Ranji Trophy Round-Up: Nitish Reddy Fails With Bat As Vidarbha Take First-Innings Lead Against Andhra

All-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, whose place in the Indian team has become a subject of intense debate of late, failed to capitalise on his start for Andhra in their Ranji Trophy Group A match against Vidarbha at Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh on Friday. At stumps on the second day, Vidarbha were 4 for no loss in their second innings after having taken a crucial first-inning lead of 67 runs by bowling out Andhra for 228. The reigning champions led by 71 runs at the close of play, having resumed the day on 267 for seven in their first innings.

Vidarbha had scored 295 in their first innings.

Walking into the middle with Andhra in a spot of bother at 118 for five, the young Reddy got the start he was looking for after being released from the India squad following the recent ODI series against New Zealand, but fell after reaching 35 off 48 balls.

Reddy's departure made things worse for Andhra, who was banking on the all-rounder to take them to safety, as they slid to 166 for seven with still a long way to go to match Vidarbha's total.

Among Andhra's significant contributors with the bat, Saurabh Kumar struck 62 at number eight while opener Abhisehk reddy made 73.

Darshan Nalkande, Nachiket Bhute, Aditya Thakare and Parth Rekhade picked up two wickets each for Vidarbha.

Earlier in the day, pacer Kalidindi Raju finished with impressive figures of 5/62 to help Andhra keep Vidarbha's first-innings total within 300 after middle-order batter Yash Rathod had made fine 115 off 191 balls.

Sudip scores maiden double ton as Shami, Akash Deep give Bengal control

Veteran Bengal left-hander Sudip Chatterjee scored his first-ever double hundred in his 14th year in first-class cricket before a pace attack comprising Mohammed Shami and Akash Deep blew away Services on the second day of their Group C Ranji Trophy match at  Kalyani, West Bengal. Batting on 140 overnight, Chatterjee completed his maiden double ton -- 209 -- off 318 deliveries in his 85th first-class appearance with Bengal posting a healthy 519 in their first essay.

On the second day, it was his stand of 147 for the sixth wicket with Shakir Habib Gandhi (91 not out) that took Bengal past the 500-run mark.

An already deflated Services then lost wickets at regular intervals as Shami (2/27 in 11 overs) and Akash (3/31 in 7 overs) in the company of young seamer Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal (3/29) reduced Services to 126 for 8 when stumps were drawn.

With 393 runs ahead and two wickets to get, Bengal coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla would certainly instruct skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran to enforce follow-on and go for seven points. If Bengal get six or seven points against Services, they would be all but assured of a place in the knockouts even with one more match against Haryana yet to be played.

Chatterjee found an able ally in Gandhi as the duo scored runs with ease. Chatterjee's innings ended when he was caught by Vineet Dhankar off left-arm spinner Arjun Sharma.

His innings had 18 fours and a six but once he was dismissed, Gandhi was left stranded nine short of a well deserved hundred, with the tail folding up quickly.

When Services batted, Shami cleaned up left-handed Gaurav Kocchar and former Delhi keeper-batter Mohit Ahlawat, both of whom couldn't comprehend the movement off the surface.

While Suraj accounted for the other middle-order batters, Akash Deep hurried the batsmen with away going deliveries as Gandhi behind stumps and Anushtup Majumdar at slips held on to the catches. The third victim was bowled when the delivery came in.

Suchith, Rawat give Uttarakhand lead

Jagadeesha Suchith (84 batting) and keeper Saurabh Rawat (80 batting) added 171 runs for the unbroken seventh wicket to give Uttarakhand a crucial first innings lead over Tripura in another group C game in Agartala.

Replying to Tripura's first innings score of 266, Uttarakhand were reduced to 128 for 6 at one stage, largely due to incisive bowling from medium pacer Manishankar Murasingh (3/47), but Suchuth and Saurabh showed composure while batting for almost 47 overs.

Yuvraj, Ankit put Haryana in command

Yuvraj Singh (70 batting) and skipper Ankit Kumar (50) scored half-centuries as Haryana reached 164 for 3 against Assam at the end of second day's play in another group C match in Fulung.

Earlier, Assam's first innings ended at 247 after having started the day at 187 for 6. For Haryana, India international Anshul Kamboj took 4 for 45 while Aman Kumar scalped 3 wickets.

Gujarat facing innings defeat against Railways

All-rounder Zubair Ali struck seven sixes in his 101-ball-104 as Railways put up a steady first innings score of 424, taking a huge 249-run first innings lead against Gujarat on the second day of their group C game in Nadiad.

Earlier, Gujarat were bowled out for 175 in their first innings. At stumps, the hosts were 20 for no loss, still needing 229 runs to avoid innings defeat.

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