Ranji Trophy: Cheteshwar Pujara Scores 63rd First-class Ton; Saurashtra In Command

Seasoned Cheteshwar Pujara struck his 63rd first-class century while Prerak Mankad and Arpit Vasavada also registered hundreds to give Saurashtra a 387-run first innings lead against Manipur on Saturday. In reply, Manipur, who where bowled out for 142 in their first essay on Friday, were reeling at 55 for 3 at stumps on second day, still trailing by 332 runs.

Resuming the day at 153/3, Saurashtra's stand-in skipper Vasavada (148) and all-rounder Mankad (173) took the Manipur bowling attack to the cleaners, while sharing a 152-run stand for the fourth wicket.

Coming in at number 6, Pujara (108 off 105 deliveries), known for his defensive style of play, showcased his class once again smashing less than a run-a-ball century, his 63rd in first class cricket.

The 36-year-old hit 12 fours and a six in his unusual knock. Pujara, who is eyeing a return to the Indian Test team, is enjoying a good Ranji season, having already notched up an unbeaten double hundred against Jharkand and another 110 in the previous game.

The Test veteran last appeared for India at the World Test Championship final against Australia in June last year and even though he has continued to pile on runs in first class cricket, the Indian selectors have preferred to look ahead, giving opportunities to youngsters like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rajat Patidar and Sarfaraz Khan in the ongoing marquee series against England.

Defending champions Saurashtra declared their innings at 529 for 6 before pacer Chetan Sakariya, Veteran Saurashtra left-arm spinner Dharmendrasinh Jadeja and off-spinner Yuvrajsinh Dodiya picked up a wicket each to put Saurashtra in a commanding position.

Mumbai Win

All-rounder Shardul Thakur's match haul of 10 wickets was complemented by Shivam Dube's counter-attacking century as Mumbai finished their group B Ranji Trophy league engagements with a resounding innings and 80 run win against Assam inside two days. The 41-times champions Mumbai have been at their ruthless best this season, capping five wins, four of them with bonus points to top the Group B standings with massive 37 points. They had already qualified before the last match and the final game was more of a warm-up before the semi-finals.

Thakur claimed 8-1-31-4 to add to his 6/21 in the first innings as Assam were folded for 108 in 33 overs with Mumbai wrapping the issue inside two days.

Mumbai encountered a solitary loss -- against Uttar Pradesh -- from seven matches this season, while against Chhattisgarh they bagged three points with a first innings lead.

Mumbai's nearest rival Andhra have 25 points with their last league round fixture against Kerala in progress.

Dube, who had completed his second century in four innings on day one, ended his innings for 121 off 140 balls that included 11 fours and five sixes.

Dube now has two fifties and two centuries in six innings since his return to his state side from national duty.

Shams Mulani also chipped in with a quickfire 47-ball 31 that took Mumbai's first innings to 272, giving them a 188-run first innings lead.

Assam in their second essay were rocked early by new ball bowler Mohit Avasthi (2/10) who removed both their openers on single digit scores.

Tushar Deshpande (2/37) and Tanush Kotian (1/5) then kept chipping away wickets before Thakur wrapped the tail in his four-wicket burst.

Andhra eyeing QF despite Kerala fightback 

At Vizianagaram, visitors Kerala put up a strong fightback to post 258/3 in reply to Andhra's 272 allout. But despite being in the backfoot, Andhra are set to finish second to join Mumbai in the last-eight.

Skipper Sachin Baby was unbeaten on 87, in company of Akshay Chandran (57) at stumps on day two.

Earlier opener Rohan Kunnummal scored 61, while Krishna Prasad got out for 43.

Abhimanyu slams double ton

India A regular Abhimanyu Easwaran struck 200 not out to put Bengal's in driver's seat in their match against Bihar at Eden Gardens.

Easwaran hit 23 boundaries in his unbeaten knock of 200 (291 balls) as Bengal declared on 411/5 with a big first innings lead of 316. Bihar were 32/1, trailing Bengal by 284 at close on day two.

But this peformance is little too late for Bengal who are already out of the quarters reckoning having endured two losses.

For Easwaran, who has been found wanting in big matches, this was his third first-class double hundred, first since his career-best 233 for India A against Sri Lanka A in May 2019.

Easwaran also got two reprieves en route to his double century, first he was dropped on 152 and then survived a catch off a no ball on 185.

Bengal skipper Manoj Tiwary scored 30 in what was seemed to be his final innings of his two-decade long career.

The veteran of 147 first-class and 169 List A matches was trapped lbw by Bihar spinner Ashutosh Aman.

The 38-year-old, who is also a junior minister of sports in Bengal cabinet, had announced earlier that he would call it quits after this match.

Brief Scores In Mumbai: Assam 84 and 108; 33 overs (Sumit Ghadigaonkar 30 not out; Shardul Thakur 4/31, Mohit Avasthi 2/10, Tushar Deshpande 2/37). Mumbai 272; 64.4 overs (Shivam Dube 121 not out; Dibakar Johri 5/74). Mumbai won by an innings and 80 runs. Points: Mumbai 7, Assam 0.

At Vizianagaram: Andhra 272; 96.4 overs (Ricky Bhui 87 not out, Maheep Kumar 81, Karan Shinde 43; Basil Thampi 4/48). Kerala 258/3; 81 overs (Sachin Baby 87, Rohan Kunnummal 61, Akshay Chandran 57, Krishna Prasad 43). Kerala trail by 14 runs.

At Kolkata: Bihar 95 and 32/1; 14 overs. Bengal 411/5 declared (Abhimanyu Easwaran 200 not out, Abhishek Porel 56, Manoj Tiwary 30). Bihar trail by 284 runs.

At Lucknow: Chhattisgarh 414; 145.5 overs (Sanjeet Desai 202, Amandeep Khare 114; Saurabh Kumar 5/95). Uttar Pradesh 110/3; 27 overs (Saurabh Kumar 55 batting, Nitish Rana 38 batting). UP trail by 304 runs. 

Debutant Vats, Dhull score half-centuries as Delhi end Day 2 on 187/2 vs Odisha

Yash Dhull scored an unbeaten 57 after debutant Gagan Vats hit an impressive 66 as Delhi ended the second day's play against Odisha at 187 for 2 in an inconsequential group D Ranji Trophy match. Odisha were all out for 440 in their first innings and Delhi still need 254 runs to ensure three points from the final match of the season in which there has been more lows than highs for the team from the national capital.

The Jamia Milia Islamia strip over the years has hardly produced any outright results unless the batting side committed harakiri and it won't be any different in this game too.

The high point of this match so far has been the performance of two debutants -- left-arm spinner Sumit Mathur (4/97), who bowled as many as 45.2 overs and left-handed opener Vats, who hit nine boundaries en route his 107-ball knock.

However, the third debutant leg-spinner Prince Choudhary (0/108 in 19 overs), the selection that raised eyebrows, was clobbered for the second day in a row.

Anuj Rawat, who opened the innings, scored an IPL-style 40 before perishing but young Dhull looked good during his unbeaten knock.

With no seam or swing on offer and deliveries keeping below knee roll, Dhull was able to play his favourite shots on the on-side and also hit a six over long-off off Jamala B Mahapatra's bowling.

Earlier, starting the day at 314 for 4, former Sunrisers Hyderabad all-rounder Biplab Samantray scored a patient hundred (110) after overnight centurion Subhransu Senapati (111) was dismissed at the start of the day.

Biplab and keeper Ashirwad Swain (46) added 111 runs for the sixth wicket as Odisha cruised along at 430 for 5 but then lost the last five wickets for only 10 runs.

Brief Scores In New Delhi: Odisha 1st Innings 440 (Subhransu Senapati 111, Biplab Samantray 110, Sumit Mathur 4/97). Delhi 1st Innings 187/2 (Gagan Vats 66, Yash Dhull 57).

In Indore: MP 200 and 2nd Innings 92/1 (Yash Dubey 57). J&K 1st Innings 242 (Abdul Samad 103, Sahil Lotra 38).

In Puducherry: HP 1st Innings 463 (Nikhil Gangta 108, Mukul Negi 55, Gaurav Yadav 2/123, Sidak Singh 4/155). Puducherry 1st Innings 170/7 (Akash Kargave 98, Gurvinder Singh 2/27).

In Dehradun: Uttarakhand 1st Innings 382 (Jiwanjot Singh 139, Aditya Tare 81, Lukman Meriwala 5/64) and 2nd Innings 29/2.

Baroda 1st Innings: 180 (Shaswat Rawat 93, Deepak Dhapola 5/43). 

Tamil Nadu pack off Punjab top-order after posting 435

Tamil Nadu took firm control of their Ranji Trophy Group C match by packing off the Punjab top-order after big hundreds by Baba Indrajith and Vijay Shankar powered the hosts to 435 in their first innings here on Saturday. Punjab were 141/4 at stumps on the second day, trailing by 294 runs.

Batting on 88 overnight, Shankar duly reached his century with the help of 12 fours and a six, while Indrajith went on to make 187 in 295 deliveries after resuming the day on 122.

Indrajith, who added 281 runs for the fourth wicket, found the fence 10 times and cleared it once.

During their marathon association, both Indrajith and Shankar did a lot of running, relying a lot on the singles and twos to keep the scoreboard ticking.

However, Tamil Nadu's lower-order batters failed to contribute significantly to their total after the dismissal of Shankar to off-spinner Jassinder Singh with the score reading 388 for five.

TN skipper Sai Kishore chipped in 20 before the home team's first innings came to an end in 131.4 overs.

Off-spinner Sukhwinder Singh was the most successful bowler for Punjab, finishing with figures of 4/99 in 31 overs.

There were two wickets apiece for Jassinder Singh and all-rounder Abhishek Sharma, who bowls left-arm spin.

In reply, at least three Punjab batters looked to have settled down nicely before losing their wickets.

Prabhsimran Singh was dismissed for 24, while Anmolpreet Singh and Nehal Wadhera got out after doing all the hard work, for 41 and 43 respectively.

At stumps, Mandeep Singh and wicketkeeper Anmol Malhotra were batting on 18 and 3 respectively.

Left-arm spinner Ajith Ram, who averages an exceptional 16.6 for his 46 wickets in nine matches, had Prabhsimran trapped in front of the wickets and bowled Wadhera to leave Punjab precariously placed at 131/4.

Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 1st innings 435 all out in 131.4 overs (Baba Indrajith 187, Vijay Shankar 130; Sukhwinder Singh 4/99) vs Karnataka 1st innings 141/4 in 46 overs (Anmolpreet Singh 41, Nehal Wadhera 43; Ajith Ram 2/34) ahead by 294 runs.

In Agartala: Tripura: 149 and 286/9 in 70 overs (Sudip Chatterjee 95, Ganesh Satish 62; Yuvraj Singh 4/84, Himanshu Sangwan 3/55) vs Railways 1st innings 105 all out in 37.3 overs (Arindam Ghosh not out 62; Manisankar Murasingh 5/28, Bikramjit Debnath 3/16) lead by 330 runs.

In Hubballi: Chandigarh 1st innings 267 all out in 106.4 overs (Karan Kaila 79; Hardik Raj 4/56, Vijaykumar Vyshak 4/77) vs Karnataka 1st innings 268/3 in 63 overs (Manish Pandey batting 102, Mayank Agarwal 57) trail by 1 run.

In Porvorim: Goa 1st innings 317 all out in 84.2 overs (Darshan Misal 89, Mohit Redkar 80; Chintan Gaja 3/56) vs Gujarat 1st innings 281/5 in 79 overs (Priyank Panchal batting 150) ahead by 36 runs.