Report

Railways clinch first victory; Dhumal's five takes Mumbai past UP

A round-up of the action from day 4 of Ranji Trophy's Group A matches

Deepak Hooda missed out on his fourth hundred of the season by two runs during Baroda's loss against Railways  •  PTI

Deepak Hooda missed out on his fourth hundred of the season by two runs during Baroda's loss against Railways  •  PTI

Railways won their first match of the season by seven wickets, as they reached the 113-run target set by Baroda early on the final day in Nagpur.
Railways started the day on 90 for 2 and added the required 23 runs in just 20 balls, with the loss of a wicket. Opener Shivakant Shukla was unbeaten on 56, his 16th first-class fifty, as Railways collected six points and leapfrogged out of last place, where Baroda replaced them.
Debutant Aditya Dhumal picked up five wickets as Mumbai beat Uttar Pradesh by 121 runs in Mysore to remain on top of Group A.
UP started the day on 43 for 1, needing 232 more to win. Overnight batsmen Shivam Chaudhary (50) and Samarth Singh (42) added a further 42 to their second-wicket partnership, taking it to 81, before Dhumal dismissed both of them with his left-arm spin, to reduce UP from 87 for 1 to 105 for 3. Dhumal then combined with Vishal Dabholkar (4-43), Mumbai's other left-arm spinner, and the pair struck regularly as they shared the last nine wickets between them to bowl UP out for 173. Dhumal's 5 for 53 gave seven wickets on his first-class debut.
Suryakumar Yadav was declared Player of the Match for his knocks of 99 and 90 in the match.
K Vignesh was named Man of the Match for Tamil Nadu as they took three points from their draw against Bengal in Rajkot.
Vignesh followed up his 4 for 70 in the first innings with an unbeaten 34 at No.10, that led the 44-run stand for the last wicket with T Natarajan (12) which had taken TN past Bengal's 337. The stand ended early on the final day, as Natarajan fell to medium-pacer Sayan Ghosh (5-123), who completed his first five-wicket haul.
Shreevats Goswami (61) and Aamir Gani (45) put on 87 for the sixth wicket, after TN entertained the hopes of an outright victory when they reduced Bengal to 66 for 5 in the 31st over. The partnership played out a valuable 23.3 overs before Gani was dimissed, and Goswami's seventh-wicket stand with Ashok Dinda (28) frustrated TN for a further 13.4 overs, as Bengal managed to hold on and force a draw.
Harpreet Singh's second century of the season helped Madhya Pradesh survive an early scare in their chase, and draw their game against Gujarat in Nagathone. Gujarat picked up three points from the game.
Hapreet Singh came in at 36 for 4 in the 17th over, after MP were set 375 to chase in 57 overs. Rush Kalaria was the wrecker-in-chief, adding three wickets to go with his four-for in the first innings. But Harpreet joined hands with Naman Ojha (52) and was the dominant one in their partnership of 113, that could only be broken in the 52nd over. Ojha's 52 took 135 deliveries, in contrast to Harpreet's unbeaten 103 that came off 129 and featured 17 fours and a six. MP lost no further wickets and play ended when they were on 176 for 5.
Earlier, Gujarat added 96 runs in 22 overs to their overnight score of 228 for 2, as they pushed for a declaration. Both overnight batsmen brought up centuries, although Samit Gohel (104) fell in the third over of the day, while Parthiv Patel (139*) remained unbeaten.