Rawat builds Assam's advantage
A summary of matches on the first day of the latest round in the Ranji Trophy.
Cricinfo staff
03-Dec-2005
Assam trailed Madhya Pradesh by just 37 runs, and were well set at 178 for 1 after an opening stand of 143 between Parvez Aziz and Chandan Rawat on the second day's play at Indore. Assam had bowled out MP for 215 in the morning session with Anand Katti's left-arm spin accounting for four economical wickets. At stumps, Rawat, the 18-year old prospect, was five runs away from his maiden first-class hundred, in only his fourth match, and his innings went a long way in setting up Assam's healthy position.
Kerala prized out three early wickets to leave Jammu & Kashmir at 151 for 3 after the second day's play at Jammu, still 96 runs behind its first-innings score of 247. Arshad Bhatt, J&K's wicketkeeper, scored a fine 65 before becoming the last man out on the second day's play. Earlier, Sadagoppan Ramesh top-scored with an unbeaten 64, but Kerala failed to add much to their overnight score of 216 for 6 with Sameer Khajuria, the offspinner, running through the tail to pick up his best bowling figures in first-class cricket.
Three Goan wickets before the close of play at Nagpur left the match interesting poised, after Vidarbha took a 96-run lead in the afternoon session. However, Vidarbha's total of 246 could have been larger if not for Amit Dani, the medium pacer, and Shadab Jakati, the left-arm spinner, pegging them back with seven wickets between them. It was a crucial spell from the two Goan bowlers, who were successful in pulling their side back into the match when it mattered most.
Jharkhand faced an uphill battle at Jaipur after Gagan Khoda and Ajay Jadeja posted fabulous, taking Rajasthan to a mammoth 587. Khoda could only add eight runs to his overnight 138, and Jharkhand had done well to cause a mini-collapse in the middle order, but Jadeja had other ideas, scoring his maiden hundred for his new team. Mihir Diwakar was the most successful bowler for Jharkhand but his 5 for 142 was the only silver lining in their otherwise sorry performance.