Ranji round-up

Jammu & Kashmir batsman Kavaljit Singh notched up a double century against Services in their Ranji Trophy league match at Delhi. Services, in reply to their rivals' first-innings total of 350, scored 287, led largely by fifties from Jasvir Singh, Arun Sharma, and CD Thomson; Jammu bowler Jagtar Singh picked five wickets. The close of play on Day Three saw Jammu & Kashmir at a score of 133/4.

At Rohtak, Himachal Pradesh bowler Shakti Singh scalped five batsmen in dismissing Haryana fpr 264, giving his side a lead of 74 runs. Ajay Ratra, fresh from his match against the visiting English side at Jaipur, top-scored for Haryana with an unbeaten 72. In their second innings, Himachal Pradesh were 108/2 at stumps on Day Three.

At Amritsar, Punjab made a strong reply to Delhi's first-innings total of 499. After Mithun Manhas (193) and Pradeep Chawla (142) had slaughtered the bowling, Punjab's batsmen looked like they would follow suit when opener Manish Sharma fell for 1. The next three batsmen, however, scored centuries - Ravneet Ricky made 100, Yuvraj Singh 102, and Dinesh Mongia 102. Punjab were 385/7 at stumps on Day Three. For Delhi, Amit Bhandari picked five wickets.

Inspired perhaps by one of their ilk breaking into the national squad for the first time, Kerala's bowlers ripped through a strong Hyderabad batting line-up, dismissing them for only 117 on Day One of their Ranji Trophy league match at Cochin.

With Suresh Kumar and Rejith Kumar picking up four wickets each, only Daniel Manohar could make a significant score - 35. Kerala, in their reply, were 80/3 at the close of play.

In the other South Zone match, Karnataka batsman Barrington Rowland waged a lone battle against Tamil Nadu, striking 113 off 221 balls. His fellow batsmen, however, could not display similar application, and Karnataka could only notch up 215 in their first innings. Tamil Nadu, in reply, were 39/1 at stumps on Day One.

Skipper Rajiv Kumar and Saurav Shukla both notched up centuries, propelling Bihar to a total of 412 in their Ranji Trophy league match against Tripura at Agartala.

Kumar (113) and Shukla (120) shared a huge partnership for the fifth wicket in reply to Tripura's first-innings total of 394, ensuring that Bihar would not lose the match and, in all probability, would pick up five points from the likely-to-be-drawn tie.

Tripura were 50/3 at the close of Day Three, and Bihar could very well notch up a win if they can bowl their rivals out and then make the remaining runs for victory.

In the other East Zone match, Bengal's batsmen notched up a fifty-run first-innings lead over Assam at Kolkata. Sukhvinder Singh, for the visitors, picked six wickets, hastening the end of the innings. For the home side, skipper Rohan Gavaskar top-scored with 86. After making 299, Bengal had Assam at 147/6 at stumps on Day Three.

putting on a mammoth first-innings total of 553, Mumbai bowlers then wreaked havoc with Baroda's batting line-up, winning their Ranji Trophy league match at Vadodara by an innings 141 runs.

After Ramesh Powar disheartened the Baroda bowlers by scoring 110 off 134 balls coming in at number nine, Paras Mhambrey (3-27), Nilesh Kulkarni (4-15) and Avishkar Salvi (3-41) then dismissed Baroda for just 89. Nayan Mongia was the only resistance, scoring 17 off 100 balls. When they followed on, Baroda could only muster up 323, handing their rivals a comprehensive triumph.

At Rajkot, Gujarat opted not to take advantage of a sporting Saurashtra declaration, playing for a draw and picking up three points from their match. Saurashtra, declaring their second innings closed at 157/7, set an eminently achievable victory target of 270 off 50 overs. Gujarat reached 138/2 by the close of play on the last day.