Report

Thriller in store at Silchar

A round-up of the third day's play of the third-round matches of the Ranji Trophy Plate League, 2007-08

Cricinfo staff
25-Nov-2007
Kerala 200 for 6 (Prasath 80*, Prem 53) and 85 require 66 more runs to beat Assam 198 and 152
Scorecard
A sixth-wicket stand of 136, easily the biggest of the match, set the Silchar match between Assam and Kerala up for a thrilling finish as Kerala needed 66 more to finish a turnaround after they were dismissed for 85 in the first innings. They had four wickets in hand at the end of the third day.
Starting the day with 255 needed, Kerala were going down the first-innings path when they were reduced to 64 for 5. That's when P Prasanth came out to join PR Prem. The duo dug in deep, batted cautiously, and kept their wickets in tact. Prasnath ended the day on an unbeaten 80, but Assam managed a wicket off what turned out to be the last ball of the day. S Suresh, who has already scored 102 runs in this low-scorer, struck for the sixth time in the match to dismiss Prem for 53.
Jammu & Kashmir 133 and 85 for 4 (Bhatt 43, SS Rao 2-15) require 291 more runs to beat Jharkhand 105 and 403 (Tiwary 169, Ali 3-57)
Scorecard
Saurav Tiwary single-handedly carried Jharkhand to a massive second-innings total and the bowlers took four Jammu & Kashmir wickets to make Jharkhand the favourites for an outright win. At stumps on day three J&K, at 85 for 4, needed another 291 to win the match, after they had secured a 28-run first-innings lead.
Jharkhand resumed the day at 277 for 7 and were 310 for 9 when the Tiwary special struck J&K. The 17-year-old Tiwary, who resumed the day at 64, took charge with the No. 11 Sandip Roy at the other end. In a 93-run stand, Roy contributed only 4 as Tiwary was the last man out for 169, his first first-class century in his fifth match.
Shankar Rao gave Jharkhand a great start as he reduced J&K to 10 for 2. Arshad Bhatt revived J&K somewhat, but fell seven overs before stumps.
Railways 385 for 9 dec. (Rawat 55) beat Haryana 193 and 106 (Parida 4-26, Sanyal 3-4) by an innings and 86 runs
Scorecard
Haryana submitted abjectly in Rohtak as they lost eight second-innings wickets for 20 to lose by an innings and 86 runs. Sanjay Bangar struck with the first two wickets, Sanjib Sanyal ran through the middle order, and Kulamani Parida wiped off the tail. The scores of the last eight in the Haryana scorecard read 9, 0, 0, 5, 9, 0, 0*, 0.
Earlier Mahesh Rawat, who has moved to Railways from Haryana, scored a half-century to take Railways to a big first-innings lead.
Madhya Pradesh 475 and 186 for 4 (Ojha 93, Jalaj Saxena 58) lead Goa 293 (Asnodkar 73, Ratra 62, Pandey 6-46) by 368 runs
Scorecard
Sanjay Pandey, Madhya Pradesh's right-arm opening bowler, took six wickets to dismiss Goa for 293 - a lead of 182 runs - before the MP batsmen made merry for the second time in the match. The saving grace for Goa was that they just avoided the follow-on, through an 84-run ninth-wicket stand between Ajay Ratra, former India wicketkeeper, and Robin D'souza. MP finished the day 368 runs ahead with six wickets in hand.
Resuming the day at 145 for 3, Goa found themselves struggling to avoid the follow-on at 209 for 8. But Ratra and D'souza batted for 25.2 overs before they both fell at the same score.
Naman Ojha, the MP opener, scored his second half-century of the match, missing a century by just seven runs. It took Ojha 97 deliveries to score his runs, while at the other end Jalaj Saxena was more subdued as the two put on 146 runs in 30.4 overs for the first wicket. Jalaj was dismissed off what turned out to be the last ball of the day for 53.
Gujarat 437 beat Services 97 (Parmar 6-44) and 147 (Jasvir Singh 52, Parmar 5-22, Makda 4-42) by an innings and 193 runs
Scorecard
Gujarat took 14 Services wickets on day three to humiliate them by an innings and 193 runs. Mohnish Parmar, the offspinner playing his third first-class match, ended up with match figures of 11 for 66, which took his tally of wickets up to 21.
Services, who started the day at 40 for 6 in their first innings, put up some fight, with captain Yashpal Singh scoring 44, but that was never going to be enough to avert a follow-on. Their second innings started in equally hopeless fashion, but Jasvir Singh and Devendra Israni rescued the innings from 13 for 2. However, they soon collapsed from 130 for 4 to 147 all out, with the scores of the last six batsmen reading 6, 0, 1, 0, 4, 6*.
Vidarbha 315 and 150 for 6 (Shitoot 50, Shetty 3-23) lead Tripura 201 (Rajib Saha 58, Dutta 47*) by 264 runs
Scorecard
Vidarbha bowled Tripura out for 201 to secure a 114-run first-innings lead and scored 150 for 6 by stumps to ensure they can go for the kill on the final day. Tripura, resuming the day at 80 for 5, reached the score they did thanks to 58 by Rajib Saha and an unbeaten 47 down the order by wicketkeeper Rajib Dutta. Madhusudan Acharya and Sandeep Singh ended with three wickets apiece.
Harshal Shitoot and first-innings centurion Faiz Fazal started aggressively for Vidarbha as they put on 58 runs in the first 10 overs. Shitoot was run out for 50 while Fazal managed 23, and the scoring-rate came down considerably after their dismissals.