Suresh Kumar helps Kerala earn two points in a draw
Powered by Suresh Kumar's 61 Kerala recovered from a very shaky 102 for 7 to reach 252 gaining a vital first innings lead to earn two points
Cricinfo staff
27-Nov-2005
Powered by Suresh Kumar's 61 Kerala recovered from a very shaky 102 for 7 to reach 252, gaining a vital first-innings lead, to earn two points in a rain-affected game against Assam at Dibrugarh. Assam, dismissed for just 169 in their first innings, fought back valiantly on the final day through Anand Katti, the left-arm spinner, and K Das, the medium-pacer, as they rattled the Kerala top and middle order but were thwarted by defiant knocks from Kumar, Sunil Oasis and Tinu Yohannan. Kumar, a left-arm spinner, who has scored one hundred and five fifties in his first-class career, first added 58 with Oasis (32) before putting on a plucky 57-run stand with Tinu Yohannan (41) to take Kerala well past the Assam score.
A first innings lead of 126 allowed Madhya Pradesh to declare at 158 for 6 in their second after batting out 44 overs before Rajasthan, set a target of 285, played out a draw. Rajasthan led by Ajay Jadeja, the former India batsman, fought back on the last day pushing MP to 115 for 6 but Abbas Ali, the captain, hit a breezy 32 to put on a 43-run stand with Nikhil Patwardhan to prevent any further collapse. Ali then declared but had to be satisfied with two points as the Rajasthan batsmen, led by Rahul Kanwat's unbeaten 54, applied themselves to reach 112 at the end of the final day's play.
Goa resuming on 128 for 1, effectively only 15 runs ahead owing to the vital 102-run first-innings lead that Orissa gained, opted to bat out a draw on the final day at Margoa. Sandesh Dhuri, the wicketkeeper batsman, scored an unbeaten 107 and Nikhil Haldipur, resuming on 78, reached 110 to lift Goa to 319 at close. However, Orissa, by virtue of their first-innings lead, left Margoa with two points from this game.
Jharkhand knocked off the last two Jammu & Kashmir wickets quickly before hitting the required 84 to earn four points in their first round Plate encounter at Jammu. J&K, resuming on 155 for 8, lasted only 5.4 overs and were dismissed for a paltry 173 in their second innings.
The games below finished yesterday
Ashok Thakur starred for Himachal Pradesh, picking up three of the six wickets that fell today, as they held their nerve to clinch a 14-run win against Vidarbha to earn four points in a close encounter at Nagpur. Vidarbha, who started the day needing 121 runs to win, lost both the overnight batsmen quickly but fought hard through a valiant 47-run seventh-wicket partnership between Vikarant Gonnade (35) and Pritam Gandhe (25). Himachal then fought back to remove Gonnade and Harshal Shitoot, the next man in, and looked to have sewed up the game when Thakur, the left-hand medium-pacer, struck twice in an over to have Vidarbha reeling at 142 for 9. Gandhe fought on gamely, hanging around with the last man Pawan Yadav, as they inched close to Himachal before Vikramjeet Malik delivered the decisive blow removing Gandhe.
Saurashtra 194 (Jogiyani 64) and 32 for 2 beat Tripura 106 (Makvana 5-27) and 119 by 8 wickets
Scorecard
Scorecard
Despite crumbling from their overnight 182 for 5 to 194 all out, Saurashtra fought back to dismiss Tripura for 119 before hitting the required 32 runs to win by eight wickets at Agartala. Sandeep Jobanputra and Sandip Maniar tore into the Tripura toporder while Kamlesh Makvana took care of the tail as Tripura were shot out for a paltry score in their second innings. Earlier, Vineet Jain, the medium-pacer, and Sujit Roy, the offspinner, triggered a collapse as Saurashtra lost five wickets for just 12 runs but that was not enough to prevent Saurashtra picking up four points from this game.