Joginder and Rana help Haryana pull off thriller
A summary of matches on the fourth day of the latest round in the Ranji Trophy
Cricinfo staff
26-Nov-2005
Five-wicket hauls from Haryana's Joginder Sharma and Sachin Rana consigned Uttar Pradesh to a disastrous 20-run defeat on day four at Kanpur. Set 145 to get after dismissing Haryana for 177 in the morning session, UP never got off the blocks as Joginder (5 for 47) and Rana (5 for 34) combined to deflate a batting line-up that had posted 310 in its first innings. Earlier, Haryana had stretched its overnight score of 135 for 9 to 177 thanks to a valuable 50-run partnership between Pardeep Sahu and Jitendra Malik. Joginder continued on his impressive 67 and 4 for 99 in the first innings with key strikes up the order, after which UP could not stage a fightback.
Despite a superb 7 for 93 from Saurashish Lahiri, the offspinner, Maharashtra successfully averted defeat by batting out a large share of the final day's play at Pune and setting Bengal an improbable 222 from a possible 39 overs post-lunch. Hrishikesh Kanitkar's 147-ball 48 and useful contributions from Dhruv Mohan and Sairaj Bahutule were enough to confront Lahiri's offbreaks and take Maharashtra to 249. In the end, Bengal's only option was to bat out what was left of the day, and a 76-run opening stand between Subhomoy Das and Arindam Das in 30.2 overs summed up Bengal's resolve.
Chances of a result in the Andhra-Baroda clash at Anantapur were seriously hampered by rain on the first two days, and after dismissing Andhra for 204 in the morning session on the final day, Baroda batted out the remainder of the sessions to end on 166 for 4. Ambati Rayadu's dour 87 apart, none of the other Andhra batsmen could come to terms with testing spells from Zaheer Khan and Rajesh Pawar, the left-arm spinner, as both finished with four-wicket hauls. Jacob Martin, the Baroda captain, ended the day unbeaten on 56, and Kiran Powar clubbed three sixes en route to an entertaining 42 that offered some excitement in an otherwise drab encounter.
Mumbai 551 and 166 for 3 (Khanvilkar 71, Indulkar 55) drew with Delhi 331 (Manhas 87, Powar 6-83)
Scorecard
Scorecard
Half-centuries from Mumbai's young duo of Omkar Khanvilkar and Vinit Indulkar ensured their team gained two points from a drawn encounter against Delhi at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Having gaining a 220-run lead, Mumbai didn't have the time to force an outright result and settled on batting practice instead. Khanvilkar, playing just his third first-class game, produced a stroke-filled 71 while Indulkar was the more patient of the two with a 124-ball 55. Earlier, Ramesh Powar, the offspinner, snapped up two more wickets and ended with an impressive six-wicket haul.
Railways 323 and 193 for 2 (Pagnis 76, Bangar 61) drew with Karnataka 336 and 31 for 1
Scorecard
Scorecard
Railways' top order made amends for their first-innings blemishes but Karnataka had done enough to ensure a draw at the Karnail Singh Stadium. Amit Pagnis and Sanjay Bangar, the Railways' captain, added 127 for the first wicket as both grafted runs on an attritional day. Bangar's painstaking 61 was compiled in 230 balls as the game petered out to its inevitable conclusion. Railways finally decided to declare towards the closing stages, as Karnataka were forced to bat out ten overs before walking away with two points, on the basis of their first-innings advantage.
Tamil Nadu walked away with two points in their rain-affected game against Gujarat at Tirunelveli. Tamil Nadu were bolstered by contributions from different batsmen with Subramanium Badrinath top-scoring with a patient 57. Tamil Nadu were in a precarious position at 130 for 6, with Siddharth Trivedi, the medium-pacer engineering a fightback, with 29 runs still needed to match Gujarat's score. But Badrinath received support from the lower order, with Sridharan Sharath and Ramadoss Naresh chipping in with 30s, and they comfortably eased past the target.
This game finished yesterday
Punjab 223 and 216 for 4 (Dharmani 89*) beat Services 147 and 291 (Mohanty 61) by 6 wickets
Scorecard
Scorecard
Pankaj Dharmani steered Punjab to a tricky target of 216 as they posted a comfortable six-wicket win over newly-promoted Services at Mohali. Services, having started the day at 228 for 8, stretched their score to 291, thanks to AK Mohanty and Arun Sharma. But that proved futile as Ravneet Ricky and later Dharmani, the captain, chased down the total to earn four points for Punjab.