Round up of the second day’s action of the third round of the Ranji Trophy Super League
Cricinfo staff10-Dec-2006
ScorecardFast bowlers Syed Sahabuddin and D Kalyankrishna demolished Saurashtra for 87 as Andhra took control on the second day at Rajkot. Both bowlers shared all ten wickets to fall as Sahabuddin ended with figures of 7 for 37. Opener Kanaiya Vaghela was the only batsman to offer some resistance, scoring 30 off 134 balls, as the innings was wrapped up as early as the 46th over. The Andhra batting too wobbled, as Sandeep Jobanputra and Sandip Maniar took two wickets each to reduce them to 87 for 4 at stumps. However, Andhra were still in a strong position, ahead by 215 runs.
ScorecardRajasthan were in deep trouble in reply to Maharashtra’s imposing total of 527 for 5 declared, losing four quick wickets at the end of the day. Dheeraj Jadhav continued the good work from the first day going on to 171 while Hrishikesh Kanitkar, overnight on 93, was unlucky to fall three short of his century. Sreedharan Sriram, who moved from Tamil Nadu this season, helped himself to a century and his stand of 109 with Yogesh Takwale, helped push the score towards 500. Rajasthan lost the important wicket of Vikram Solanki early as Maharashtra’s opening bowlers, Anupam Sanclecha and Aditya Dole, made early inroads.
ScorecardKarnataka’s batsmen had a decent outing in the second day at Kanpur, edging ahead of Uttar Pradesh’s first-innings score of 264 by 32 runs with three wickets in hand. Karnataka could have ended the day in a stronger position had the batsmen converted their starts. Barrington Rowland was dismissed shortly after reaching his half-century while the middle order, including captain Yere Goud looked set to reach their respective fifties before giving it away. Mohammad Kaif, fresh from his 91, contributed with the ball as well, picking up two wickets. Earlier, R Vinay Kumar wrapped up the UP innings with a five-wicket haul.
ScorecardBoosted by Mayank Tehlan’s unbeaten ton, Delhi made a strong reply to Baroda’s total, leading by 12 with seven wickets in hand. Tehlan, cousin of Virender Sehwag, came in at the fall of Aakash Chopra’s wicket early and added 55 with Shikhar Dhawan for the second wicket. Mithun Manhas, the captain, also had a good outing in the middle, scoring a half century and his stand of 135 with Tehlan helped Delhi seize the initiative. Tehlan’s second first-class century included 15 boundaries, while Manhas’s knock of 70 included 10 fours.
ScorecardAfter posting 287 with much effort, Haryana ended the day in a good position reducing Tamil Nadu to 80 for 3. After a dull first day, in which the Haryana batsmen crawled at less than two an over, Amit Mishra injected some life with a fluent 50 off 78 balls. The Tamil Nadu spinners, C Suresh and R Ashwin took four wickets each and toiled for 46 and 48 overs respectively as the tail – in particular Gaurav Vashisht who made 6 off 75 balls – gritted it out. Openers M Vijay and S Anirudha got Tamil Nadu off to a good start with a stand of 60 but lost three quick wickets to peg them back.
ScorecardAfter bundling out Hyderabad for 205, Gujarat rounded off another good day as their batsmen, led by Niraj Patel’s unbeaten 109 and Azharuddin Bhilakia’s half century, ended at 225 for 2. Patel, the left-handed batsman who’s been a consistent performer in the last few seasons, added 141 with opener Bilakhia , who made an obdurate 72. They came together after the fall of the first wicket at 35 and took the score to 176 as Hyderabad struggled to get a breakthrough. Patel faced 210 balls in his knock which included 11 fours. Arjun Yadav and Kaushik Reddy were the only successful bowlers for Hyderabad.
ScorecardPankaj Dharmani, Punjab’s most experienced campaigner, carved out a solid 144 to take his side to 353 against Mumbai at Mohali. Resuming on 220 for 6, Dharmani batted till the end, as the Mumbai bowlers struggled to mop up the tail. Ishan Malhatra added 45 with Dharmani for the seventh wicket; Gagandeep Singh frustrated the bowlers even more with a 90-ball 24. Swapnil Hazare, the fast bowler, bagged the last three wickets to finish with a five-wicket haul. In reply, Mumbai ended the day at 21 for no loss.