Mithun gets fifer on debut, Dhawan hits double ton
Here's the round-up of day-2 of the Ranji super league...
Group B
Uttar Pradesh 214/8 (Amir Khan 50*, A mithun 5-63) trail Karnataka 405 (Pandey 194, Dravid 97, S Srivastava 4-76, B Kumar 4-109) by 191 runs
After putting up a decent score of 405 in the first innings, Karnataka had UP in trouble, as they reduced them to 214/8 at stumps on day-2. Debutant medium pacer Abhimanyu Mithun kicked-off his first-class career with a brilliant five wicket haul. Amir Khan was the only batsman to contribute significantly with his unbeaten fifty, while captain Mohammad Kaif was dismissed for a duck.
Earlier, Manish Pandey missed out on his first double hundred as he was dismissed by Shalabh Srivastava without adding to his overnight score of 194. Srivastava and Bhubaneshwar Kumar finished the Karnataka innings off by taking four wickets each.
Baroda 21/0, trail Delhi 591 (Dhawan 224, Y Pathan 3-148) by 570
Building on his mature century on the first day, Shikhar Dhawan went on to register his maiden first-class double ton. He led Delhi batting forward with crucial partnerships with Chabra, Bhatia and Tehlan- who all brought up their respective half-centuries. Delhi’s 591 in the first innings was a complete team effort, where all the batsmen revolved around Dhawan to take the team forward.
Yusuf Pathan was the pick of Baroda bowlers, with 3 wickets. Overhauling Delhi’s massive total would be a challenging task for Baroda.
Maharashtra 179 (R Bose 5-67) and 46/0 trail Bengal 325 (Jhunjhunwala 95, Tiwary 88, S Fallah 4-102) by 100 runs
Abhishek Jhunjhunwala shone with the bat in his first first-class match after returning from the ICL with a well-made 95 and along with Manoj Tiwary (88), took Bengal to a decent first innings total of 325 and a first innings lead over Maharashtra.
The Maharashtra bowlers picked wickets at regular intervals and kept the lead from stretching too far. Pacer Samad Fallah dismissed four Bengal batsmen.
At the end of day-2, Maharashtra were 46 without loss, trailing Bengal by 100 runs in the second innings.
Group A
Mumbai 244 for 7 (Kukreja 90, Nayar 53, Ablish 4-53) trail Punjab 259 (Zaheer 4-60) by 15 runs
Punjab is not giving it easily to the defending champions. After being restricted for 259 in the first innings by Zaheer Khan and company, the home team came back strongly to put up a fight with the ball. The fight was led by Love Ablish, who accounted for the top four Mumbai batsmen. After dismissing Wasim Jaffer, Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma with just 65 runs on the board, Ablish came back to get Sahil Kukreja, who was threatening to take the his team to an easy first innings lead. Kukreja fell 10 runs short of yet another first-class hundred, while Abhishek Nayar departed for 53.
After the second day, the match is nice poised with Mumbai 15 runs short of Punjab’s first innings total with three men standing.
Tamil Nadu 150 for 2 (Vijay 65*) trail Railways 327 (Bangar 163*, Mukund 3-5) by 177 runs
The Railways collapsed from 242/4 to 327 all out on the second day, owing to a freaky surprise from Abhinav Mukund. After failing with the bat, the Tamil Nadu opening batsman scalped 3 wickets for 5 runs and brought his team right back in the game.
The Mukund madness left Railways skipper Sanjay Bangar stranded on 163. In their first innings, Tamil Nadu were 150/2 after the second day’s play, with M Vijay batting patiently at 65. Mukund will be on a hattrick in the second innings.
Gujarat 270 and 4/0 lead Orissa 192 (Behera 78) by 82 runs
Gujarat bowlers ripped through the Orisssa batting line-up and folded it at 192, thus gaining an all important first innings lead of 78 runs. Niranjan Behara, with his knock of 78, was the only Orissa batsman to show some resistance against the Gujarat fast bowlers.
