Rajasthan set to oust champions Mumbai
There is one more day to go in the Ranji Trophy quarter-final between Mumbai and Rajasthan, but the match is as good as over for the perennial favourites of Indian domestic cricket. The underdogs are on the verge of making history.
There is one more day to go in the Ranji Trophy quarter-final between Mumbai and Rajasthan, but the match is as good as over for the perennial favourites of Indian domestic cricket. The underdogs are on the verge of making history.
Building on the platform they had laid a day earlier, Rajasthan batted Mumbai out of the match by reaching 484 for seven on Sunday.
They have already taken a first-innings lead of 232, which will in all likelihood prove decisive and knock Mumbai out. It will also make Rajasthan the first team from Plate Division to reach the semi-finals since this format was introduced in 2008-09.
In desperate need for wickets, Mumbai were kept waiting for almost 20 overs by the overnight pair of Vineet Saxena and skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar, who completed his century in this period. He fell after adding 240 with Saxena for the second wicket and when the opener fell, Rajasthan were 314 for four. Rajasthan got two more useful partnerships which shut the door on Mumbai.
Rashmi Ranjan Parida and Ashok Menaria added 78 for the fifth wicket and then, Menaria and Vivek Yadav put together 83 more for the sixth. Menaria, a former India U-19 captain, struck five sixes and four fours in 136-ball unbeaten 71.
“It’s team work that has brought us here,” said Kanitkar. “We have taken it one match at a time and whenever the team needed, either the batsmen or bowlers delivered,” said the former Maharashtra batsman.
“It feels great to beat Mumbai - although we have a day to go - because they are such a strong side. I didn’t tell our players anything new before this match. It was understood that Mumbai had more to lose. Bowling them out for 252 was crucial and we followed it up with two days of solid batting.”
Scores: Mumbai 252. Rajasthan 484/7 (Vineet Saxena 143, Hrishikesh Kanitkar 113, Ashok Menaria 71 n.o, Rashmi Ranjan Parida 53, Abhishek Nayar 4/97).
Madhya Pradesh fight
Indore: Madhya Pradesh scored at a brisk pace but couldn’t take their overall lead beyond 151 with three second innings wickets remaining against Karnataka. The visitors closed their first innings 361 for a lead of 161 runs, which might prove decisive in the end.
Scores: Madhya Pradesh 200 & 312/7 (Naman Ojha 68, S Abbas Ali 64, Mohnish Mishra 45); Karnataka 361 (CM Gautam 51, Jalaj Saxena 4/43).
Baroda well placed
Vadodara: Sankalp Vohra (34 n.o.) and Munaf Patel (36) shared a last-wicket stand of 70 to give Baroda a first-innings lead of 168 against Railways.
scores: Railways 248 & 220/4 (Prashant Awasthi 85 n.o, Shreyas Khanolkar 58). Baroda 416 (JP Yadav 3/63, Sanjay Bangar 3/62).
Up to net run rate
Rohtak: Bad light and fog allowed just 24 overs on Sunday in the match between Haryana and Tamil Nadu. Net run rate is likely to decide the outcome of this match. Scores: Haryana 379/6 decl. Tamil Nadu 72/2.
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