Report

UP bowlers demolish Services

A round-up of the third day's play from Group B Ranji Trophy matches played on December 8, 2013

Uttar Pradesh 369 (Dwivedi 131, Digvijay 78) beat Services 164 (RP Singh 3-38, Chawla 3-62) and 191 (Paliwal 95, Imtiaz 3-16, Mishra 2-18) by an innings and 14 runs
Scorecard
The Uttar Pradesh bowlers took a little more than 50 overs to claim all ten Services wickets in the second innings and wrap an innings win on the third day in Ghaziabad. Services needed to score 205 to make UP bat again but fell short of the mark by 14 runs.
While pacers RP Singh and Imtiaz Ahmed got rid of the top four batsmen, pacer Amit Mishra and legspinner Piyush Chawla picked two wickets each to run through the lower order. Barring captain Rajat Paliwal, who made a valiant 95, only three other batsmen reached double-figures. Services were first reduced to 45 for 4 after RP Singh and Ahmed struck in consecutive overs, and were later struggling at 71 for 6 once Mishra dismissed Yashpal Singh and Vishnu Tiwari in the same over.
Shadab Nazar scored 29 with the help of five fours in the company of Paliwal to take the score past 150 but Chawla picked up his second wicket to break the partnership. Nishan Singh also fell for a duck five overs later and Paliwal's wicket gave UP seven points which took their total tally to 20.
Rajasthan 282 and 77 for 3 (Bist 39*) need 71 runs to beat Madhya Pradesh 115 and 314 (Ojha 137, Bundela 54, Rituraj 4-74)
Scorecard
Rajasthan pacers Pankaj Singh and Rituraj Singh struck decisive blows against Madhya Pradesh to ensure that their side had to chase 148 for their first win in this Ranji Trophy. The pacers took four wickets in four overs between them after Naman Ojha's 12th first-class hundred looked set to take MP to a challenging score. By close of play on the third day, Rajasthan were 77 for 3, with Robin Bist unbeaten on 39.
MP began the day at 121 for 2, and the pair of Anand Rajan and Ojha went about wiping out the 167-run deficit. They were dealt a minor setback when Rajan and Mohnish Mishra were dismissed off successive balls by Ramesh Powar, but consolidated through a 110-run, fifth-wicket stand between Ojha and captain Devendra Bundela, who scored 54. The pair of Rituraj and Pankaj, however, reduced MP from a solid 276 for 4 to 295 for 8. Pankaj dismissed Ojha for 137 off 204 balls in the 83rd over and MP's innings folded seven overs later for 314. Rituraj finished with 4 for 74, while Pankaj added another three wickets to his first-inning five-for.
Rajasthan's chase got off to a poor start, as Siddharth Saraf and Dishant Yagnik fell to Ishwar Pandey with the score at 18 for 2. Vineet Saxena and Bist then added 59 for the third wicket, before Saxena fell a few minutes before close of play.