Report

Mishra's six spin Haryana to victory

The results from the eighth day of the Ranji Trophy one-day tournament 2008-09

Cricinfo staff
23-Feb-2009
The following is the summary of the matches on the eighth day of the Ranji Trophy one-day tournament

Amit Mishra picked up a career-best 6 for 25 © Cricinfo Ltd
 

North Zone

Amit Mishra picked up career-best figures to bowl Haryana to a 125-run win over Jammu & Kashmir at the Jawaharlal Navoday Vidhyalay Stadium. Given a total of 302 to defend, Haryana's new-ball pair struck early but it was Mishra who laughed all the way home. He struck immediately to dismiss Ian Dev Singh (42) and then bowled Feroz Ahmed for a duck next ball. With the rest of the attack maintaining the pressure on J&K, Mishra snapped up four wickets down the order to finish with 6 for 25. Haryana had made first use of the track and piled up a large total that was rather top-heavy. The No's 3 and 4, Sunny Singh and Sumit Sharma, scored 82 and 84 respectively. Those were crucial knocks because the next best was 34 from Dhruv Singh. Samiullah Beigh, who had removed the openers for cheap and trapped Sharma lbw, took 4 for 57.
Another six-wicket hero was India Under-19 fast bowler Siddarth Kaul, whose success set up Punjab's victory over Himachal Pradesh in Dharamsala. Kaul was extremely difficult to face in the morning and quickly had the home side - who were already assured of a quarter-final berth - 16 for 4. Further blows left them 17 for 5, but Ajay Mannu's 72 and former India offspinner Sarandeep Singh's unbeaten 50 got the total to 205. That would prove a breeze for Punjab. Vishwas Bhalla, in his first game for Punjab ever, hit an unbeaten 108 from just 109 balls as the visitors eased home by eight wickets. He shared a 116-run stand for the second wicket with Uday Kaul (50) and collected 15 fours and two sixes.
Aakash Chopra, Delhi's captain, led from the front with a fine 95 to help defeat Services by six wickets in Una and book a berth in the quarterfinals. Chasing 232 to win, Delhi were given a winning hand from Chopra, who held up one end until he was dismissed short of a century. Along the way he was assisted by Virat Kohli (45) and Mithun Manhas (54). Earlier, Services scored 231 for 8 after winning the toss, riding on half-centuries by Yashpal Singh (57) and Tahir Khan (55). Yogesh Nagar was the pick of the bowlers for Delhi, claiming 3 for 55.
Delhi and HP, with four wins each, have qualified from North Zone for the last-eight stage of the competition.

East Zone

A pair of Das', batsman Rashmi and new-ball bowler Preetamjit, starred in Orissa's 29-run win over Assam in Eden Gardens. Rashmi's unbeaten 96 from No. 6 helped smooth over a top and middle order wobble and get the total to 245 for 7. Backing his team-mate's stellar effort, Preetamjit took four wickets to help bowl Assam out for 216 inside 48 overs. Having opted to bat, Orissa's line-up was checked by Assam's medium-pacers, especially Dhiraj Goswami. They were 66 for 4 before Natraj Behera (49) and Rashmi formed a small stand. After Behera's dismissal at 111, a 102-run stand followed between Rashmi and Rakesh Mohanty (37). Rashmi finished on 96 from 98 balls, with 12 fours and a six. Assam were not allowed to form sizeable stands up front, but contributions from Deepak Sharma (88), Sarupam Purkayastha (32) and Goswami (37) appeared to have them back on track. Then Preetamjit dismissed Sharma and Goswami and Assam collapsed.
Jharkhand picked up their second win of the tournament, defeating Tripura by three wickets with just four deliveries remaining in Kolkata. Their chase towards 237 had begun with a 118-run opening stand between the debutant Siddhartha Sinha (62) and Rameez Nemat (80), but Tripura struck blows to stem the momentum. Jharkhand lost Saurabh Tiwary first ball and slipped to 215 for 7 after 47 overs. It took some serious focus from No. 3 Ishank Jaggi, who remained not out on 46 from 50 balls.