Report

Irfan takes six; Mumbai, Gujarat eye lead

A round-up of the Ranji Trophy Group B matches on November 8, 2015

Baroda 82 for 3 trail Gujarat 505 (Panchal 128, Axar 81, Kalaria 68, Bhatt 61, S Patel 57, Juneja 55, Irfan 6-47) by 423 runs
Scorecard
Irfan Pathan produced a standout performance - 6 for 47 at an economy rate of 1.85 - but his efforts were hardly enough to stop a resolute Gujarat from gaining the upper hand. With a total of 505, the least they should be hoping for is a first-innings lead and the most, an outright victory. Ousting Irfan's efforts was the result of a string of half-centuries down the order from Manprit Juneja (55 off 83), Rush Kalaria (68 off 107), Rujul Bhatt (61 off 161) and Axar Patel (81 off 90, with seven fours and three sixes).
Irfan, who was playing his first Ranji game of the season, was one of four bowlers who had to toil for at least 25 overs. The other comeback man Munaf Patel was also stingy, bowling 23 overs and giving away only 52 runs. But the frontliners' discipline could not be emulated by the likes of Hardik Pandya, who went for 102 in his 27 overs and Yusuf Pathan, who bore an economy rate of 4.03 after 31 overs.
Baroda would feel further aggrieved because on a pitch where they let Gujarat's bottom six tally 213 runs, their own top order slumped to 76 for 3. They ended the day with six more runs to that tally with captain Ambati Rayudu and Deepak Hooda at the crease.
Uttar Pradesh 51 for 0 trail Mumbai 610 for 9 dec (Shreyas 137, Rohit 113, Lad 89, Suryakumar 58, Thakur 56) by 559
Scorecard.
Uttar Pradesh were left staring at a daunting first-innings deficit as nearly every Mumbai batsmen made a big score, including No. 9 Shardul Thakur, who carved 56 off only 62 balls. Yet he was only the fifth-highest scorer after Shreyas Iyer and Rohit Sharma's first-day tons, Siddhesh Lad's 89 and former captain Suryakumar Yadav's 58.
UP's bowlers were forced to put their stamina on the line again in Wankhede stadium and their pride was hurt a little bit as well. India bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled 23 overs for two wickets and conceded an economy rate of 4.3. Piyush Chawla racked up 33 overs and gave away four runs each while his spin partner Kuldeep Yadav was hammered for 165 runs in only 31 overs. Praveen Kumar was the only one who could keep the runs contained during a spell of 30-13-69-1.
Still Mumbai got more than enough with their 610 for 9 declared and UP will have to bat and bat and bat to entertain thoughts of a lead or avoid an outright defeat. They have begun well with openers Tanmay Shrivastava on 30 and Himanshu Asnora on 21.
Railways 256 and 42 for 1 lead Madhya Pradesh 276 (Patidar 113, Rameez 53, Karn 5-102) by 22 runs
Scorecard
Rajat Patidar struck his second century in as many matches as Madhya Pradesh clinched a first-innings lead of 20 runs in Gwalior. He walloped 113 off 131 balls, with 18 fours which dovetailed well enough with captain Devendra Bundela's 47 and Rameez Khan's 53 to resist Railways' threat just long enough. For the visitors, legspinner Karn Sharma took 5 for 102.
MP began the day at a precarious 7 for 2, trailing by 249 runs. But Patidar took charge and had a very dogged Naman Ojha (31 off 151 balls) for company at the other end. The two men put on 136 runs off 224 balls. They were the only ones to move into double-figures among the top five. The tail had similar trouble as Railways managed to keep themselves in the hunt and bowled MP out for 276.
Railways would, however, have preferred to finish the day without contributing any of their own batsmen to the wickets tally - which stands at nine after yesterday's 12 - but Ashish Singh was bowled in the third over of their second innings. They finished at 42 for 1 after 16 overs, ahead by 22 runs.
Tamil Nadu 0 for 0 trail Andhra 203 by 203 runs
Scorecard
The entire day's play between Tamil Nadu and Andhra in Chennai was washed out. Forecast for the remaining two days of the fixture are not entirely hopeful either.