Ranji round 5, day 4: Shahbaz, Shami star as Bengal clinch thriller

The first part of the Ranji season is over. We now take a break to head into the white-ball leg beginning with the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on November 23. The timing of it is unlikely to have much of a bearing on the IPL auction, however, because that is slated to be held in Jeddah on November 24-25.

The Ranji Trophy will resume on 23rd January for the sixth and seventh round before the knockouts. Look forward to your continued company on ESPNcricinfo as we head into the domestic season as well as the epic Border-Gavaskar Trophy beginning next Friday in Perth.

Top three run-getters (Elite):

1. Tanmay Agarwal (Hyderabad - 615 runs in 9 innings at 68.33)
2. Shubham Sharma (Madhya Pradesh - 605 runs in 8 innings at 100.83)
3. Aayush Pandey (Chandigarh - 564 runs in 8 innings at 80.57)

Top three wicket-takers (Elite):

1. Harsh Dubey (Vidarbha - 37 wickets in 10 innings) 2. Auqib Nabi (Jammu & Kashmir - 32 wickets in 9 innings) 3. Nishunk Birla (Chandigarh - 32 wickets in 9 innings)

Click here for the detailed stats page of the 2024-25 Ranji season

They bowled Uttar Pradesh out for 89, secured a lead of close to 200 and then saw it all slip away from them. From tantalising the thoughts of seven points, they're now forced to settle for three.

Uttar Pradesh batted for 138 overs in the second innings and when they were bowled out, Karnataka had a steep, but not impossible, chase of 261 in 64 overs.

At no point did they look like going for it. Not even when the openers raised a half-century opening stand. At one point after tea, when they lost Shreyas Gopal and were five down, it seemed as if UP could pull off a thrilling win. But Manish Pandey and Abhinav Manohar allayed those nerves to steer them to a draw.

And with that we come to the end of this round.

We've had a bunch of dull draws.

Delhi take first-innings honours over Jharkhand courtesy new captain, Ayush badoni's century.

Shaikh Rashid's double-ton helps Andhra pick up three first-innings points over Hyderabad.

Mahipal Lomror's triple-century helps Rajasthan take first-innings honours against Uttarakhand

Nagaland take three points against Mizoram in a high-scoring draw.

Shahbaz Ahmed has made his presence felt when his team needed him to step up with the ball. When a 94-run stand between Venkatesh Iyer and Shubham Sharma threatened to take the game away from Bengal, he dismissed the Madhya Pradesh captain.

That opening is what the rest of the attack, hunting like a pack, built on to keep knocking on the door. When Aryan Pandey fell, they needed 14 runs to win with one wicket standing. Mohammed Shami then cleaned up Kumar Kartikeya to seal victory.

Shahbaz finishes with 4 for 48, while Shami takes three in the second innings to finish the match with seven wickets. More importantly, he bowled 43.3 overs in the game.

A partnership was brewing for the 8th wicket, but Shahbaz Ahmed has his second wicket and it's the big one of Saransh Jain for 32. Madhya Pradesh need 20. Bengal two wickets away. Aryan Pandey is batting on 22. MP's hopes are pinned on him.

Both set batters, Venky Iyer and Shubham Sharma, have been dismissed soon after lunch. The 94-run stand was broken by Shahbaz Ahmed when he had Shubham lbw. Rohit Kumar then made it a double-strike with the wicket of Iyer for 53.

As things stand, MP need 43 runs, Bengal three wickets.

Get the feeling allrounder Saransh Jain stands in the way of Bengal and their first win this season.

There's still a session-and-a-half to go, but there's little doubt the Haryana-Kerala fixture in Lahli is headed to a tame draw.

After Anshul Kamboj's 10-for lit up a leaden Friday morning for Haryana, they were bowled out for 164 to concede a massive first-innings lead. With time lost to the weather, Kerala are not going to have time to force a result.

Kerala's pace duo of MD Nidheesh and Basil Thampi did the bulk of damage in Haryana's first innings, picking three wickets apiece.

Despite conceding the lead, Haryana will remain on top of Group C, with Kerala (assuming they'll get three points only here) trailing them by just one point at the second spot.

A 94-run stand for the sixth-wicket between Venkatesh Iyer and Shubham Sharma has brought Madhya Pradesh within 80 runs of victory against Bengal. Madhya Pradesh lost overnight batters Rajat Patidar and Harpreet Bhatia inside the first half hour of play. At 161/5, the 338-run target looked fairly steep. Not so anymore.

Shami has so far bowled 18 overs for his 2 for 74 in the second innings. Remember he picked up four wickets in the first innings. National selector Ajay Ratra and NCA medical chief Nitin Patel have been watching his every move at the Holkar Stadium.

He has bowled 37.1 overs across both innings so far. Can he come back for one more inspired spell to deliver a victory for Bengal?

Hundreds by Madhav Kaushik and Aryan Juyal underpinned Uttar Pradesh's superb second-innings rearguard, after they were bowled out for 89 in the first innings. Resuming on 325 for 5, Uttar Pradesh went after quick runs and were eventually bowled out for 446.

Shreyas Gopal, the legspinner, toiled away to bowl 35 overs for his figures of 5 for 122.

Karnataka have the first-innings honours, but do they have the batting ight to chase down this score in quick time? One thing's for sure: UP have opened up the possibility of all three results.

They came into their fifth-round fixture against Saurashtra on the back of three consecutive wins, but have crumbled against the former champions at home.

After being run ragged on the field, with Saurashtra posting 531/9 declared in 138 overs, Chandigarh have been bowled out twice in 110.1 overs combined to lose by an innings. Jaydev Unadkat and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja finisdhed with match haul of six wickets apiece (three in each innings) to fuel Saurashtra's first win which keeps their slim playoff chances alive.

Saurashtra are currently fourth in Group D, while Chandigarh continue to remain on top of the standings despite the loss. However, TN are breathing down their neck and are separated by just a slightly inferior quotient.

At Palam in smoggy New Delhi, Mumbai have taken giant strides towards the knockouts by securing their third win in five games, which takes them to within one point of being in the top-two, which is currently occupied by Baroda and Jammu & Kashmir.

Mumbai could've leapfrogged J&K had they secured a bonus-point win, but they lost the wicket of Ayush Mhatre, the centurion from the first innings, in their chase of 135. Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Siddesh Lad put together an unbroken century stand to seal the victory.

Railways began on 169 for 5, trailing Tamil Nadu by 40 runs, but left-arm spinner S Ajith Ram and medium pacer Sonu Yadav had other ideas. Ajith Ram ends with four wickets in each innings as Tamil Nadu have their second win in five games. It takes them to second in Group D.