Himachal Pradesh hit back strongly to bundle out Tamil Nadu for 96 and reached 133 for 7 in the second innings to seize the advantage at stumps on day two the Ranji Trophy Group ‘B’ match in Dindigul on Wednesday.
At stumps, Himachal extended the lead to 195 runs.
Resuming at the overnight 8 for no loss, the Tamil Nadu innings last only 46 overs as the Himachal bowlers struck at regular intervals.
Vaibhav Arora (3/21) was the best bowler for HP, while Rishi Dhawan (2/30), Mayank Dagar (2/17) and A P Vashist (2/22) chipped in with wickets.
Test star Ravichandran Ashwin (24) was the top-scorer with his 60-ball knock, including two boundaries, while none of the other batsmen showed the necessary application to pile up a big total and put the pressure on the visiting team.
The experienced Abhinav Mukund on whom a lot depended in the absence of Dinesh Karthik, Murali Vijay and Vijay Shankar, was the first to go, caught by Ankit Kalsi off Vaibhav Arora for 6.
Tamil Nadu was tottering at 43/6 before Ashwin and J Koushik (21) came up with a rescue act briefly. The dismissal of the latter sparked a collapse again as four wickets went down for 23 runs.
Left-arm pacer T Natarajan (2/11) struck an early blow getting PS Khanduri for a duck in the first over. However, Prashanth Chopra (23) and SL Verma (36) batted resolutely to keep the host bowlers at bay.
Tamil Nadu hit back with three wickets before Rishi Dhawan (27*) made sure Himachal didn’t allow the advantage slip away completely.
Ashwin and R Sai Kishore took two wickets each.
Brief scores: Himachal Pradesh 158 all out in 71.4 overs (A Vashist 35, Mayank Dagar 33, Sumeet Varma 30; R Ashwin 5/65, R Sai Kishore 3/22) and 133 for 7 in 46 overs (S L Verma 36, Rishi Dhawan 27 batting, T Natarajan 2/11) vs Tamil Nadu 96 all out (R Ashwin 24, J Kousik 21, Vaibhav Arora 3/21).
Mithun stars for Karnataka, fifty for Pujara
Karnataka pacer Abhimanyu Mithun took six wickets, as the hosts bundled out Uttar Pradesh for 281 on the second day of their Elite Group B game in Hubli on Wednesday.
However, later in the day, UP bowlers made inroads and left Karnataka in some trouble at 168/4 despite a strong opening stand by the openers, as the hosts still trail by 113 runs with six wickets in hand.
The fight on Thursday will be to grab the crucial first-innings lead.
Uttar Pradesh resumed their innings on 232/5, with Mohammed Saif (80 off 181 balls, 11x4) and Saurabh Kumar (27 off 37 balls; 5x4) at the crease.
However, UP lost Saurabh early as he gave a catch to J Suchith off pacer Ronit More, as the visitors lost their sixth wicket with 250 on the board.
Then Mithun (6/60), who had taken three wickets on the opening day, ran through their lower order to scuttle them out for 281.
Mithun’s wickets on Wednesday included rival stumper Upendra Yadav (3), Mohit Jangra (6) and Mohammed Saif, who played a valiant knock and added 24 runs to his overnight total.
He, however, was devoid of partners.
Courtesy Mithun’s show, Karnataka ensured that UP could add only 49 runs to their overnight score.
Mithun was ably aided by another inform speedster More (2/41), who broke the stand between Saif and Saurabh, and leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal (2/51).
In reply, Karnataka openers Devdutt Padikkal (74 off 108 balls, 10x4) and Dega Nischal (36 off 90 balls; 4x4) put together a strong 91-run stand for the first wicket.
The two frustrated the UP bowlers before slow-left arm orthodox bowler Saurabh castled Nischal to send him back to the pavilion.
UP pegged back the hosts, taking three quick wickets to leave them teetering at 4/144.
One-down Ravikumar Samarth (11), skipper Karun Nair (13) fell in quick succession. Jangra then dismissed Padikkal, who hit 10 boundaries.
Then Abhishek Reddy (23 not out) and Shreyas Gopal (8 not out) ensured that there was no further damage and remained unbeaten when stumps were drawn.
In another game at Visakhapatnam, test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara stuck a patient unbeaten half century against Railways for Saurashtra.
Pujara is batting on 69 off 136 balls with Arpit Vasavada (11 not out)as their side trails by only 37 runs after dismissing Railways for a paltry 248.
Brief scores: Uttar Pradesh 281 all out (Aryan Juyal 109, Mohammed Saif 80; Abhimanyu Mithun 6-60, Ronit More 2-41) versus Karnataka 168/4 (Devdutt Padikkal 74, Dega Nishal 36; Mohit Jangra 2-36). Karnataka trailed by 113 runs.
At Indore: Madhya Pradesh 125 and 118/3 (Anand Bais 45, Rameez Khan 41; Krunal Pandya 1-10) versus Baroda 222 (Yusuf Pathan 76 not out, Krunal Pandya 64; Mihir Hirwani 4- 21, Avesh Khan 4-69). Madhya Pradesh led by 21 runs.
At Visakhapatnam: Railways 248 (Pratham Singh 98, Karn Sharma 52; Jaydev Unadkat 4-56, Prerak Mankad 2-33) versus Saurashtra 211-3 (Cheteshwar Pujara 69 not out; Snell Patel 46; Karn Sharma 1-45). Saurashtra trailed by 37 runs.
Maharashtra shot out for 109
Jammu & Kashmir shot out Maharashtra for 109 in the first innings and made 155/4 in the second innings at stumps on day two of the Ranji Trophy Group C second-round match in Pune on Wednesday, to gain an overall lead of 255 runs.
Resuming at 51/3, Maharashtra was bundled out for 109 in 41.1 overs as medium-pacer Umar Nazir picked up five wickets.
MS Trunkwala with 31 (54 balls, 5 fours, 1 six) was the top-scorer for the home side as none of the other batsmen got going.
Left-handed opener Suryansh Raina (79) ensured that J&K reached 155 for 4 to extend the lead to 255 runs.
He got together with Fazil Rashid (43 not out) to steady the innings after J&K was struggling at 26/3.
Earlier, Nazir (5/40), Mohammed Mudhasir (2/37) and Abid Mushtaq (2/23) dismissed the hosts’ batsmen in the space of 25 overs with a disciplined display.
Harshal stars in Haryana’s big win
Skipper Harshal Patel returned with career-best figures of 12/53 as Haryana inflicted an innings and 125 run defeat on Tripura inside two days in their group C match in Rohtak on Wednesday.
Patel followed his first-innings effort of 7/29 with a five-wicket haul in the second, while his pace colleague Ashish Hooda also returned with figures of 8-3-21-5 as Tripura folded for 49 all out to hand Haryana seven points.
Resuming at an overnight score of 131/2 in response to Tripura’s 63 all out, the home team on Wednesday added 111 runs at the Chaudhary Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium.
Chaitanya Bishnoi, who was batting on 63, fell for the addition of four runs but Shivam Chauhan scored a half-century (56, 90 balls, 5 fours, 1 six) to extend Haryana’s lead.
Medium-pacer Manisankar Murasingh picked up five wickets, while Rana Dutta (2/48) spanned two and AK Sarkar (1/50), SS Das (1/46) and Harmeet Singh (1/29) claimed one wicket each to restrict Haryana to 242.
In reply, the Tripura batsmen came a cropper for the second time as the innings lasted just 16.3 overs.
Only Saurabh Das (10 not out) reached double figures as the visiting team’s batting unit folded like a pack of cards.
Patel started Tripura’s slide in the second innings, sending back Bishal Ghosh (0), Udiyan Bose (5) and Joydeep Banik (1) to leave the team struggling at 18/3.
Then Hooda took the onus and removed the next five wickets before Patel sent back the last two batsmen to seal a comprehensive win for Haryana.
Haryana has 14 points from two games after having thrashed Maharashtra by an innings and 68 runs in the season-opener last week at the same venue.
Brief scores:
At Raipur: Uttarakhand 120 all out in 37.5 overs (D Negi 29; AJ Mandal 3/17, PM Datey 3/42) vs Chhattisgarh 462 for 6 in 122 overs (AN Khare 166 batting, Ajay Mandal 209 batting, Pradeep Chamoli 3/76).
At Cuttack: Services 271 all out in 66.1 overs (NH Verma 53, RS Paliwal 58, Rahul Singh 55; Basant Mohanty 6/69) vs Odisha 280 for 6 in 104 overs (Debasish Samantray 96 batting, Biplab Samantray 73, AR Sarangi 37, Shadab Nazar 2/67).
At Ranchi: Assam 162 all out in 56.5 overs (Riyan Parag 55, Sibshankar Roy 27; Anukul Roy 4/28, Shahbaz Nadeem 3/55, Ashish Kumar 3/25) vs Jharkhand 397 for 8 in 94.2 overs (Md Nazim 173, Utkarsh Singh 58, Anukul Roy 30 batting; Mukhtar Hussain 2/48).
At Rohtak: Tripura 63 all out in 19.4 overs (Tanmay Mishra 29; Harshal Patel 7/29, AH Hooda 3/14) and 49 all out in 16.3 overs (Harshal Patel 5/24, AH Hooda 5/21) lost to Haryana 242 all out in 63.2 overs (Chaitanya K Bishnoi 67, Shivam Chauhan 56; MB Murasingh 5/64) by an innings and 125 runs. Haryana: 7 points, Tripura: 0.
Andhra gain upper hand over Delhi
Ricky Bhui cracked an unbeaten 70 to guide Andhra Pradesh to 249/6 against Delhi at stumps on day two of their Group A Ranji Trophy match in Ongole on Wednesday.
Resuming at 16/2, Andhra rode on Ricky’s unconquered 164-ball 70 and some useful contributions from Manish Golamaru (42), skipper Hanuma Vihari (38) and Karan Shinde (48) to take a first-innings lead of 34 runs.
At the draw of stumps, Girinath Reddy (11) was giving company to Ricky with two more days to go in the match.
For Delhi, pacer Navdeep Saini claimed two wickets on Wednesday to go with the one which he took on the opening day.
Pawan Suyal also accounted for two wickets and Simarjeet Singh (1/69) took one but the Delhi bowlers were guilty of giving away as many as 30 extras.
On Tuesday, Andhra had dismissed Delhi for 215 but found themselves in a spot of bother.
Overnight batsmen Manish Golamaru and Vihari added 78 runs after resumption of the innings to take Andhra close to the 100-mark.
However, Saini returned to dismiss both Manish and Vihari as Andhra slipped to 109/4 in 36.1 overs.
KS Bharat (1) too was dismissed LBW by Simarjeet as Andhra lost half of their side in 37.4 overs.
Ricky then joined hands with Karan and forged a 122-run partnership to overhaul Delhi’s first innings score.
In other Group A matches, opener Abhishek Raman (110) scored a century while Manoj Tiwary (51) hit a fifty as Bengal reached 236 for 6 in reply to Kerala’s first innings score of 239.
Bengal thus trailed Kerala by just three runs with four wickets remaining in their first innings at stumps.
Elsewhere, defending champions Vidarbha put up a tremendous display to declare at 510/8 against Rajasthan.
Brief scores:
At Ongole: Delhi 1st innings: 215. Andhra 1st innings: 249 for 6 in 87 overs (Ricky Bhui 70 not out; Navdeep Saini 3/77).
At Thumba: Kerala 1st innings: 239, Bengal 1st innings: 236 for 6 in 86 overs (A Raman 110; Basil Thampi 2/35)
At Patiala: Hyderabad 1st innings: 242, Punjab 1st innings 167 for 4 in 51 overs (Mandeep Singh 65; Mohammed Siraj 3/40)
At Nagpur: Vidarbha 1st innings: 510 for 8 declared (FY Fazal 136, MR Kale 138, AV Wadkar 111; TM Ul-Haq 4/87), Rajasthan 1st innings: 45 for 1 in 19 overs (AV Gautam 35; U Yadav 1/15).
(With PTI inputs)