Ranji Trophy: Ishant Sharma Starred With The Ball As Delhi Leave Maharashtra In Tatters

Ishant Sharma gave a timely reminder to the selectors with a hostile spell of fast bowling as Delhi reduced Maharashtra to 59 for 8 after scoring a healthy 419 in the first innings of a Ranji Tropohy group A encounter on Saturday. Despite more than 40 overs of play being lost, Delhi have a fair chance of finishing the match by third day with visitors till 360 runs in arrears. With Bhuvneshwar Kumar not playing the second Test due to his marriage, Ishant has a fair chance of making it to the playing XI after doing his hard yards in the Ranji Trophy. He now has 18 wickets in his fourth game and bowled enough number of overs in more or less batting friendly wickets.

Earlier, young Nitish Rana's career-best 174 off 264 propelled Delhi past 400, it was the turn of the bowlers led by Ishant to do the star turn on the second day of the match. Rana's innings had 18 boundaries and four sixes as he added 104 runs for the sixth wicket with debutant Lalit Yadav (52).

"Good performances in the IPL has made it easier for me to perform at the first-class level. Also I have learnt to be more patient talking to senior players like Gautam Gambhir," said Rana.

Brief Scores

In Delhi: Delhi 1st Innings 419 (Nitish Rana 174, Rishabh Pant 99, Lalit Yadav 52, Satyajeet Bachchav 4/87) Maharashtra 1st innings 59/8 (Ishant Sharma 3/14, Lalit Yadav 2/2, Navdeep Saini 2/21)

- Saurashtra take slender 7-run lead over Kerala in group B -

Robin Uthappa hit 86 as Saurashtra managed to take a slender seven-run first innings lead over Kerala, scoring 232 all out on the second day of their Group B Ranji Trophy match on Saturday. After bundling out Kerala for 225, Saurashtra struggled to post 232 before their first innings folded. At stumps, Kerala were 69 for one in their second innings with Jalaj Saxena unbeaten on 29 and Rohan Prem on 27. Resuming on 37 for no loss, overnight batsman Uthappa, starting on 20, went on to score 86 off 120 deliveries studded with 10 boundaries and five sixes.

Brief scores:

Kerala: 225 & 69/1 in 19 overs Saurashtra 1st innings: 232 all out in 78.5 overs (Robin Uthappa 86, Snell Patel 49; Sijomon Joseph 4/43, Basil Thampi 3/36).

- Raman, Easwaran put Bengal in driver's seat against Punjab in group D -

Bengal openers Abhishek Raman and Abhimanyu Easwaran wore down Punjab bowling with patient centuries as Bengal dominated proceedings to reach 309 for 3 on the second day of the Ranji Trophy group D encounter on Saturday. Left-handed Raman remained unbeaten 149 and added 222 with India prospect Easwaran (117) for the opening stand. Bengal currently enjoy a lead of 162 runs and would be hoping to atleast consolidate it to 250 runs.

Brief Scores:

Punjab 1st Innings 147 Bengal 1st Innings 309/3 (Abhishek Raman 149 batting, Abhimanyu Easwaran 117, Shreevats Goswami 29 batting, Harbhajan Sinbgh 0/69 in 17 overs).