Tamil Nadu, Karnataka tighten grip on top-spot
Round-four of the Ranji Trophy Super League witnessed some thrilling cricketing action. While Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh bagged outright victories, Railways and Hyderabad held their nerve to salvage draws from the jaws of defeat. Here’s a brief account of the action-packed day-four…
Group A
Punjab 444 (T Kohli 118, Yadav 6-123) beat Gujarat 160 (Ablish 6-79) and 252 (Bhatt 95, Gony 4-105) by an innings and 32 runs
With Gujarat tottering at 227 for 7 at stumps on day-three, it was only a matter of time when Punjab crushed them to a huge defeat, and it eventually happened in the 18th over of the final day. Rujul Bhatt departed after adding a couple to his overnight 93 and then it was all over for the visitors. Manpreet Gony scalped four batsmen, hence finishing the match with eight wickets, though he was much more expensive in the second essay. Love Ablish added one more to his first innings six wickets while Taruvar Kohli (118) and Rahul Sharma (95) shone with the bat in Punjab’s only innings. The hosts, with this thumping win, now have 10 points in their kitty.
Railways 187 (Kulkarni 3-24) and 309 (Suresh 89*, Abdulla 4-80) drew with Mumbai 284 (Rohit 101, Kartik 5-81)
Gritty lower-order batting took Railways home safely from the jaws of defeat against Mumbai. Struggling at 174 for 7 with a trivial lead of 77 runs in the second innings and a whole day to play for, Railways displayed immense character with the bat to stretch the second innings total to 309. The chief contributor was all-rounder Marripuri Suresh who stubbornly held his ground for 89 runs as the Mumbai bowlers failed to dismiss him in the end. He built strong 81 and 83-run alliances for the eight and ninth wicket respectively first with, Karan Sharma (34) and then skipper Murali Kartik (44). After the three Railways tail-enders saw through the first 49 overs of the day, Mumbai came out to bat, facing an improbable target of 212 only to finish the day at 69 for no loss and the match in a draw.
Saurashtra 650 for 9 dec (Pathak 118) drew with Bengal 456 (Arindam 144, Jadeja 4-71) and 135 for 1(Arindam 63*)
The run-riot at Eden Gardens expectedly ended without producing a result. Following on after being dismissed for 456 in the first innings, Bengal ended the day and the match at 135 for 1. The bowlers from both teams toiled hard for four days as the batsmen made merry at their expense. A1241 runs were scored in the match at the cost of 20 wickets, such was the dominance of the batters in the match. Former India captain Sourav Ganguly couldn’t capitalise on the good batting conditions as he fell after scoring a quick-fire 18-ball 16 runs.
Tamil Nadu 293 (Ashwin 107*) and 319 (Anirudh 72) beat Himachal Pradesh 366 (Thakkar 83) and 155 (Ganapathy 5-61) by 91 runs
Fast bowlers Chandrasekar Ganapathy and Laxmipathy Balaji bowled Tamil Nadu to victory against Himachal Pradesh (HP). Ganapathy demolished the HP top order by sending the top three batsmen back with just 37 runs on the board and then returned to scalp two more wickets. After Ganapathy triggered the HP collapse, Balaji joined the party and cleaned off the remaining line-up with four scalps to his name. As a result, chasing a total of 247, the hapless Himachal were bundled up for 155 inside 50 overs. With this victory Tamil Nadu has strengthened their top spot on the points table.
Orissa 276 (Mullick 77, Arjun 4-52) and 243 for 5 dec (R Mohanty 70) drew with Hyderabad 199 (D Mohanty 4-48) and 205 (Anirudh 74*, Dhiraj Singh 4-46)
Orissa fell excruciatingly short of bagging a victory against Hyderabad at the Uppal Stadium. The hosts, chasing 321, escaped defeat by a whisker as they finished the day at 205 for 9. Anirudh Singh batted with a lot of grit as he saw his partners changing with high frequency at the other end. After the ninth wicket fell, Anirudh had to bat out 7.1 overs with the No.11 batsman, Lalith Mohan. Mohan became a hero by surviving 18 deliveries and keeping company to Anirudh to save the game by a tantalisingly narrow margin. It meant Orissa had to be satisfied with the first innings points.
Group B
Karnataka 553 (Pawan 152) beat Maharashtra 105 (Vinay Kumar 5-40) and 320 (Bawne 136, Mithun 4-66) by an innings and 128 runs
Ankit Bawne’s defiant century proved inadequate to save Maharashtra from the embarrassment of an innings defeat against Karnataka. There was a fight-back from Rohit Motwani (78) and Ganesh Gaikwad (47) too, but the Karnataka bowlers proved just too hot for the hosts. Pacers Abhimanyu Mithun (4-66) and Vinay Kumar (3-83) were the chief destroyers, scalping seven wickets between them. Resuming the innings at 254 for 5, Maharashtra required resilience from its lower order to salvage a miraculous draw. But the bottom four batsmen could add only a miserable 15 runs among them and Karnataka jumped to the top of the table, bagging six precious points.
Uttar Pradesh 536 for 7 dec (Srivastava 119) beat Delhi 202 (Praveen 3-37, Chawla 3-41) and 312 (Virat 145, Raina 3-31) by an innings and 22 runs
Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) star-studded bowling line-up blinded the Delhi batsmen and dished out a crushing defeat to the visitors in Lucknow. Virat Kohli’s scintillating knock of 145 runs went in vain as it could not save Delhi from losing by an innings and 22 runs. Virat got his runs at a strike-rate of just under 89 and plundered 22 boundaries on the way. Puneet Bisht (79) and Rajat Bhatia (56*) did show the intent but apart form that there was no application from any batsman – six out of 10 batsmen failed to reach a double-digit mark whereas Shikhar Dhawan didn’t bat because of injury. The day-four track was favourable for the spinners and even a part-timer like Suresh Raina troubled the Delhi batsmen with three wickets. With this win, UP has climbed at the second spot of the points table with 12 points.
