Ranji Trophy 2015-16: Review of all the 6th round matches

Ranji Trophy 2015-16: Review of all the 6th round matches: The 6th round of the Ranji Trophy witnessed numerous victories, along with gritty draws.

Pragyan Ojha turned the tables for Bengal, while Krishna Das guided Assam to an emphatic victory. Robin Uthappa continued his good form, while Stuart Binny scalped vital wickets.

Irfan Pathan’s all-round heroics went in vain, as Gujarat notched up an innings win.Asnodkar shined for Goa, while Wasim Jaffer reached a record-breaking milestone.

Group A

1. Karnataka climbs to the second spot

The defending champions registered their second straight win, as Karnataka weathered the rain to hand an innings defeat to Odisha.

Govinda Podder was the only turn out performer for Odisha, as he smashed 153 in the first innings. Robin Uthappa continued his good work, hitting 148 to lift the hosts to 400.

Trailing by 168 runs,  Odisha could only manage 104 on the board, as Stuart Binny scalped 4 wickets for 34 runs to hand an innings defeat o he visitors.

RV Uthappa (Karnataka) was awarded the man of the match for his strokeful 148.

Karnataka 400 for 9 dec (Uthappa 148, Agarwal 78, Pradhan 3-94) beat Odisha 232 (Poddar 153, Gopal 4-75, Suchith 3-56) and 104 (Sarangi 44, Binny 4-34, Gopal 3-43) by an innings and 64 runs

2. Assam pockets an easy win

Rohtak witnessed a low scoring affair, as Assam knocked off the remaining 38 runs on the final day of the Ranji encounter against Haryana.

Krishna Das scalped 10 in the match, as Haryana were floored for 168 and 111. Assam grabbed 6 points and moved up to 3rd place in the points table.

K Das (Assam) received the man of the match award for his 10 wickets.

Assam 120 (Gokul 43, Hooda 4-27) and 160 for 4 (Verma 51*, Karthik 48) beat Haryana 168 (Rana 56, Sharma 45, Krishna 6-56, Goswami 4-38) and 111 (Arup 6-39, Krishna 4-48) by six wickets

3. Bengal registers first win of the season

Bengal shot Vidarbha out for 191, in their chase of 297, to secure their first win of the season in Kolkata. Beginning the day at 3 for 0, Veer Pratap Singh dismissed both the openers; Wasim Jaffer was trapped in front in the second over of the day and Faiz Fazal was caught.

Ganesh Satish and S Badrinath brought Vidarbha back into the game with a solid 67-run stand before Pragyan Ojha had Badrinath caught behind, initiating a collapse as Vidarbha slumped from 82 for 2 to 111 for 6.

Ojha picked up 11 wickets in the match, as Bengal clinched the match by 105 runs.

Bengal 334 (Chatterjee 116, Easwaran 58, Mondal 56, Wakhare 4-85) and 164 (Tiwary 63, Wakhare 5-61) beat Vidarbha 202 (Fazal 63, Wagh 60*, Ojha 7-58) and 191 (Satish 96, Ojha 4-60, Pratap Singh 3-23) by 105 runs

4. Delhi wraps up the encounter under 2 days

Delhi chased down 27 within 46 minutes to stamp their authority over Maharashtra. Navdeep Saini picked up 6 wickets to wrap the visitors up for 80 runs in the first innings

In reply, Delhi were lifted by Dhruv Shorey’s century, as they took a 150 runs lead. The visitors could only manage 176 in their 2nd innings, as  the Delhi batters did the rest.

DR Shorey (Delhi) received the player of the match.

Delhi 230 (Shorey 104*, Rana 59, Fallah 5-45, Mundhe 4-100) and 30 for 1 beatMaharashtra 80 (Saini 6-32) and 176 (Manan 4-47) by nine wickets

Group B

1. Saxena guides MP

Jalaj Saxena displayed the second-best figures in Ranji Trophy history, taking 16 for 154 to help Madhya Pradesh beat Railways by nine wickets inside three days.

After collecting 8 for 96 in the first innings, Jalaj ran through Railways’ line-up again in the second, picking up 8 for 58 to dismiss the team for 131 in 51.1 overs.

Chasing a target of 112, Madhya Pradesh won the match in the 20th over by 9 wickets.

Jalaj S Saxena (Madhya Pradesh) received the man of the match award.

Madhya Pradesh 276 (Patidar 113, Karn Sharma 5-102) and 112 for 1 (Jalaj 47*) beatRailways 256 (Wakaskar 73, Cheluvaraj 50, Jalaj 8-96) and 131 (Jalaj 8-58) by nine wickets.

2. Rain plays spoilsport

Heavy rain in Chennai washed out play for the second straight day between Tamil Nadu and Andhra. Tamil Nadu is currently fourth in the table with 15 points, while Andhra is sixth with nine.

Tamil Nadu 0 for 0 trail Andhra 203 by 203 runs

3. UP holds on for a draw

Mumbai were boosted by Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer’s century, as the hosts piled up 610 runs in the first innings.

Uttar Pradesh in reply managed 440, while Himanshu Asnoda missed his century by 8 runs. Piyush Chawla also chipped in with a fruitful contribution of 80.

Having failed to generate the lead, UP batsmen batted for 45 overs, scoring  140 runs for the loss of 1 wicket.

SS Iyer (Mumbai) received the man of the match award.

Mumbai 610 for 9 dec (Iyer 137, Rohit 113, Lad 89) drew with Uttar Pradesh 440 (Asnora 92, Chawla 84, Nayar 4-63) and 140 for 1 (Asnora 68, Umang 62)

 4. Tamil Nadu faces dull draw courtesy rain

Rain finally made way for play after washing out the second, third and much of the fourth day’s play but left just enough time to see Tamil Nadu seek first-innings points by pursuing Andhra’s total of 203. Pradeep scored a gritty 78, while Chandrasekhar took 4 wickets.

AG Pradeep was awarded the man of the match.

Andhra 203 (Pradeep 78, Bharat 56, Chandrasekar 4-41) drew with Tamil Nadu 164 for 7 (Indrajith 43, Sathish 33)

5. Gujarat registers massive win

Gujarat took seven Baroda wickets in 37.4 overs to earn a bonus point with an innings-and-46-run win on the last day in Valsad.

Baroda started the day on 81 for 4 with Ambati Rayudu and Yusuf Pathan, still trailing by 172 runs, and could score only 126 more to finish the match without many positives while Gujarat got seven.

Irfan Pathan’s all-round show went in vain, as Gujarat pushed for a win.

AR Patel (Gujarat) bagged the man of the match

Group C

1. Saurashtra missed out on their fifth consecutive win

Saurashtra couldn’t make it 5 in a row, as they failed to chase down 281. They were placed at 223-5 as stumps were called.

Asnodkar scored a vital century for Goa, Barot missed out on a century for Saurashtra by 7 runs.Amit Yadav picked up 7 wickets in the match. Darshan Misal scored a century in the first innings.

AA Barot (Saurashtra) received the man of the match award.

Goa 239 (Misal 106, Jadeja 3-41) and 299 for 7 dec. (Asnodkar 104, Kauthankar 58, Makvana 3-85) drew with Saurashtra 258 (Barot 56, Rituraj 5-70) and 223 for 5 (Barot 93, Jackson 55, Yadav 3-52)

2. Dharamshala witnessed a draw

More than half of the day was lost due to bad light as the match ended in a draw, with both sides having to settle for one point each in Dharamsala.

Services, who resumed on 344 for 3 in response to Himachal’s 531, lost overnight centurions Rajat Paliwal (107) and Yashpal Singh(115) early as Himachal nurtured hopes of taking a lead.

But they were blocked, first by Vikas Hathwala (38) and Khalid Ahmed (35*), and then by bad light as Services were on 448 for 8 when the light that forced players off the field failed to improve before the cut-off time.

Paras Dogra received the man of the match for his record-setting double century.

Himachal Pradesh 531 (Dogra 227, Gangta 98, Pathania 3-108) drew with Services 448 for 8 (Yashpal 115, Paliwal 107, Nirmohi 3-62)

3. Kerala settles for a draw

Needing 228 to win over a session, Tripura were on 52 for no loss when bad light ended play early as the hosts picked up three points. Sandeep picked up six wickets, as Kerala enjoyed a 110 run lead. Prem scored a century for Kerala, while Bose stroked a well crafted half century.

PR Prem (Kerala) earned the man of the match for his century.

Kerala 347 (Prem 118, Baby 70, Dutta 5-50) and 17 for 4 dec. (Prem 72, Murasingh 3-57) drew with Tripura 236 (Bose 62, Warrier 6-96) and 53 for 0

4. Jharkhand fetches a draw

Ian Dev Singh’s gutsy 126 was the only positive mark for Jammu & Kashmir after they were made to follow-on by Jharkhand in Jamshedpur.

The visitors, who were bowled out for 309 in response to Jharkhand’s 551 for 8, achieved largely on the back of centuries from Ishan Kishan and Anand Singh, were 265 for 4 when the captains decided to head back

Ian Dev’s efforts were complemented first by opener Shubham Khajuria (77), and then later by Mithun Manhas, who made 50 to go with his 98 in the first innings. J&K are at the sixth spot, while Jharkhand are only a shade better at No. 5.

Kaushal Singh (Jharkhand) received the man of the match award.

Jharkhand 551 for 8 dec (Anand 124, Kishan 109, Jaggi 93) drew with Jammu and Kashmir 309 (Manhas 98, Kaushal 4-38) and 265 for 4 (ID Singh 126, Khajuria 77)