Gujarat, Bengal, Jharkhand, Andhra and Karnataka registered massive wins in the third round of the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy. This round also saw Goa batsman Sagun Kamat creating history by becoming the first player from Goa to score a triple-century in Ranji Trophy. Goa also crossed 600 for the first time in Ranji Trophy.
Team India discards Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir failed to make a statement while fast bowler Ishant Sharma, who is returning from Chikungunya had a miserable outing as he picked just one wicket and was warned by the match referee for wearing the national jersey.
Let us take a look at how things went in the third round.
Group A
Tamil Nadu vs Uttar Pradesh, Dharamsala (UP 3 points, TN 1 point)
After winning their previous match against Railways, Tamil Nadu managed to get just 1 point after conceding a 45-run first innings lead against Uttar Pradesh at Dharamsala. TN skipper Abhinav Mukund got his team off to a solid start as his team were eyeing to get 525 runs to get the first innings lead.
Mukund scored his second century of the season as he along with veteran Dinesh Karthik put on 132 for the fourth wicket before the wicket-keeper batsman perished for 73. Soon after his dismissal, Mukund followed Karthik to the dressing room after Kuldeep Yadav got his wicket for 154 with TN 199 runs short of UP’s first innings total.
Baba Inderjith’s unbeaten 126 gave TN some hopes of salvaging 3 points but he didn’t get the support he would have expected from his teammates from the other end. Eventually, TN were dismissed for 479.
After choosing to bat first on a belter, Uttar Pradesh openers Samarth Singh and Tanmay Srivastava frustrated the TN bowlers on the opening day as they put on 109 for the first wicket before Srivastava was dismissed by Washington Sundar. Samarth carried on his good form and scored 187 before getting out to T Natarajan. Useful contributions from Sarfaraz Khan, Eklavya Dwivedi and Saurabh Kumar took their team to 524.
Mumbai vs Madhya Pradesh, Raipur (Mumbai 3 points, MP 1 point)
This is yet another match in Group A that was decided by the first innings lead. After choosing to bat first, Madhya Pradesh opener Aditya Shrivastava got his team off to a good start by scoring a patient 87 before a sparkling 106 from Rajat Patidar and an unbeaten 83 from Shubham Sharma made sure that their side reached a solid total of 447.
On a track that assisted the batsmen and the depth Mumbai has in their batting order, MP would have wanted their premier bowler, Ishwar Pandey to run through Mumbai’s line-up.
Ishwar did exactly that as he dismissed opener Kaustubh Pawar and the dangerous Shreyas Iyer to reduce the defending champions to 56-3. It was when Akhil Herwadkar took charge as he along with Surya Kumar Yadav (41), Aditya Tare (80) and Tushar Deshpande(62) rescued Mumbai from the cusp of conceding the first innings lead.
Herwadkar was the star of the show as he scored a patient 153 and some useful contribution from Siddesh Lad and Abhishek Nayar down the order helped Mumbai reach 567-7 and take the crucial first innings lead. Lad and Nayar remained unbeaten on 100 and 13 respectively.
Bengal vs Punjab, Bilaspur (Bengal 3 points, Punjab 1 point)
All eyes were on Yuvraj Singh as Punjab took on Bengal at the picturesque Lohnu cricket stadium at Bilaspur. After dismissing Bengal for 404 in the first innings, Punjab looked up to their experienced skipper to take their side to a first innings lead. But, Yuvraj was dismissed by yet another Indian discard Ashok Dinda for just 22 as his team were bowled out for just 271, thanks to five-wicket hauls from Ashok Dinda and Amit Kuila respectively.
With a 133-run first innings lead, Manoj Tiwary’s 92 helped Bengal post 227 on the board in the second innings and set Punjab a target of 360. Pragyan Ojha took 4 wickets to give his team an 115-run win. Yuvraj failed once again as he was dismissed by Ojha for just 26.
Railways vs Gujarat, Lahli (Gujarat: 6 points, Railways: 0 points)
After a sloppy show in the first innings, Gujarat batsmen called the right shots in the second innings to earn their side a 294-run win against Railways. Priyank Panchal’s brisk 101 set the tone for the Parthiv Patel-led side in the second innings before the skipper himself along with Manpreet Juneja, Chirag Gandhi and Bharghav Merai scored half-centuries to take their team to a huge total of 437-7 at the time of declaration.
With a 63-run first innings lead, Gujarat set Railways a target of 501 to win. With a mammoth total to chase down, Railways batsmen succumbed under pressure as they failed to bat out the time and gave away Gujarat a 294-run win.
Earlier in the match, Deepak Bansal’s 6-wicket haul in the first innings helped Railways to bowl out Gujarat for just 187 on day 1. In return, Railways were bundled out for just 124, 63 short of Gujarat’s total, thanks to a brilliant spell of seam bowling by Mehul Patel, who ended up taking 5-35 in the first innings.
Group B
Rajasthan vs Jharkhand, Vadodara (Jharkhand 6 points, Rajasthan 0 points)
Jharkhand beat Rajasthan by 42 runs in their Group B encounter at Vadodara. Pankaj Singh’s five-wicket haul in the first innings dismissed Jharkhand to just 209 runs after choosing to bat. Still, Jharkhand managed to get a slender lead of 2 runs, thanks to Shahbaz Nadeem’s 7-74. Ishank Jaggi’s century helped Jharkhand to set a target of 279 to win. Once again, it was Nadeem, who took five wickets to seal an outright win for his team.
Delhi vs Karnataka, Kolkata (Delhi 0 points, Karnataka 7 points)
Karnataka demolished Delhi by an innings and 160 runs inside the first three days. After being put into bat first, Delhi were dismissed for just 90 in their first innings, thanks to Sreenath Aravind’s 4-12 in just 11 overs. In return, as many as five Karnataka batsmen (R Samarth, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, K Abbas and CM Gautam) registered half-centuries and took their team to a good total of 414 on the board.
Trailing Karnataka by 324, Delhi had a herculean task in their hands. Unfortunately for them, their batsmen were never in the hunt as they kept losing wickets regularly.
K Gautam’s fifer sealed an innings win for Karnataka as they got the better of Delhi by an innings and 160 runs. Gautam Gambhir, who made a comeback to the national team in the third Test against New Zealand, scored a combined total of just 4 runs in two innings.
Saurashtra vs Maharashtra, Vizianagaram (Maharashtra 1 point, Saurashtra 3 points)
After a historic match against Delhi, Maharashtra failed to replicate their success against their west zone rivals Saurashtra. Batting first, Saurashtra put on a mammoth 657/8 on the board, thanks to Cheteshwar Pujara’s 93, Jaydev Shah’s double ton and a century each from Chirag Jani and Sheldon Jackson.
Maharashtra needed a miracle to get past that score but they fell like nine pins as KD Patel and D Jadeja took all the 10 wickets between them to dismiss Maharashtra for just 182. Following on, Maharashtra batsmen applied themselves and showed some resistance as they batted for 130 overs to score 345 for the loss of 8 wickets and managed to salvage a point from the match.
Vidharbha vs Assam, Trivandrum (Vidharba 3 points, Assam 1 point)
Vidharbha took home 3 points after taking the first-innings lead against Assam at Trivandrum. Riding on Ganesh Satish’s 105 and fifties from SR Ramaswamy, RL Jangid, JM Sharma and AA Sarvate, Vidharbha posted 416 on the board in the first innings.
Assam were never in the hunt to take the lead as Sarvate ran through their batting order and ended up picking five wickets. After getting dismissed for 227, Assam were asked to follow-on by Vidharba. Both the teams decided to call it off when Assam were two wickets down for 73 runs.
Group C
Haryana vs Chhattisgarh, Guwahati (Haryana 6 points, Chhattisgarh 0 points)
Haryana beat Ranji Trophy debutants Chattisgarh by 161 runs in spite of conceding the first-innings lead. Chhattisgarh dismissed Haryana for just 177 runs on day 1 and went on to take a 12-run first innings lead. In the second innings, Haryana batsmen took charge and put on 289 on the board. Chasing 179 to win, Chhattisgarh were bundled out for 117 runs. Mohit Sharma was the wrecker-in-chief as he scalped 5 wickets in the second innings and took Haryana to a 161-run win.
Goa vs Services, Cuttack (Goa 3 points, Services 1 point)
Goa created history by crossing the 600-run mark for the first time in Ranji Trophy. It was a double delight for the Goa fans as their skipper Sagun Kamat became the first Goa batsman to score a triple-century in Ranji. Still, a total of 606-7 wasn’t enough for Goa to get an outright win as their bowlers failed to take the 20 Services wickets.
Services were bundled out for 279 in the first innings and were four down for 188 in the second when both the team captains decided to call it off.
Tripura vs Himachal Pradesh, Kalyani (Tripura 3 points, HP 1 point)
A sensational show by the Tripura batsmen earned their team 3 points against HP at Kalyani, West Bengal. Smit Patel and Bishal Ghosh registered individual centuries as Tripura put on 549 on the board in their first innings. In reply, HP batsmen put on a courageous fight as Ankush Bains, Rishi Dhawan and Robin Bist scored fifties. But, that didn’t help their team’s cause as they were dismissed for 300 and were asked to follow-on.
In the second innings, Bains scored a century and Rishi Dhawan was unbeaten on 54 when the match ended.
Kerala vs Hyderabad, Bhubaneshwar (Kerala 3 points, Hyderabad 1 point)
This is yet another match in group C that ended in a draw with Kerala running away with three points after taking the first-innings lead. Iqbal Abdullah’s unbeaten 159 propelled Kerala to put on 517/9 on the board at the time declaration.
Chasing three points, Hyderabad kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were dismissed for 281 in the first innings. Asked to follow-on, Hyderabad put on a better show as Anirudh Sita Ram scored an unbeaten 120 as the match came to an end when his team was on 220-3.
Andhra vs Jammu and Kashmir, Mumbai (Andhra 6 points, J&K 0 points)
Bharghav Bhatt and Ravi Teja’s heroics in both the innings helped Andhra beat Jammu and Kashmir by 4 wickets at Brabourne stadium in Mumbai.
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