Mumbai reduce MP to 200/7, take control of Ranji tie
MUMBAI: Madhya Pradesh leftarm seamer Ravi Yadav’s initiation to Ranji trophy cricket has been swift, first striking with a hat-trick in his first over on debut, last month, now snaring Mumbai’s run-machine Sarfaraz Khan, first thing, during Thursday’s morning session. Sarfaraz top-edged a Yadav bouncer early in the day, to be dismissed on 177, missing out on what could have been his third 200 plus total of the season.
That was the only wicket Yadav picked in the innings, but it was enough to stop Mumbai frompostinganunsurmountable total in their first essay. Mumbai captain Aditya Tare and one of season’s few success-stories and all-rounder Shams Mulani managed a few boundaries, before both were dismissed for 32 and 18 respectively. Mumbai folded up for 427 before lunch, after being 352 for four at the end of the first day.
The match remains inconsequential with Mumbai languishing at seventh spot in the Group B points table and Madhya Pradesh fighting to avoid being woodenspooners of the group.
Madhya Pradesh were disappointing in reply, failing to post any partnerships of note, losing seven wickets with only 200 on the board at stumps. The tallest partnership of the day was via a 65-run stand for the seventh wicket between left-hand bat Venkatesh Iyer and Mihir Hirwani. Mumbai bowlers were steady, and kept pegging away with wickets at regular intervals.
Left-armer Royston Dias, rightarmer Deepak Shetty, playing his third match and left-arm spinner Shams Mulani shared the spoils with two wickets each.
Indore-boy Iyer, who is unbeaten on 87, would be eyeing his first Ranji hundred on Friday. “It’s a learning curve for me to play against Mumbai, one of the top teams in the country,” he said.
“I was looking to stay positive and learn on how to build my innings. Sarfaraz and Surya (Suryakumar Yadav) were so positive that they could execute whichever shots they wanted to. I looked to do the same in my innings because the wicket was true,” he said.
On the other hand, Mumbai would be looking to press home the advantage, skittle out the remaining MP wickets and consolidate efforts to end the season on a high.
GOA IN QUARTER-FINALS
Meanwhile, Goa cantered into the quarter-finals with an innings and 211-run win over Mizoram in Plate Group clash.
Tamil Nadu wicketkeeperbatsman Narayan Jagadeesan came up with a gritty 183 to help his team post 424 on the second day against Saurashtra. Tamil Nadu then hit back to reduce Saurashtra to 107 for three with the hosts still adrift by 317 runs.
Kshitiz Sharma, whose place in the playing eleven was questioned, silenced his critics with a gritty 103 that helped Delhi post a mammoth 623 in the first innings against Rajasthan.
In Patiala, Punjab, resuming the day at 93 for three, managed to take a 13-run first innings lead against Bengal after being bowled out for 151. Bengal were bundled out for 138 on day one.
In Bengaluru, Baroda are ahead by 60 runs, but hosts Karnataka can sniff victory having taken five Baroda wickets in their second essay with two days left.
490/4 decl beat Mizoram 109 (Taruwar Kohli 50*; Amulya Pandrekar 3/17, Lakhshay Garg 3/18) & 170 (Pawan KB 111*; Amit Verma 5/39) by an innings and 211 runs.
Goa 7, Mizoram 0
424 (N Jagdeesan 183; Abhinav Mukund 86; Jaydev Unadkat 6/73) v
107/3; 85 & 208/5 (A Pathan 90, Deepak Hooda 50; M Prasidh Krishna 2/29) v
233 (Karun Nair 47, Abhimanyu Mithun 40; S Sopariya 5/83); 623 (Hiten Dalal 102, Jonty Sidhu 92, Himmat Singh 90, Kshitiz Sharma 103, Kunwar Bhiduri 111; Rahul Chahar 5/161) v 115/4 (Ashok Menaria 38*; Simarjeet Singh 1/14)
BRIEF SCORES: Goa POINTS: At Rajkot: Tamil Nadu Saurashtra In Bengaluru: Baroda Rajasthan Karnataka In Delhi: Delhi