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Rajasthan crash to 139-run defeat

An uninhibited counter-offensive by No. 9 D P Singh was to no avail as Rajasthan crashed to a 139-run defeat against defending champions Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy Super League encounter at the RSI ground, Bangalore.

The visitors resumed at 128 for eight on Saturday, still 231 runs adrift of the target set by Karnataka and an early end to the match was almost a surety. But D.P. Singh had plans of his own. Though Karnataka were just 17.4 overs on the field on the final day, Singh, in an unfettered exhibition of naked aggression, flayed the famed Karnataka attack, banishing them to all parts of the ground. He made a quickfire 85 off just 87, hitting 14 fours and two huge sixes, and added 82 runs for the ninth wicket with Anup Dave. But he was fighting a losing battle as Sunil Joshi brought to an end his heroics and then send back last-man S. Singh to bring down the curtains on Rajasthan's extended innings.

With Rajasthan unable to get any points from this match, they stay at 3 points from 2 matches and go on to play Bengal at Calcutta from February 24. Karnataka, who face the same opponents at Calcutta in their next game from March 4, took their tally to 8 points.

Scoreboard
Karnataka (1st innings): 243

Rajasthan (1st innings): 211

Karnataka (2nd innings): 326

Rajasthan (2nd innings): A. Jain c Barrington b A. Vijay 32, N. Doru c Dravid b Prasad 4, K Singh c Vijay b Kumble 28, R Kanwat b Kumble 0, K Kumar run out 13, G Koda c Naidu b Srinath 3, R Jhalani lbw Srinath 0, G Sharma c Akhil b Prasad 13, D Singh c Dravid b Joshi 85, A Dave not out 18, S Singh c Akhil b Joshi 12.

Extras (4 lb, 4 b, 3 nb): 11. Total (all out, 58.4 overs): 219.

Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-62, 3-63, 4-68, 5-73, 6-73, 7-96, 8-114, 9-196.

Bowling: J. Srinath 8-3-14-2; V. Prasad 8-2-20-2; S. Joshi 21.4-6-78-2; D. Ganesh 7-3-23-0; A. Kumble 21-10-61-2; A. Vijay 3-0-15-1.

A fighting knock by Sanjay Raul failed to save the match for Orissa as Uttar Pradesh coasted to a 10 wicket win on the fourth and last day of the Ranji Trophy Super League match at the Green Park, Kanpur.

Orissa, resuming at 129 for 3 with Sanjay Raul and Rashmi Parida at the crease, were cruising along well till Parida fell for 69 (141b, 10x4) after having added 132 runs for the fourth wicket with Raul. Parida's departure opened the floodgates as offspinner Musi Raza brushed off the lower half taking five of the last six wickets -- three in the space of eight deliveries.

Raul, the top scorer with 82 (202b, 10x4), was fifth to go and Jai Chandra remained unbeaten on 65 (117b, 9x4) as Orissa were bowled out for 257, setting UP just 12 runs for victory.

The win places Uttar Pradesh on top of the points table in Group C with 11 points from 2 matches while Orissa are yet to open their account. Both Orissa and UP play Saurashtra at Rajkot in their next matches, from February 24 and March 4 respectively.

Scoreboard
Orissa (1st innings): 241

Uttar Pradesh (1st innings): 487

Orissa (2nd innings): Shib Sundar Das b Zaidi 11, P Mahapatra lbw Srivastava 2, P Mullick lbw Srivastava 0, S Raul c Mudgal b Raza 82, RR Parida b Zaidi 69, P Jaychandra not out 65, R Morris c Parmindar b Raza 9, Y Mohanty c Shamshad b Raza 0, S Satpathy c Zaidi b Raza 0, J Das lbw Pandey 0, A Barik b Raza 1.

Extras (13 b, 3 lb, 2 nb): 18. Total (all out, 90.2 overs): 257.

Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-14, 3-20, 4-152, 5-211, 6-227, 7-227, 8-229, 9-240.

Bowling: AW Zaidi 21-5-55-2, S Srivastava 15-4-49-2, M Tripathi 17-3-46-0, G Pandey 21-4-39-1, M Raza 15.2-1-49-5, R Shamshad 1-0-3-0.

Uttar Pradesh (2nd innings): Manoj Mudgal not out 2, Mohd. Saif not out 12. Total (for no loss, 1.4 overs): 14.

Bowling: Ajay Barik 1-0-5-0; Robin Morris 0.4-0-9-0.

It was a case of so near yet so far for Bengal. Set an improbale task of scoring 124 for victory in just 13 overs by Delhi, Bengal took up the challenge and the task was only just beyond the hosts as they almost achieved an improbable victory in the Ranji Trophy Super League tie at the Eden Gardens, Calcutta. Bengal had made 82 for four when the captains decided to call off play.

Earlier, some inspired bowling by the two elderly statesman of the Bengal side -- skipper Saurav Ganguly and veteran Utpal Chatterjee -- laid low the much vaunted Delhi batting line-up. Ganguly, opening the attack, took five for 91 while Chatterje scalped four for 84 as Delhi were bowled out for 261.

Scoreboard
Delhi (1st innings): 236.

Bengal (1st innings): 374.

Delhi (2nd innings, overnight 30 for no loss): A Chopra b Chatterjee 42, A Dani lbw Ganguly 17, A Malhotra c Gandhi b Chatterjee 15, A Sharma c Karim b Ganguly 0, V Sehwag c Wrichik b Chatterjee 25, V Dahiya c Kalyani b Ganguly 32, M. Minhas c Lahiri b Chatterjee 46, N Chopra b Lahiri 39, R Sanghvi c Karim b Ganguly 20, S Gill c Karim b Ganguly 17, R Singh not out 1. Extras (4 lb, 2 nb, 1 w): 7. Total (all out, 87.5 overs): 261.

Fall of wickets: 1-55, 2-63, 3-68, 4-90, 5-109, 6-163, 7-215, 8-236, 9-240.

Bowling: S. Ganguly 24-2-91-5, LR Shukla 20-6-55-0, U Chatterjee 35.5-9-84-4, S Lahiri 6-2-18-1, W Majumdar 1-0-4-0, S Panda 1-0-5-0.

Bengal (2nd innings): D Gandhi c A Chopra b Gill 28, S Ganguly b Gill 17, N Haldipur c Chowdhury b R Singh 18, LR Shukla c N Chopra b R Singh 13, S Karim not out 2, W Majumdar not out 0.

Extras (2 lb, 1 nb, 1 w): 4. Total (for four wickets, 11 overs): 82.

Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-59, 3-72, 4/81.

Bowling: R Singh 6-0-45-2, S Gill 5-0-35-2.

A brilliant unbeaten 53 by Rashid Patel and his 21-run association for the last wicket with Valmik Buch, helped Baroda get past Railways' mammoth first innings aggregate of 506, on Saturday, the final day of the Ranji Trophy Super League encounter at Delhi's Karnail Singh Stadium.

Baroda were cruising along at 495 for 7 when occasional bowler Yere Goud struck twice in three bals to put the pressure on the visitors. However, Patel, deciding to take matters in his own hand, put all his experience to use and saw Baroda through in the company of Buch.

The five points from the match means that Baroda maintain their position at the top of the table in Group B with 13 points from two matches. Railways, playing their first match of the Super League got 3 points from the match.

Baroda now take on Punjab at Mohali while Railways play Bihar at Jamshedpur, both from February 24.

Scoreboard
Railways (1st innings): 501.

Baroda (1st innings): C Williams lbw Devendra 123, RA Swaroop lbw Harvinder 0, H Indulkar c Vishal b Rao 15, H Jadhav b Harvinder 109, M Mewada run out 37, A Bedade c Wankhede b Rao 51, T Arothe run out 41, A Boithe c (sub) Jha b goud 52, R Patel not out 53, Z. Khan c Rao b Goud 0, V Buch not out 4.

Extras 31. Total (for nine wickets): 516.

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-41, 3-239, 4-280, 5-357, 6-358, 7-439, 8-495, 9-495.

Bowling: Z. Hussain 31-5-89-0; Harvinder Singh 25-4-96-2; B. Rao 32-0-97-2; K. Parida 54-6-161-0; D. Singh 13-2-25-1; Yere Goud 6-0-29-2.

Rajesh Puri’s defiant unbeaten century (114: 199b, 15x4, 3x6) and his 68-run partnership for the last wicket Manish Sakhalkar (27) only served to delay the inevitable as Saurashtra defeated hosts Haryana by nine wickets in the Ranji Trophy Super League encounter at Rohtak.

Puri and Sakhalkar held up Saurashtra’s victory charge for 18 overs in the morning as they helped Haryana -- 206 for 9 overnight after following on 181 runs in arrears -- post 274. The defiant stand was eventually brought to an end by Firoz Bambhaniya as he held on to a return catch by Sakhalkar to take his innings tally to five.

Set 94 for victory, Saurashtra rattled off the runs in just 18 overs for the loss of just one wicket to take home 8 points.

Saurashtra’s next match is against Orissa at Rajkot from February 24 while Haryana face off against Tamil Nadu at Rohtak on the same dates.

Scoreboard
Saurashtra (1st innings) 405

Haryana (1st innings) 224

Haryana (2nd innings; overnight 206 for 9): Jitender Singh c Parmar b Merchant 12, Parender Sharma run out 17, Jasvir Singh c Bambhaniya b Odedra 3, S. Dalal c Merchant b Bambhaniya 19, Rajesh Puri not out 114, Ajay Ratra c Parmar b Bambhaniya 0, S. Ohlan c&b Bambhaniya 36, P. Thakur c Parmar b Bambhaniya 1, V. Jain lbw Odedra 4, Feroze Ghyas c Merchant b Parsana 16, Manish Sakhalkar c&b Bambhaniya 27.

Extras (b 13, lb 1, nb 11) 25. Total (all out, 88 overs) 274.

Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-35, 3-46, 4-86, 5-86, 6-140, 7-146, 8-161, 9-206.

Bowling: Rana 4-0-15-0 (1nb); Merchant 7-2-20-1 (10nb); Bambhaniya 19-6-54-5; Parsana 24-4-92-1; Odedra 20-6-46-2; Chudasama 12-5-21-0; Kotak 2-0-12-0.

Saurashtra (2nd innings): A. Merchant not out 41, R.C. Vasanth Kumar c Sakhalkar b Jasvir Singh 38, N. Odedra not out 5.

Extras (b 4, w 1, nb 8) 13. Total (for one wicket, 18 overs) 97.

Did not bat: P. Bhatt, B. Jadeja, F. Bambhaniya, S. Kotak, H. Parsana, M. Parmar, D. Chudasama, N. Rana.

Fall of wickets: 1-83.

Bowling: Jain 5-1-18-0 (4nb, 1w); Ghyas 2-0-12-0 (3nb); Thakur 5-0-24-0; Sakhalkar 3-0-21-0 (1nb); Jasvir Singh 2-0-14-1; Jitender Singh 1-0-4-0.

Hyderabad-Bihar tie ends in tame draw

The Hyderabad - Bihar Ranji Trophy Super League encounter at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, Hyderabad, ended in a tame draw with the hosts taking their points aggregate to eight after securing the first innings points. The no-result also helped Bihar open their account and their tally from two matches is three points.

With the last day’s play being of no importance but academic, Hyderabad, replying to Bihar’s 381, declared their first innings closed at the overnight score of 440 for 8. Bihar skipper Sunil Kumar (71 not out) and Aamir Hashmi (58) got themselves some useful runs as Bihar made 229 for 9 off 78 overs before the captains decided to call the match off.

Bihar next play Railways at Jamshedpur from February 24 while Hyderabad travel to Delhi to take on the railwaymen from March 4.

Scoreboard
Bihar (1st innings): 381.

Hyderabad (1st innings): 440 for 8 decl.

Bihar (2nd innings): N.Ranjan c Kanwaljit b Satwalkar 1, R Kumar c Sridhar b Satwalkar 20, A Hashami lbw Satwalkar 58, R Kumar c Kishore b Kanwaljit 34, S Kumar not out 89, M Kumar lbw Raju 2, MS Dhoni c Shivaji b Kanwaljit 33, V Khan b Raju 0, M Diwakar c sub (Yadav) b Kanwaljit 2, Sayeed Khan c Raju b Shivaji 4, D Kumar not out 0.

Extras (10b, 3lb, 1nb): 14. Total (for nine wickets, 78 overs): 247.

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-42, 3-111, 4-143, 5-156, 6-215, 7-215, 8-225, 9-229.

Bowling: N Singh 8-2-21-0, P. Satwalkar 14-4-43-3, Kanwaljit Singh 24-5-88-4, V. Raju 14-7-23-1, S Yadav 18-2-59-1.