Ranji Trophy Round-up: Tyagi shines as Railways lead Saurashtra by 130 runs

For Railways, Tyagi was impressive in the second outing with his unbeaten innings of 73 in 182-balls. While all others batters failed, 18-year-old Tyagi kept the score-board ticking.

Riding on an unbeaten fifty by young Harsh Tyagi, Railways lead Saurashtra by 130 runs at stumps on the penultimate day of the four-day Ranji Trophy game against hosts Saurashtra Wednesday.

File image of cricketer Abhinav Mukund in action during a Test match. (AFP)

For Railways, Tyagi was impressive in the second outing with his unbeaten innings of 73 in 182-balls. While all others batters failed, 18-year-old Tyagi kept the score-board ticking.

His knock ensured that Railways managed to get past the 250-run-mark and ended the third day on 278/8. After opting to bat, Railways were bowled out for 200 in their first outing.

Saurashtra then took a crucial 148-run first-innings lead with Ravindra Jadeja remaining unbeaten on 178 as they posted 348 on the board.

Resuming the day on 344/8, Saurashtra managed to add just four runs. But their bowlers rose to the occasion in the second innings, grabbing eight wickets and keeping afloat chances of an outright win.

Slow-arm left-arm orthodox bowler Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (4-79) did the bulk of the damage. Ravindra Jadeja claimed 3 wickets but conceded 104 runs.

Come tomorrow, Saurashtra will aim to scuttle out Railways as quickly as possible and then chase the target.

Brief Scores:

At Rajkot: Railways 200 and 278/8 (Harsh Tyagi 73 not out, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 4-79) versus Saurashtra 348 all out (Ravindra Jadeja 178 not out, Harsh Tyagi 3-78).

At Vadodara: Baroda 322 and 367/3 (Vishnu Solanki 156 batting, Kedar Devdhar 91) versus Maharashtra 268 all out.(Naushad Shaikh 65, Chirag Khurana 56, Swapnil Singh 5-78).

At Valsad: Gujarat 538/7 Declared (Dhruv Raval 116 not out, Manprit Juneja 107, Vishal Kushwah 3-92) versus Chhattisgarh 366/7 (Vishal Kushwah 117 batting, Harpreet Singh Bhatia 110, Arzan Nagwasalla 3-66).

At Nagpur: Vidarbha 307 and 72/2 (Ganesh Satish 24 batting, Wasim Jaffer 21 batting) against Karnataka 378 all out (Dega Nischal 113, B R Sharath 103, Aditya Sarvate 5-91).

Group B - Abhinav Mukund’s ton leads TN reply to massive Hyderabad total

Test discard Abhinav Mukund led Tamil Nadu’s riposte to Hyderabad’s massive first innings total of 565 for 8 declared with a superb ton (101 batting) as the host reached 163 for 2 at stumps on day three of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group ‘B’ match here Wednesday.

Hyderabad skipper P Akshath Reddy could add only two runs to his overnight score of 248 and the team declared at 565 after C V Milind (33 not out) and Mehdi Hasan (14 not out) put on 27 runs for the ninth wicket.

M Mohammed was the best bowler for Tamil Nadu, picking up 3 for 102 while K Vignesh and Rahil Shah scalped two each.

Tamil Nadu skipper B Indrajith used eight bowlers in the innings as the visiting batsmen piled on their misery on a flat wicket.

Left-handed opener Mukund looked in fine form, striking the ball all round the wicket. He and fellow opener M Kaushik Gandhi (21 off 117 balls, 1X4) put on 80 runs to set the platform for Tamil Nadu.

Mukund was the dominant partner as he reached his 50 in 116 deliveries. He was on the lookout for runs despite losing Gandhi and No.3 batsman B Aparajith (4). Both wickets were taken by C V Milind (2 for 19).

Mukund, who has so far hit 15 fours, and captain B Indrajith (24 batting) added 69 runs and saw the team through to close of play without any further slip-ups.

Brief scores:

Hyderabad 565 for 8 in 186 overs (Akshath Reddy 250, B Sandeep 130, M Mohammed 3 for 102, K Vignesh 2 for 102) vs Tamil Nadu 163 for 2 in 79 overs (Abhinav Mukund 101 batting, C V Milind 2 for 19).

At Kolkata: Bengal 510 for 9 declared in 149.3 overs (Manoj Tiwary 201 not out, Koushik Ghosh 100, A R Easwran 86, Shubham Sharma 5 for 59) vs Madhya Pradesh 254 for 5 in 86 overs (Naman Ojha 74, Rajat Patidar 49, Anustup Majumdar 2 for 20).

At Thiruvananthapuram: Andhra Pradesh 254 in 99.4 overs (Ricky Bhui 109, Shiv Charan Singh 45, Akshay KC 4 for 64) and 102 for 8 in 46 overs (Jalaj Saxena 7 for 44) vs Kerala 328 all out in 119.2 overs (Jalaj Saxena 133, K B Arun Karthick 56, Rohan Prem 49, Manish Golamaru 3 for 81, Shoaib Mohamed 3 for 89).

Group C - Jammu and Kashmir trail Goa by 222 runs

Jammu and Kashmir have a mountain to climb as they trail Goa by 222 runs at stumps on day 3 of their Elite Group C Ranji Trophy game on Wednesday.

Asked to bat first, Goa rode on a century by opener Snehal Kauthankar (130) to post a mammoth 468/9 (declared) in their first innings.

Kauthankar, batting at his over-night score of 106, added another 24 runs to his tally and remained unbeaten. He laced his knock with 24 boundaries.

Jammu and Kashmir had an uphill task to gain a first-innings lead, but they slumped to 246/7 at stumps on the penultimate day of the four-day game.

For J&K, their opener Shubham Khajuria (53) struck a half-century, but three other top-order batsmen, Ahmad Omar Bandey (25), Ian Chauhan (37) and Paras Sharma (22), failed to convert their starts into big scores.

But all-rounder and skipper Irfan Pathan, who came in at number 7, remained unbeaten on 42 and will look to hold the fort on the last day. Left-handed Pathan has company of Amir Aziz (22 batting) but with just three wickets remaining Goa are looking poised to take the first innings lead.

For Goa, Lakshay Garg (2-77) and Amogh Desai (2-23) picked two wickets each.

Brief Scores:

At Porvorim: Goa 468/9 Declared (Snehal Kauthankar 130 not out, Sumiran Amonkar 73, Irfan Pathan 3-69) versus Jammu and Kashmir 246/7 (Shubham Khajuria 53, Irfan Pathan 42 batting, Amogh Desai 2-23).

At Bhubaneswar: Odisha 256 and 180/7 (Sandeep Pattnaik 46, Shivam Mavi 3-43) versus Uttar Pradesh 437 all out (Aksh Deep Nath 159, Basant Mohanty 6-62).

At Agartala: Assam 327 and 239/6 Declared (Riyan Parag 80) versus Tripura 139 and 68/4 (S K Patel 20, Ranjeet Mali 2-30).

At Jaipur: Services 228 and 264 (Rahul Singh Gahlaut 107) against Rajasthan 136 and 95/0 (A V Gautam 53 batting, Chetan Bist 39 batting). Rajasthan need 262 runs to win.