Ranji Trophy 2016-17, Ninth Round Day 4 Round-up: Sachin Baby scores career-best first-class score

On a day that was dominated by the batsmen and teams settling for the draw, Shreyas Iyer, Sachin Baby and Kaushik Gandhi all had a memorable day as they helped their sides secured the draw for their respective sides.

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Kerala couldn’t get the win that they wanted and had to settle for a draw but for Sachin Baby, it was a memorable game as he brought up his career-best first-class score and helped his side take the first innings lead in their draw with Services.

Baby, who played in IPL 2016 for Royal Challengers Bangalore, put on an 187-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Jalaj Saxena, who just fell 16 short of his century. Although Akshay Chandran got to his century, the day belonged to Baby, who finished unbeaten on 250.

Kerala 518/5 dec vs Services 322

After being made to follow-on for the first time in five years, Mumbai looked in danger of losing the game but Shreyas Iyer came to the rescue and his century ensured that Mumbai drew the game, even if they conceded the first innings lead to Punjab.

In response to Punjab’s 468, Mumbai could only manage 185/9 in their first innings and were asked to follow-on. Although they lost two early wickets in their second innings, on the back of Shreyas Iyer’s 123, they finished on 227/4.

Punjab 468 vs Mumbai 185/9 and 227/4

Tamil Nadu came into their final game of the group stage against Gujarat needing a draw with a first innings lead to go through to the quarter-final and that is precisely what they got. Indian internationals Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel both finished wicketless as Tamil Nadu declared on 580/6 in response to Gujarat’s 307.

Kaushik Gandhi scored a double century, all-rounder Vijay Shankar scored a century before he retired hurt, captain Abhinav Mukund got out for 99 while both Baba Aparajith and Baba Indrajith scored fifties, with the former remaining unbeaten as TN declared with a lead and took the draw.

Tamil Nadu 580/6 dec drew with Gujarat 307

Coming from behind and winning a game is always satisfying. That is why Saurashtra’s four-run win over Delhi would have tasted that much more sweet for captain Jaydev Shah. After being bowled out for 92 on the first day and conceding a 145-run lead, few would have thought Saurashtra had a chance of drawing the game.

But after scoring 420 in their second innings, they made a brilliant comeback on the final day to defend the target and win by a slender margin. After dismissing both Indian openers Shikhar Dhawan and Gautam Gambhir on day three, Saurashtra got rid of Rishabh Pant early and took wickets at regular intervals as Delhi were bowled out for 271.

Saurashtra 92 and 420 beat Delhi 237 and 271 by 4 runs

Brief scores

Group A

Madhya Pradesh 370 drew with Bengal 475/9 dec and 261/2

Group B

Vidarbha 116 and 191/4 beat Team Rajasthan 140 and 163 by six wickets

Baroda 458 drew with Uttar Pradesh 481 and 417/3

Group C

Hyderabad 143 and 56/5 drew with Andhra 190 and 171/6 dec

Himachal 528 and 139/3 beat Goa 380 and 286 by seven wickets

Chhattisgarh 370 and 264/3 dec drew with Jammu and Kashmir 242 and 243/7

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