Ranji Trophy Round 9, Day 2 Round-up: Harbhajan runs through TN, Rajat Paliwal hits a double-hundred

Harbhajan spun Punjab into the knockout stage

AA Sanklecha, SS Mundhe, and NR Dhumal shared the wickets as Maharashtra put up a spirited performance, against a formiddable Karnataka batting line-up, thus dismissing them for 180 in reply to Maharashtra’s 212 in the first innings. In the second innings Maharashtra were 67/4 at stumps on Day 2, thereby stretching their effective lead to 99 runs with 6 wickets in hand.

Maharashtra 212 (Bawne 87*, Aravind 3-35, Vinay 2-44) and 67/4 lead Karnataka (toss) 180 (Agarwal 33, Sankecha 4-53) by 99 runs in Pune.

Bengal batsmen plundered the Assam bowling attack as they posted 444/6 riding on Shreevats Goswami’s brilliant unbeaten hundred, before Ashoke Dinda wrecked havoc by picking up four wickets without conceeding a run. Assam were four down for 1 run at stumps, trailing Bengal by a mammoth 443 runs.

Assam (toss) 1/4 (Dinda 4-0) trail Bengal 444/6d (Goswami 112*, Shaw 99, Mondal 87, Chatterjee 65) by 443 runs in Guwahati. Stumps.

In another run-fest, the Vidarbha batsmen made merry off the Haryana bowling, with Faiz Fazal, Ravi Jangid, Aditya Sarwate all hitting hundreds, thereby enabling their team post a huge total of 504/7, against Haryana in the first innings. Haryana were 53/0 at stumps.

Haryana 53/0 trail Vidarbha (toss) 504/7d (Fazal 126, Jangid 110, Sarvate 103*, Shanware 55, Harshal 2-70) by 451 runs in Nagpur. Stumps

In Group B, Punjab ran through Tamil Nadu, banking on their spinners to beat them by 243 runs. Indian veteran offie Harbhajan Singh bettered his brilliant first innings performance by taking 7-37 in the second innings to secure Punjab’s spot in the quarterfinals.

Punjab (toss) 206 (Yuvraj 49, Sran 33. Chandrasekhar 3-43) and 192 (Khera 43*, Malolan 4-53) beat TN 68 (Rajwinder 6-29, Harbhajan 3-30) and 69 (Harbhajan 7-37) by 243 runs in Dindigul

Mumbai were bowled out for 531 on Day 2 of their clash against Gujarat, but not before Suryakumar Yadav and Akhil Herwadkar had hit brilliant hundreds. Gujarat, in their reply, finished at 102/3, thereby trailing Mumbai by 429 runs.

Gujarat (toss) 102/3 (Merai 41*) trail Mumbai 531 (Herwadkar 192, Suryakumar Yadav 103, Iyer 75, Axar 3-99) by 429 runs in Mumbai. Stumps.

In Group C, Himanchal Pradesh managed to bowl out Kerala twice for measly totals as they won their match by six wickets in Mallipuram. Kerala were bowled out for 103 and 83, while Himanchal had made 163 in their first innings.

Himachal Pradesh 163 and 24/4 (Monish 0-4) beat Kerala (toss) 103 (Rahul Singh 6-19) and 83 (Bipul 6-33) by six wickets in Mallapuram.

Rajat Paliwal made a double hundred as Services piled up 512 their first innings against Tripura, in Agarthala. Tripura in reply, were 45/1 at stumps, thereby trailing Services by 467 runs in the first innings.

Tripura 45/1 trail Services (toss) 512 (Paliwal 203, Lohchab 95, Rana Dutta 4-79) by 467 runs in Agartala. Stumps.

Sheldon Jackson made 121 for Saurashtra has they extended their lead over Jammu and Kashmir to 353 runs, at stumps on Day 2. Earlier J&k were bowled out for 138, with Saurya Sanandiya grabbing a five-wicket haul for Saurashtra.

Saurashtra (toss) 491/9 (Jackson 121, Unadkat 91*, Jogiyani 41) lead J&K 138 (Sanandia 5-53) by 353 runs in Jammu. Stumps.

The details of the other matches of Round 9 of the 2015 Ranji Trophy are as follows:

Rajasthan (toss) 51 (Sahoo 6-33) and 78/2 trail Odisha 151 (Sarangi 43, Choudhary 6-27) and 129 (Choudhary 4-31, Pankaj 4-43) by 152 runs in Jaipur. Stumps.

Andhra 56 (Ankit Sharma 6-17) and 159/5 (Ankit 4-65) trail MP (toss) 279 (Bhatia 81, Rameez Khan 89, Ayyappa 5-66) by 65 runs in Indore. Stumps.

Uttar Pradesh 134/5 (Umang Sharma 74*, Munaf 2-15) trail Baroda (toss) 321 (Rayudu 70, Waghmode 56, Chawla 3-41, Praveen Kumar 2-50) by 187 runs in Greater Noida. Stumps.

Jharkhand 366/6 (toss) (Tiwary 190*) lead Hyderabad 143/9 (Jaskaran 3-32, Kaushal 3-35) by 221 runs in Hyderabad. Stumps.