Samarth Singh (70) and Dhruv Jurail (55) helped Uttar Pradesh take a crucial first innings lead of nine runs against Assam in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group G. In reply, by the end of the second day’s play, Assam had scored five runs for one wicket. The Uttar Pradesh team started playing ahead of 10 runs without loss on Friday. Madhav Kaushik (08) was dismissed early but Samarth took over the team by sharing a 121 run partnership with Priyam Garg (46). Although Akshdeep Nath (09) and Rinku Singh (06) could not walk, Dhruv Jurail also played a key role in getting the lead. Samarth hit ten fours in his innings of 123 balls. For Assam, Mukhtar Hussain took three wickets for 51 runs while Ranjit, Siddharth and Riyan Parag got two wickets each.
Himanshu’s century for Haryana Captain Himanshu Rana’s 113 not out century and an unbroken 139-run partnership for the third wicket with Yashu Sharma (69 not out), Haryana, in reply to Punjab’s 444, won Group F four times till the end of the second day’s play. Wicket made 204 runs for three wickets. Rana, who scored his maiden century against Tripura in the team’s last match, hit 16 fours in his unbeaten 113 off 177 balls. However, Haryana’s team is still 240 runs behind Punjab with two days’ play left. Earlier, Punjab started the day at 367 for five but they lost the remaining five wickets adding 76 runs in the next 23 overs. Mandeep Singh scored 159 runs for Punjab. For Haryana, new off-spinner Aman Kumar took four wickets while fast bowler Ajit Chahal took three wickets.
Himachal bundles out Tripura for 202 runs
In the other Group F match, Tripura were bowled out for 202 in reply to Himachal Pradesh’s 365 runs. KB for Tripura Pawan top scored with 34 runs while Rajat Dey contributed 30 runs. Himachal Pradesh left-arm spinner Mayank Dagar took five wickets for 55 runs in 21.2 overs. Earlier, Himachal Pradesh, playing ahead of 304 for six, lost all their wickets till 365 runs. Captain Ankit Kalsi scored 147 runs in 271 balls.
J&K were reduced to 93 in the first innings
Fast bowler Pramukh Krishna (6/35) dazzled with a dazzling performance as Karnataka bundled out Jammu and Kashmir for just 93 runs in the first innings on the second day of the Elite Group C match to take the total lead at stumps to 337 runs. Krishna, who recently played in India’s ODI team, shook the batting order of Jammu and Kashmir, reducing the rival team to just 29.5 overs. Kamran Iqbal (35) and Jatin Wadhawan (25) made remarkable scores for Jammu and Kashmir. Earlier, Karnataka started playing ahead of 268 for eight in the morning. Karun Nair took his 152-run knock to 175 as Karnataka’s first innings was reduced to 302 runs. Karnataka scored 128 for two in the second innings with the help of R Samarth (62) and Devdutt Padikkal (49).
Strong lead for Baroda against Chandigarh
With the help of Vishnu Solanki (103) and Jyotsinal (96), Baroda made 398 for seven in an Elite Group B match in reply to Chandigarh’s 168 in the first innings. In this way, he has taken a strong lead of 230 runs. Pratyuksh Kumar also played an innings of 43 runs. Jyotsinal and Pratyuksh shared a 127-run partnership for the second wicket. Vishnu hit 12 fours in his innings of 161 balls. For Chandigarh, Jagjit Singh took three wickets for 91 runs and Gurindan took two wickets for 98 runs.
Uttarakhand missed out on a dream century
With the help of Swapnil Singh (97) and Dikshanshu Negi (61), Uttarakhand scored a good 337 runs in the first innings against Rajasthan. In reply, Rajasthan scored 117 runs for five wickets. Uttarakhand started the second day ahead at 228 for five. Swapnil Singh hit six fours and a six in 301 balls while Negi hit eight boundaries in 121 balls. Aniket Chaudhary and Tanveer took three wickets each for Rajasthan.