Punjab, Assam, and Delhi scored outright victories on the fourth and final day of the second round of the Ranji Trophy on Monday.
At Mohali, Punjab downed Bengal by an innings and 27 runs to secure a bonus point. The result propelled Punjab to the top of Group ‘A’ with 14 points. Resuming on 25 for one, Bengal’s hopes of making Punjab bat again was shattered by seamers Manpreet Grewal (five for 41) and Siddarth Kaul (four for 58). The side was bowled out for 226.
Ten-wicket haul for Konwar
The see-sawing Assam-Jharkhand clash in Jamshedpur eventually went the former’s way, Assam winning the contest by 53 runs. Pursuing a target of 213 runs, Jharkhand, which began the day on 56 for two, came unstuck against the spin combine of left-armer J. Syed Mohammad (five for 52) and offie Arlen Konwar (four for 72). The 31-year-old Konwar claimed a match haul of 10 for 139. Assam now leads Group ‘C’ with 13 points.
In Group ‘B’, Delhi completed a ten-wicket win over Odisha and gained seven points. The Eastern State could muster only 269 in its second innings, the seamer duo of Pawan Suyal (five for 93) and Sumit Narwal (three for 41) wreaking havoc. Skipper Shikhar Dhawan (55 n.o., 49b, 9x4, 1x6) helped himself to some batting practice as Delhi chased down the target of 82 runs in 15 overs.
Satish, Gautam star for Karnataka
At Chennai, Ganesh Satish (200 n.o., 418b, 18x4, 1x6) and ‘keeper C.M. Gautam (130 n.o., 171b, 13x4) came up with splendid knocks to take Karnataka past Tamil Nadu’s first-innings score of 538 for four (declared).
Karnataka appeared to be in trouble when it was reduced to 289 for five after the dismissals of Amit Verma and Stuart Binny. But Satish, along with Gautam, countered the spin threat posed by Tamil Nadu with positive, intelligent, batsmanship.
The high-scoring Maharashtra-Uttar Pradesh game in Pune ended with both teams collecting a point each. Uttar Pradesh finished with 669 for seven after its opponent had declared on 764 for six on Sunday. Tanmay Srivastava (179, 294b, 25x4, 1x6) and Piyush Chawla (156, 140b, 18x4, 8x6) made merry on a pitch that came under the scanner for its lack of assistance to bowlers.
