Report

Punjab win fourth, Bengal deny Nayar

A round-up of the fifth round of Ranji Trophy's Group A matches on December 4, 2012

Punjab 215 (Ravi Inder 85, Pankaj 5-45) and 206 for 1 (Jiwanjot 110*, Ravi Inder 60*) beat Rajasthan 222 (Yadav 57, S Kaul 4-63) and 196 (Sandeep 5-57) by nine wickets
Scorecard
Jiwanjot Singh made his third century in five first-class games as Punjab completed the formalities on the final morning with a nine-wicket demolition of defending champions Rajasthan. Punjab needed 55 more runs to reach their target of 204, and needed 12 overs to make them. Jiwanjot cracked 21 fours in his unbeaten 110, while Ravi Inder Singh finished on 60, his second fifty of the match. Punjab have 29 points now, having won four out of five games, and are way ahead of second-placed Madhya Pradesh, who have 11 from four.
Mumbai 297 (Jaffer 80, Nayar 62, Shukla 5-38) and 294 for 5 dec (Hiken 118, Nayar 73*) drew with Bengal 201 (A Das 98, Chavan 4-61) and 198 for 7 (Banerjee 59, A Das 54, Nayar 6-13)
Scorecard
With Bengal motoring to 116 for 0 in an improbable chase of 391, the final day at the CCI looked set to end in a tame draw. Mumbai allrounder Abhishek Nayar conjured up a six-for out of nowhere, and Bengal were made to work hard for avoiding defeat. Nayar took all but one of the Bengal wickets to fall, and had figures of 19-12-13-6 to go with his twin half-centuries in the game. He had the openers Rohan Banerjee and Arindam Das caught behind for fifties, and also bowled Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary for 14. Seven overs were left when Nayar bowled Laxmi Shukla for a duck, but Wriddhiman Saha, who was put down by early by Kshemal Waingankar, batted out 152 deliveries to ensure a stalemate. Mumbai now have ten points from four games, while Bengal have seven from five.
For more on this match, click here.
Gujarat 566 (Smit 114, Parthiv 111, Juneja 106) drew with Hyderabad 375 (Sandeep 90, Vihari 79, Akshath Reddy 79) and 124 for 2 (Sandeep 56*, Akshath Reddy 53*)
Scorecard
Gujarat, having piled up 566, dismissed visitors Hyderabad for 375 in Valsad to take three points. With only six points from their first four games, Gujarat then enforced the follow-on, but Hyderabad were steady at 124 for 2 before the game was called off. Rush Kalaria and Rakesh Dhurv picked up three wickets each in the Hyderabad first innings, which had three half-centuries but no hundred. Akshath Reddy, Hanuma Vihari and B Sandeep could not go on to make big scores like the Gujarat batsmen had.
Saurashtra 576 for 9 dec (Jadeja 331, Makvana 100*, Rathod 5-98) drew with Railways 335 (Shukla 82, Madkaikar 68*, Kartik 62, Makvana 6-102) and 27 for 0
Scorecard
Saurashtra did what Gujarat had done, and asked Railways to bat again after taking a huge lead, but could not break through in the second innings. Kamlesh Makvana picked up six wickets, and Ravindra Jadeja three, as Railways crumbled from a strong 168 for 1 to be dismissed for 335. The overnight batsmen Shivakant Shukla and V Cheluvaraj could not add too many in the morning. Parag Madkaikar and Murali Kartik made sixties, but it was not enough against Saurashtra's mammoth total. Saurashtra now have nine points, as many as Gujarat have, while Railways are on six.