Ranji Trophy: Rituraj bowls Rajasthan into final; TN virtually through

Defending champions Rajasthan Thursday entered the Ranji Trophy final defeating Haryana by 64 runs at the Bansi Lal Stadium at Lahli, near Rohtak.

In the other semi-final at Wankhede Stadium, Tamil Nadu, too, were virtually through, having taken a 202-run lead over hosts Mumbai in the first innings and by stumps carrying it to 422 with six second-innings wickets intact. They bowled out the hosts for a paltry 157 in reply to their first-innings score of 359. Test discard Murali Vijay‘s unbeaten ton put the visitors in the driver’s seat.

Haryana resumed their second innings at 15 for two on the third day, needing 170-runs for victory. They got into deeper trouble losing two wickets quickly and they never looked like pulling it off. Nitin Saini (23) and Sachin Rana (25) tried their best to keep them in the hunt, but once they left they folded up for 120.

Rituraj Singh (5/37) and Pankaj Singh (4/48) ran through the side.

Medium-pacer Rituraj was Rajasthan’s hero with match figures of 13 for 71 in only his third match — the 21-year-old made his debut last month against Saurashtra.

Resuming at the overnight score of 121 for six on the third day, Mumbai lost their last four wickets for only 36 runs. Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh, who had strung a crucial 152-run partnership with Ramaswammy Prasanna in Tamil Nadu’s first innings, came back to haunt Mumbai with the ball, picking three wickets. Skipper Lakshmipathy Balaji capture four wickets.

Tamil Nadu coming out to bat for the second time got a solid start, Vijay (batting 103) and Abhinav Mukund (42) stitching a 90-run stand.

Mumbai picked up three quick wickets, but their hopes of making a comeback were quashed by Vijay who strung another handy 86-run partnership with Kuthethurshri Vasudevadas. The visitors were 220 for four at stumps.

Brief Scores:

At Rohtak: Rajasthan 89 in 36.1 overs and 192 in 68.5 overs beat Haryana 97 in 47.5 overs and 120 in 48.5 overs (Sachin Rana 25, Nitin Saini 23; Rituraj Singh 5/37, Pankaj Singh 4/48) by 64 runs.

At Mumbai: Tamil Nadu 359 in 136.1 overs and 220/4 in 70 overs (Murali Vijay batting 103, Abhinav Mukund 42; Kshemal Waingankar 2-43) vs Mumbai 157 in 51 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 52, Hiken Shah 21; Laxmipathy Balaji 4-28, Yo Mahesh 3-63, Jagannathan Kaushik 2-34).