Blog - Gujarat's last-wicket pair takes them over the line

After two rounds of action, the teams leading their respective Elite Groups are Baroda (A), Vidarbha and Gujarat (B, both on 12 points), Haryana (C) and Tamil Nadu (D).

Rain came in the way of much action between Karnataka v Kerala and ensured no cricket in the Bengal v Bihar fixture.

Tripura's victory over Meghalaya was the only innings win of the round.

Mumbai, Rajasthan, and Chandigarh posted comfortable victories.

Baroda, Vidarbha, and Uttarakhand carved out hard-fought wins.

Gujarat's one-wicket win over Andhra was the thriller of the round.

The remaining games were drawn encounters.

See you in a few days for Round 3 of the 2024/25 Ranji Trophy season. Click here for all Round 2 scorecards

Punjab's calculations were nearly perfect as they tried to bowl Madhya Pradesh out on the final day. The Punjab bowlers, led by Gurnoor Brar (3-60) had MP at eight down after tea, but grey skies came to the batting side's rescue.

The umpires enforced bad light, and that means MP will earn one point in this draw while Punjab will have to be content with just the three.

The veteran finally fell for 234 after posting his 66th first-class century and 17th double ton. Although no result was going to be possible, Chhatisgarh were desperate to bowl Saurashtra out for a score that was under their first-innings total of 578/7.

And Chhatisgarh nearly did that by reducing Saurashtra to 478/8 by Tea, however a rain delay came as a boon for the hosts with no more play likely to happen.

After posting 674/6 in the first innings, Tamil Nadu tried and tried and tried to dismantle Delhi, but fell two wickets short, and were left only with three points for the table instead of seven.

Thanks to Sanat Sangwan, who made 83 at the top, Delhi batted 83 overs to resist Tamil Nadu despite stuttering on more than one occasion.

Sangwan fell in the 77th over as the seventh man down, and Tamil Nadu searched for the final three wickets in the last six overs of the day, but only managed one.

Washington Sundar pipped Sai Sudharsan's double century to take the POTM award for his 152 and match-haul of six wickets.

Set 269 to win after Abdul Samad's twin centuries, Odisha came very close to losing the game outright despite claiming a two-run first-innings lead.

It was only because of Sandeep Pattnaik (55*) controlling proceeding from one end that Odisha could escape defeat, as they managed to keep two wickets in hand before stumps was called.

It was a slow grind from Odisha in the fourth innings, scoring at a run-rate of 1.38 in 81 overs, but they did what they had to. Their effort earns them three points while J&K will settle with one.

A target of 269 was always going to be imposing for Hyderabad, and Uttarakhand's calculations to give themselves around 70 overs to bowl their opponents out has worked out superbly.

Hyderabad's top order resisted for most of the day, steadily accumulating slow runs to try and eke out a draw, but a late rally from Swapnil Singh (6-59) left Hyderabad gasping and eventually Uttarakhand won by 78 runs!

That Baroda wanted to win outright was clear when they 134/1 in under 15 overs yesterday in the third innings. That blitz ensured Services would be forced to bat the whole day today in a bid to save the match, trying to chase an improbably day-four target of 341.

And Baroda's ploy worked out perfectly, with Mahesh Pithiya (6-102) leading the way. He bowled 33 overs, and kept getting the breakthroughs, and Services eventually tapped out late on day four, folding 65 runs short of the target.

Puducherry began their fourth innings this afternoon, needing to survive a little under two sessions to earn draw points in their game against Vidarbha.

But Harsh Dubey's four-wicket haul and two run-outs have seen Puducherry crash to 82 all out inside only 24 overs, thereby giving Vidarbha all six points in the game.

In what was supposed to be a comfortable chase of 144, Gujarat found themselves reeling at 70/6 this afternoon against Andhra, who had posted a commendable comeback performance with both bat and ball after being asked to follow on.

Soon enough, Gujarat were 131/9 as Lalith Mohan finished with a seven-wicket haul, however the final-wicket pair of Arzan Nagwaswalla (16 off 22 balls) and Priyajitsing Jadeja (0 off 10 balls) inched their way towards the target, eventually thwarting Andhra away for a stunning one-wicket win!

The Saurashtra veteran has struck his 18th first-class double hundred, the fourth-most among all first-class batters. Only Don Bradman (38), Wally Hammond (36) and Patsy Hendred (18) have more double tons than Cheteshwar Pujara.

His innings ensures there's some interest in an otherwise dead game between Saurashtra and Chhatisgarh where both teams have feasted on a surface where only 12 wickets has fallen in nearly 4 full days.

Every run is important, more so in the Ranji Trophy.

Railways started day 4 on 320/4, and were less than 100 runs away from taking the lead in pursuit of Jharkhand's first-innings score of 417.

Then, they crept to 410 for 6, only eight runs away.

However, Anukul Roy (4-115) and Manishi (2-105) produce a magnificent spell apiece to make Railways lose their last four wickets... for only four runs. And just like that, Jharkhand take a three-run first-innings lead, from out of nowhere. The teams decide to take the draw in the final session after Jharkhand move to 38/2 in 19 overs in the third innings.

Starting the day, the chances of getting an outright result was unlikely since only the second innings of the game was going on with Uttar Pradesh at 267/6 in pursuit of Haryana's 453.

UP had a stiff challenge with the lower order trying to overcome Haryana's score, and they succumbed, conceding an 89-run deficit after Jayant Yadav finished with a four-for.

Haryana then batted 25 overs to reach 72/3 before the two captains decided they'll shake hands. The result sees Haryana, courtesy their first-innings-lead points, stay atop Group C.

Some terrific bowling from Sagar Udeshi (5-50) and Ankit Sharma (4-48) sees Vidarbha collapse for only 128 in the third innings, giving Puducherry a back-door chance of winning this game.

Remember, Puducherry conceded a 74-run first-innings lead, but a 203-run target to chase is not shabby at all. The only question is: do they have the batting and the overs to do it? The start is not good, losing opener Ajay Rohera early, and they're 22/1 at this stage, needing a further 181 with a bit more than one session to go.

We could be in for a remarkable finish at Motera.

Despite a 154-run first-innings deficit - and then asked to follow on by Gujarat - Andhra posted 297 in the third innings to set Gujarat only 144 to win.

However, Lalith Mohan has claimed five wickets out of six to leave the hosts reeling at 70/6 in the afternoon.

The target now looks very far away for Gujarat, and Andhra could very well win despite being asked to follow on! Currently, Chintan Gaja and Jaymeet Patel, their last-recognised pair, are batting. #NailBiter

Wet, damp and sometimes unfit ground conditions in Kalyani have meant that Bengal v Bihar won't even have a toss, let alone some cricket.

Both teams will share one point.

No action on day three. No action on day four. Very little cricket in the first two days.

And the result is that both sides share one point. A shame that we couldn't see more of Sanju Samson, who remains unbeaten on 15.

Meghalaya started the day with 10 wickets in hand but Manisankar Murasingh's five-wicket haul has helped Tripura win easily, by an innings at 17 runs.

Meghalaya could muster only 222 and 138 in response to Tripura's 377/8. Murasingh is the POTM for his 60 runs with the bat and a match-haul of nine wickets. Great result for Tripura after their Round 1 game was abandoned without any cricket.

Yesterday, the last piece of action in the Assam v Chandigarh fixture in Guwahati saw the hosts lose their final wicket in the third innings for a team score of 185.

That had left Chandigarh with a straightforward chase of a 78 target, and they get there after losing one wicket courtesy a Manan Vohra half-century.

Raj Bawa's 146 that helped them post 374 in their first innings - in response to Assam's first-innings total of 266 - has earned him the POTM award. He also took four wickets.

Uttarakhand have given Hyderabad an opening for an outright win despite them conceding a first-innings lead. And that's because the Hyderabad bowling pair of Tanay Thyagarajan and Chama Milind have combined in the first session this morning to bowl Uttarakhand out.

Uttarakhand (overnight score 189/5) could add only 46 runs today, and Hyderabad now need 269 to win. Like Odisha in the previous post, the big question is what intent Hyderabad's batters come out with. Barring Tanmay Agarwal and, to an extent, their captain Rahul Singh, their batting is fairly inexperienced. Fascinating few hours ahead, I predict.

After conceding a two-run lead in Cuttack, visitors Jammu and Kashmir are chasing the game against Odisha, and they have made things interesting by declaring on 270/7.

The target is 269 for Odisha, and J&K will hope the 70-odd overs are enough to take ten wickets. Now the big question is whether Odisha dig in to survive and claim their first-innings lead points, or do they attempt to go for the chase in a bid to earn an outright win.

Abdul Samad, BTW, in J&K's innings made it a second century in the match for himself. He finished unbeaten on 108 in 108 balls in the third innings, a brilliant follow-up to his first-innings 117-ball 127.

With a first-innings lead of 70 and an overnight score of 265/3, Punjab were always going to hunt for quick runs and declare this morning, and they have done that. They lose wickets rapidly but also score quick runs with Mayank Markande dazzling with a 13-ball 27.

That means Punjab can afford to declare at 329/6 and Madhya Pradesh need an improbable 399 to win. Are five hours enough for Punjab to get ten wickets? They'll fancy their chances, more so with Arshdeep Singh striking in the third over.

An outright result is impossible in Rajkot where Saurashtra (225/3 at drinks) are batting in response to Chhatisgarh's 578/7, but there's still something to look forward to.

And that is Cheteshwar Pujara's batting. Starting on an overnight score of 75, he has gone on to notch up his 66th first-class hundred, which takes him past Brian Lara's first-class century tally (stat courtesy: Lalith Kalidas on X/Twitter). If you include his county stint, this is Pujara's sixth century in 16 FC games in the calendar year 2024.

PS. He has also gone past 21000 first-class runs and its the 25th Ranji ton of his career.

List: Most first-class tons (all-time, Most first-class runs (all-time)

It's all over at BKC. The Mumbai-Maharashtra derby has been won by Mumbai. This is their first win in this contest since 2007.

Took them less than an hour to get the 61 runs they needed today. Prithvi Shaw (39*) and Hardik Tamore (21*) see out the game. They earn six points on the basis of their nine-wicket win.

Maharashtra were always behind in the game after scoring 126 in the first innings. Miseries were compounded for Maharashtra when big centuries from POTM Ayush Mhatre and Shreyas Iyer gave Mumbai a 312-run lead.

Mumbai will now travel right across the country to play Tripura in Agartala. Maharashtra, still winless after a round-one draw, next host Meghalaya.

With Andhra following on against Gujarat after conceding a 154-run first-innings lead in Ahmedabad, the game is in a precarious position.

Andhra's third-innings response had been solid on day three, with openers Abhishek Reddy (81) and Maheek Kumar (55), but despite a strong score of 203/4 by stumps, their lead was only 49. Today, Andhra have lost a fifth wicket, and Gujarat will now be looking to wrap up the innings quickly enough so as to chase what they'd hope would be a small target.

Hanuma Vihari and Nitish Kumar Reddy are currently batting, and will try to stay out there till lunch atleast.

"Aannd Mumbai lose the bonus point," quips Vishal Dikshit from BKC. "17-year-old opener Ayush Mhatre is the wicket to fall after he miscues one off left-arm spinner Satyajeet Bachhav. Mumbai just 38 runs away from victory."

Mumbai needed to claim a 10-wicket win to achieve seven points. Now they'll be claiming six points after the formalities of their game against Maharashtra are completed.

At the Arun Jaitley stadium, Tamil Nadu are well ahead in the game and now need 10 wickets to claim an innings win.

Delhi, overnight score of 264/8, added only two more runs today before losing their ninth wicket. Their opening batter Dhruv Kaushik (retired hurt) did not bat at all, and therefore TN claimed a 408-run lead this morning.

TN then enforced the follow-on, and Daya Sagar from the ground says: "Washington Sundar picked the wicket of Pranshu Vijayran. Injured opening batter Dhruv Kaushik didn’t come to play. His right palm got injured on the first day while fielding. Yash Dhull finished not out on 105. He will open with Sanat Sangwan in the second innings as he didn’t go back to the pavilion."

Can Delhi survive three sessions of TN bowling and avoid an innings defeat?

Vishal Dikshit has made his way to the BKC ground and says, "Mumbai, with all ten wickets in hand, will be itching to chase down the remaining 61 runs without losing a wicket to grab seven points (with a bonus), after their opening round loss to Baroda.

If it's not a 10-wicket win then Mumbai will get six. Let's see how much the Maharashtra bowlers can trouble them on a pitch that's likely to have something for the bowlers."