Ranji round-up: Agarkar scripts Mumbai win

Mumbai: Riding on fine performances from veteran Ajit Agarkar and left-arm spinners Iqbal Abdulla and Harmeet Singh, Mumbai staged a remarkable comeback to defeat Himachal Pradesh by 85 runs in their Group A Super League Ranji Trophy match on Friday.

The hosts, who were bundled out for a paltry 162 in their first innings and conceded an 84-run lead, bowled out Himachal for 166 in 67 overs 13 minutes before tea after setting the visitors a target of 252 to win, thereby registering their first outright win in the tournament.

The chief architects of the victory for Mumbai were Agarkar, who top-scored for the hosts with 45 and 102 not out, and the duo of Iqbal and Harmeet, both claiming seven wickets in the match with the former also scoring a priceless half century in the second innings.

Himachal began the day at four for no loss needing another 248 runs to win. However, chances of an upset vanished in the first hour itself as their two openers were dismissed within the first 10 overs.

Sangram Singh (2) was the first to go losing his wicket due to good fielding by Rohit Sharma, while Bhavin Thakkar, who had scored a gritty 84 in the first essay, was caught behind off pacer Aavishkar Salvi.

In another game, hosts Karnataka salvaged three points by virtue of first innings lead in the Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match against Bengal that ended in a draw on Friday.

With the 199 run first innings lead Karnataka pocked three points and took their tally to eleven from three games, while Bengal, with one point from the encounter, have seven points from as many games.

Coming into bat this morning, Karnataka declared their first essay at the overnight score of 523 for nine with a hope of forcing an outright win.

But Bengal, adrift by 199 runs, batted with gumption to play out a draw at the Gangotri Glades platinum jubilee grounds.

Deep Dasgupta (54) and Arindam Das (31) provided a sound start, posting 64 runs for the first wicket.

The twosome batted with circumspection to ensure that Karnataka pace trio of R Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun and S Arvind ran out of steam in the first session.

Uttar Pradesh also secured three points by virtue of their slender six-run first innings lead against Baroda in their Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match that ended in tame draw.

Chasing an impossible 334 for victory with five overs left for the day, UP managed eight runs for the loss of one.

UP lost opener Tanmay Srivastava for a duck as he sneaked one to wicket-keeper Pinal Shah off Irfan Pathan (1/3) in the opening over. Shivkant Shukla (5 not out) and Mohammad Kaif (3 not out) were at the crease when stumps were drawn.

UP had managed 240 runs in their first essay in reply to Baroda's 234, thereby getting the vital lead and three points, while Baroda pocketed one point.

With an outright result out of contention on the final day, Baroda skipper Conor Williams (96), Rakesh Solanki (42) and Yusuf Pathan (78) made full use of the opportunity and got some vital batting practice after resuming at 60 for three.

Williams struck a sedate 96 from 230 balls while Pathan made a fiery 78 off 79 balls as Baroda were all out for 331.

Praveen picked four wickets while Bhuvneshwar Kumar got three wickets for the hosts.

Baroda innings rotated around Williams, who played a watchful innings which had 11 fours. In contrast, Yusuf's stay at the crease was entertaining as he hit six fours and two huge sixes to somewhat liven up the boring encounter.

The Group A league match between Goa and Rajasthan in Margaon ended in a tame draw with the hosts bagging three points by virtue of their first innings lead.

Rain played spoilsport on Thursday, forcing the match to be called off after tea which saw 34 overs lost. Today, play started two hours late due to a wet outfield.

Goa, resuming at overnight score of 7 for no loss, were 212 for 9 in 65 overs when umpires called off play before the mandatory overs after consulting both the captains. Robin D'Souza (40 not out) and Kshemol Waigankar (9 not out) were at the crease at that time.

Swapnil Asnodkar, Goa's batting mainstay, started with a flourish, hitting the first ball to the fence. He, however, missed his half century by three runs when he was caught and bowled by Madhur Khatri.

Pankaj Singh got rid of Sagun Kamat for 13 and struck again when he had S Sriram trapped leg before for nought to have Goa 26 for two at lunch.

Gajendra Singh was the pick of the bowlers for the visitors, claiming four wickets.

Goa, who made 338 in the first innings, took their tally to seven points from three matches. Rajasthan took their tally to six points from one win, a loss and a draw.

The rain-marred match between Railways and Orissa ended in a dull draw at Railway Stadium with both teams earning one point each.

Railways, whose first innings was halted by rains at a score of 297 for eight in the post-lunch session on Wednesday, declared their innings at 307 for eight.

In reply, the Orissa batsmen mustered 132 for four.

Not even a single ball was bowled yestreday due to wet outfield as heavy showers lashed the city during the night.

The visitors added ten runs to their total before declaring with wicket-keeper Mahesh Rawat (39) and debutant Krishnakant Upadhyay (49) remaining unbeaten.

Veteran medium pacer Debasis Mohanty (3/42) was Orissa's most successful bowler while Debutant Alok Sahoo and Basanta Mohanty claimed two wickets each.

Orissa needed to bat fast to overhaul the first innings total of their rivals and earn bonus points but a disastrous start poured water on their hopes.

Opener Bikash Pati (10) was the first to go when he edged one off S G Gehlot to stumper Rawat at a total of 22. Niranjan Behera (7) followed him when Sanjib Sanyal castled him.

In Rajkot, Kedar Jadhav's scored a gritty unbeaten 111 to help Maharashtra avoid an innings defeat and salvage a draw against Saurashtra in a Ranji Trophy Super League Group 'B' match.

Resuming at the overnight score of 266 for seven, the last three Maharashtra batsman added just 23 runs as Saurashtra managed to enforce the follow after bundling out the visitors for 289 runs.

But Maharashtra once again displayed a poor batting show, losing half of their side for 162, but for Jadhav's ton defeat was inevitable for the visitors.

For Saurashtra, Sandip Jobanputra was the wrecker-in-chief, cleaning up the Maha tail with figures four for 55 in the first innings. Left-arm spin duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Rakesh Dhruve shared two wickets each conceding 47 runs and 49 runs respectively.

Maharashtra resumed their second essay on a disastrous note, losing openers Harshad Khadiwale (3) and Rohan Bhosale (1) cheaply to Jobanputra and Jadeja respectively.

But then came in Jadhav, who seemed determined to use the most of the opportunity, reaching his fifty in 88 balls with the help of ten fours and completed his century in style, lifting Rakesh Dhruve straight over his head for a six.

Vidarbha secured three vital points by virtue of first innings lead after their rain-marred Ranji Trophy Plate division Group A match against Tripura ended in a dull draw.

Resuming at the overnight score of 40 for two, Vidarbha declared their innings at 217 for six, thereby setting the visitors a stiff target of 289 runs in 44 overs.

Skipper Alind Naidu top scored for the hosts with 76, while Shalabh Srivastav remained unbeaten on 49.

The Tripura bowlers lacked bite as the Vidarbha batsmen showed greater application on a much improved wicket on the final day.

Medium pacer Wilkin Mota (2/32) and Subal Choudhary (2/39) shared the spoils for the visitors.

In reply, Tripura could manage barely 73 runs for the loss of four wickets from 40 overs. Mota made 36 for the visitors while medium pacer S Wagh claimed two wickets giving away 37 runs.