 for 4 having staged a tremendous fightback. They lost Shantanu Mishra early on in the day and even though Subhranshu Senapati scored a valiant ton, they were able to stretch the score to only 350.

Rajat Patidar, Aryaman Birla and Shubham Sharma got out cheaply before Bundela and Bhatia ended the chase in 37 overs.

Brief scores: Odisha 147 (Shantanu Mishra 60; Chandrakant Sakure 4-42) and 350 (Subhranshu Senapati 125; ;Mihir Hirwani 5-97) lost to Madhya Pradesh 388 (Rajat Patidar 123; Govinda Poddar 7-102) and 111/3 (Devendra Bundela 50*) by seven wickets.

GROUP D

Bengal eased to the knockouts with their clash against Goa at Eden Gardens ending in a draw. The hosts took the first innings lead and bagged three points and ensured they go ahead with Vidarbha from the group.

Bengal started on 108 for 3 and centuries from Anustup Majumdar and Writtick Chatterjee helped them declare with a healthy 334 for 5 on the board. With a win out of question for Goa, Snehal Kauthankar (53) and Amogh Desai (22) stitched an unbeaten 78-run stand to ensure there was no late wobble.

Brief scores: Bengal379 (Shreevats Goswami 139, Anustup Majumdar 119; Lakshay Garg 4-89) and 334/5 (Anustup Majumdar 108*, Writtick Chatterjee 102*) drew with Goa 310 (Amogh Sunil Desai 103; Ashok Dinda 5-79) and 86/2 (Snehal Kauthankar 53*).

In the dying hours of the match between Punjab and Services, the game turned inconsequential with Bengal having finished with an innings lead in a draw in their encounter and sealing the last berth from Group D. However, Punjab attempted to go for an innings win, but ran out of time.

Needing 109 to win, they managed to reach 94 for 5 in 6.1 overs before the umpires called off play and the match ended in a draw. Services gave good account of themselves after being asked to follow on and courtesy centuries from Rahul Singh and Ravi Chauhan, piled on 458 in the second innings. They finished sixth on the points table with 10 points, while Punjab ended third with 18 points from six games.

Brief Scores: Punjab 645/6 decl. (Anmolpreet Singh 252*, Shubham Gill 129; Ravi Chauhan 1-19, Nitin Tanwar 1-70) & 94/5 (Shubham Gill 32, Abhishek Gupta 26; Sachidanand Pandey 3-26, Raj Bahadur Pal 1-14) drew with Services315 Vikas Yadav 71, Diwesh Pathania 68; Manpreet Singh 5-63, Siddharth Kaul 2-101) & 458 (Rahul Singh 124, Ravi Chauhan 112; Siddharth Kaul 3-96, Manpreet Singh 2-95).

Nikhil Gangta cracked a fine hundred (101*) while Sumeet Verma (59) and Rishi Dhawan (53) compiled fifties to propel Himachal Pradesh to 323 for 8 in the second innings and secure a drew versus Vidarbha.

At 51 for 3, Himachal were in a spot of bother, but Gangta, batting at No.5, stitched crucial stands with Sumeet, Dhawan and Pankaj Jaiswal (37*) to take his side to safe waters. For the Vidarbha side, Aditya Sarwate, the left-arm spinner, bagged a six-fer in the second innings. Vidarbha topped group D with 31 points while Himachal finished fourth with 14 points.

Brief scores: Himachal Pradesh 353 (Rishi Dhawan 71, Akash Vashist 69; Rajneesh Gurbani 6-113) and 323/8 (Nikhil Gangta 101* Sumeet Verma 59; Aditya Sarwate 6-75) drew with Vidarbha 456 (Faiz Fazal 206, Sanjay Ramaswamy 115; Rishi Dhawan 4-96)

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