Badani, Bahutule take Vidarbha to win
A round-up of the action from the third day of the second round of the Ranji Trophy Plate League 2011-12
ESPNcricinfo staff
12-Nov-2011
Hemang Badani's unbeaten 83 helped Vidarbha to a three-wicket win against Himachal Pradesh • ESPNcricinfo Ltd
Group A
Vidarbha completed a three-wicket win against Himachal Pradesh at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharmasala. Chasing 254, Vidarbha were in some trouble at 110 for 6, but veterans Hemang Badani and Sairaj Bahutule came good to carry them home. The pair put on 132 for the seventh wicket. Bahutule fell for 61 with victory in sight, but Badani stayed till the job was fully done, finishing unbeaten on 83. Himachal's pacers did all the damage, Mohinderraj Sharma being the pick, but it was just not enough to thwart Vidarbha. The win puts Vidarbha at the top of Group A, just above Himachal.
A 146-run stand between Venugopal Rao and Bodapati Sumanth put Andhra Pradesh in comfortable position against Tripura at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Vijayawada. The pair took Andhra from a wobbly overnight score of 47 for 3 to 161 before Sumanth was bowled for 62. Not long after Venugopal hit one back to the bowler, offspinner Udit Patel, on 96. A half-century stand between AG Pradeep and Syed Sahabuddin followed, to take the lead past 300. Andhra declared on 271 for 6, setting Tripura 333. The hosts' new-bowlers - Atchuti Rao, in particular - then put them firmly in charge, knocking over five top-order batsmen for single-digit scores, as Tripura slipped to 24 for 5 at stumps.
Services secured a slim first-innings lead against Kerala, at the Nehru Stadium in Kochi. Kerala began the day on 121 for 4, after Services had made 253 on Friday, and most of their batsmen got into double figures but could not push on. Sony Cheruvathur showed some late resistance and almost pushed his side past Services first-innings total, but was run out as they finished with 249 - five runs shy of taking the lead. However, Kerala ended the day with a chance to win outright, picking up five wickets in 37 overs to reduce Services to 89 for 5 by stumps.
Group B
Only 2.1 overs of play were possible in Guwahati between Assam and Goa, during which Goa went from 277 for 8 to 282 without losing a wicket.
No play was possible between Jammu & Kashmir and Jharkhand in Srinagar for the second day running, due to a wet outfield.