Parth Bhut Scares Maharashtra Into Submission, Seals 48-Run Win For His Team

Left-arm spinner Parth Bhut did the star turn with seven wickets and fashioned a 48-run victory for Saurashtra over Maharashtra in their Elite Ranji Trophy Group A match in Solapur on Sunday. The 26-year-old Bhut returned excellent figures of 7/44, as Saurasthra bowled out Maharashtra for 164 in their second innings after being set a target of 208 on the third and penultimate afternoon of the match. Off-spinner Yuvrajsinh Dodiya supported Bhut well with two wickets, while Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, who also bowls left-arm spin, picked up one to cap off a fine all-round performance.

Jadeja's first-innings knock of 72, at a time when his team was desperately looking for someone to bail them out of a precarious situation, and his 118-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Prerak Mankad (52), went a long way in Saurasthra sealing the match in their favour.

Jadeja also picked up four wickets in Maharashtra's first innings, and combined with Bhut and Dodiya, to bowl their opponents out for 159 and ensure a handy first-innings lead of 43 runs for their team.

Bhut, who was out for a golden duck and was one of three Saurashtra batters to have failed to open their account in the second innings -- Cheteshwar Pujara and Harvik Desai being the other two -- made up for his failure with the bat with a brilliant show with the ball.

Bhut, who had grabbed two wickets to leave Maharashtra struggling at 104/5 at stumps on the third evening and still 104 runs adrift of the target, picked up all the five wickets to fall in the final morning to secure full points for his team.

Mohit Avasthi takes 7/52 as Mumbai crush Bengal

Mohit Avasthi ran through the Bengal batting lineup, grabbing seven wickets for 52 runs as Mumbai stormed to an innings and four-run win with a bonus point in their Ranji Trophy Group B match 

Avasthi finished with a 10-wicket haul in the match, having taken 3/63 in Bengal's first innings, as the hosts were bowled out for 209 in their second innings after being asked to follow-on.

A collective batting effort in the first innings had given Mumbai a formidable 412 at the start of the game, which allowed them to dominate Bengal.

The hosts, despite a valiant 109 from Anustup Majumdar, had folded up for 199, giving Mumbai a first-innings lead of 213 runs, following which they enforced the follow-on.

The 31-year-old right-arm pacer Avasthi not only recorded his third five-for in the five Ranji matches so far this season, he also grabbed his third Player-of-the-Match award.

At the Moin ul Haq Stadium in Patna, hosts Bihar were staring at a massive defeat at the hands of Andhra at stumps on the third day.

Bihar were precariously placed at 111/8 in their second innings, trailing by another 170 runs, with Andhra closing in on a victory by an innings.

Bihar had made 182 in the first innings and conceded a 281-run lead after Andhra posted 463, powered by Nithish Kumar Reddy's 159.

In the second innings, Bihar were left struggling as Andhra bowlers Lalith Mohan (4/27) and KV Sasikanth (3/8) shared seven wickets to continue the domination for their side.

At the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Stadium in Ranchi, hosts Chhattisgarh conceded a slender 38-run lead against visiting side Kerala, who had taken their overall lead to 100 runs by the end of the day's play.

Having posted 350 in their first innings, Kerala bowled out Chhattisgarh for 312 despite a fine 118 from KD Eknath. For the visitors, Nidheesh MD and Jalaj Saxena took three wickets apiece while Basil Thampi took two.

In reply, Kerala reached 69/2 at stumps on the third day's play with opening batsman Rohan Kunnummal making an aggressive 36 which included six hits to the fence.

Meanwhile, the run-fest continued at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur with visiting side Assam reaching 316/2 in reply to home team Uttar Pradesh's total of 548/8 declared.

Having declared their innings overnight, Uttar Pradesh were made to work hard for wickets by the Assam batters with opener Parvej Musaraf scoring 129 and his partner Rahul Hazarika hitting 128, while adding 274 for the first wicket.

Musaraf faced 295 balls to make 129 with the help of 14 fours and two sixes while Hazarika made an identical score, cracking 21 fours to reach 128 from 265 balls. Both these batters were accounted for by Uttar Pradesh bowler Shivam Sharma, who effected similar dismissals of leg before wicket against them.

At stumps, Uttar Pradesh were still ahead by 232 runs.

Manish Pandey helps Karnataka eke out one-wicket win over Railways, Tripura outclass Gujarat

Veteran batter Manish Pandey conjured all his experience to score an unbeaten fifty that helped Karnataka eke out a nervy one-wicket win over Railways on the third day of their Elite Group C Ranji Trophy match.

Chasing a tricky target of 226 to win, Karnataka huffed their way to 229 for 9 as Pandey stayed unbeaten on 67 off 121 balls with six fours and a six.

Earlier, Railway, who resumed from overnight 209 for eight, were bowled out for 244 in their second innings.

Pacer Vysakh Vijayakumar, who later did his bit with bat as well, was the most successful bowler for Karnataka with a fifer (5/67).

With this win, Karnataka has topped the Group C with 21 points and are poised to enter the knockouts with two more league matches pending.

After the early departure of opener Dega Nischal (1), Karnataka appeared to be on the right track as Ravikumar Samarth (35) and KV Aneesh (34) guided their side to 70 for 1, adding 69 runs for the second wicket.

But from that point, Karnataka lost three wickets while adding just five runs, slipping to 75 for four as left-arm spinner Akash Pandey (5/94) inflicted a few blows.

They slid further to 99 for six and a victory appeared far at that juncture.

But Karnataka made the first pushback through Pandey and wicketkeeper batter Sharath Srinivas (23) as they milked 34 runs for the seventh wicket.

After Srinivas returned to the hut, Pandey joined forces with an equally feisty Vysakh (38, 63 balls) to amass 64 runs for the eighth wicket as Karnataka inched closer to the target.

Just as they were coasting, Vysakh fell to Himanshu Sangwan and the dismissal of Vidwath Kaverappa (8) left Karnataka to make 12 more runs with a wicket remaining.

But Pandey remained nerveless to collect those runs in the company of Vasuki Koushik (1 not out).

At Ahmedabad, Tripura notched up a big 156-run win over hosts Gujarat to go third on the Group C table with 14 points.

Tripura's second innings, started from overnight 333 for 9, ended at 343 as they stretched their overall lead to 317.

Gujarat could not offer even a smidgeon of fight as they were shot out for 161 in their second innings.

Medium pacer Sridam Paul (3/16) and left-arm spinner Parvez Sultan (3/58) grabbed six wickets equally among them to wreck Gujarat.

At one stage, they were 79 for six and a 50-run partnership for the seventh wicket between Umang Kumar (37, 55 balls) and Siddharth Desai (47, 55 balls) helped them go past the 150-run mark.

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