Malik strikes to tilt it towards Himachal Pradesh
Vidharbha were left with a tricky 121 more to get with six wickets in hand as their clash against Himachal Pradesh was intriguingly placed
Cricinfo staff
25-Nov-2005
Vidharba 93 (Thakur 5-42) and 60 for 4 trail Himachal Pradesh 110 (Atram 4-38) by 121 runs
Scorecard
Scorecard
Eighteen wickets tumbled on the second day as bowlers continued to dominate at Nagpur. Vidharbha were left with a tricky 121 more to get with six wickets in hand as their clash against Himachal Pradesh was intriguingly placed. Set a target of 181, Vidharba began well, reaching 41
for no loss, before Vikramjeet Malik, the medium-pacer, got into the act. He struck twice in the 12th over and later picked up one more to push Vidharbha to 60 for 4 at close. Earlier, five wicket hauls by Malik and Ashok Thakur helped Himachal gain a crucial 70-run lead as Vidharbha were
shot out for a paltry 93. Chandrashekar Atram and Pritam Gandhe then returned the favour, sharing seven wickets between them, and bundling out Himachal for 110 in their second innings.
Only 162 runs were scored on the second day's play at Indore as Madhya Pradesh inched along, adding only 152 in 82.3 overs, to end their first innings at 393. Ajay Jadeja, the Rajasthan captain, shared the workload among all the bowlers, who responded well by choking MP. In reply,
Rajasthan lost AS Jain, the opener, cheaply and were at 10 for 1 when stumps were drawn.
Saurashtra, having the started the second day on 36 for no loss, plodded along at a tedious rate and gained a 76-run lead on an attritional day at Agartala. The Tripura bowlers kept the batsmen under check with Jayantha Debnath and Tushar Saha managing 25 maidens between them. Saurashtra reached 182 for 5 at close mainly owing to a patient 201-ball 64 from Sagar Jogiyani, the opener.
Pravaranjan Mullick and Niranjan Behera stitched together an unbroken 107-run partnership to help Orissa, who were wobbling at 113 for 4, to get within 15 runs of the Goa total at Margoa. Rashmi Ranjan Parida had earlier made a patient 52 off 159 balls, sharing a 77-run stand with
Paresh Patel, to lay the foundation.
A 93-run opening partnership between Ratan Kumar and Manish Vardhan propelled Jharkhand to a strong position against Jammu and Kashmir at the end of the second day's play at Jammu. Earlier, Jharkhand wrapped up the J&K tail quickly, as they picked up the last three wickets for just 10, before consolidating their position and reaching 226 at close.
Rain at Dibrugarh continued to affect the Plate game between Assam and Kerala as only 57 overs were bowled on the second day. Vasanth Saravanan's unbeaten 62 lifted Assam from a precarious 29 for 3 to 101 for 4 at close. Tinu Yohannan, the former Indian fast bowler, chipped in with two wickets as Kerala fought back.