Tag: Ranji-Trophy

Ranji Trophy: Pulkit Claims Six-For As Services Beat Jharkhand

Source:ommcomnews.com

New Delhi:  Off spinner Pulkit Narang claimed 6/58 to precipitate a Jharkhand collapse and hand Services victory by 118 runs in an Elite Group C Ranji Trophy match at the Air Force Complex ground, Palam here on Thursday.

Jharkhand were 158/1, and then 190/2 – but were shot out for 267.

Narang had never taken more than three wickets in a match earlier, but was on song as he added to the 2-0-7-1 he had in the first innings. He returned match figures of 7/65 and duly grabbed the Man of the Match award.

This has dealt a huge blow to Jharkhand’s chances of challenging for a place in the top two and making it to the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, Bengal had rain to blame as they frittered three points and had to split one point against Delhi in a Group A tie in Kolkata.

Only seven overs of play was possible on Day 4 where Delhi reached 242/7 in reply to Bengal’s first innings score of 318. Bengal were left to rue the delay as they fancied their chances of getting three points based on a first innings lead if a full day’s play took place.

Gujarat beat Vidarbha by four wickets in another Group A clash.

In Group B, Mumbai drew with Himachal Pradesh as all three days were washed out without a ball bowled with Sarfaraz Khan missing out on continuing his run-scoring spree. He had taken just two innings to vault to the top of the run-scorers’ list in the Elite Group teams. In another Group B clash, Karnataka thrashed Railways by 10 wickets.

Ranji Trophy: Pulkit Claims Six-For As Services Beat JharkhandIn Group C, Maharashtra beat Tripura by five wickets as Odisha pummelled Assam by an innings and three runs. Chhattisgarh drew with Jammu & Kashmir while Services beat Jharkhand by 118 runs. Haryana drew with Uttarakhand but got three points riding their first innings lead.

Ranji Trophy Roundup: Delhi hand Vidarbha their first defeat since 2016, Jharkhand beat Uttarakhand.

Source – indiatoday.in

Nitish Rana displayed his T20 repertoire in full as he smashed a heroic unbeaten 68-ball 105 to help Delhi chase down a stiff target of 347 and win their Ranji Trophy group A encounter against defending champions Vidarbha at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here on Wednesday.

Resuming at 10/0, Delhi played out of their skins to down Vidarbha with Rana hitting eight fours and seven sixes in his blistering knock which would make all Kolkata Knight Riders fans and staff happy.

Besides Rana, openers Kunal Chandela and Hiten Dalal scored 75 and 82 respectively and shared a 163-run opening wicket stand to set the platform for Dhruv Shorey’s side.

Shorey himself scored 44 as Delhi blunted Umesh Yadav’s threat with the ball and recorded a memorable win.

Meanwhile, Sarfaraz Khan brought up his maiden triple century in first-class cricket to lead Mumbai’s fightback against Uttar Pradesh on day four in their Group B game. The match ended in a tie but it was Sarfaraz who stole the show as he remained unbeaten on 301 from 391 deliveries with the help of 30 fours and eight sixes.

Sarfaraz Khan’s 301 not out is now the second-highest score in first-class cricket while batting at number six. The highest is by Karun Nair who hit 328 in the 2014/15 Ranji Trophy final also at the Wankhede Stadium.

Manoj Tiwary also scored a triple hundred, his first too, for Bengal two days back at Kalyani in West Bengal.

Mumbai were in trouble at 16/2 at one stage with Jay Bista and Shashank departing early in pursuit of UP’s 625/8d.

But from there on it was the 22-year-old Sarfaraz all the way as he took charge and made mincemeat of all the bowlers.

Hardik Tamore (51), Siddhesh Lad (98) and Aditya Tare (97) added solidarity to the innings.

In other matches, Maharashtra thrashed Assam by 218 runs in Group C as Jharkhand beat Uttarakhand by six wickets in another Group C game.

Gujarat humbled Punjab by 110 runs in Group A.

MS Dhoni middled almost every ball: Jharkhand coach pleasantly surprised.

Source – indiatoday.in

Former India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has stunned Jharkhand coach Rajiv Kumar with his fluent batting even as the stumper started training for the first time since India’s loss in the semifinal of the 2019 World Cup against New Zealand in July last year.

Speaking to IANS, Kumar said that he was expecting a little rustiness from the batsman, but the balls seemed to be hitting the middle of the bat. The coach went on to add that the Chennai Super Kings skipper’s preparations have begun for the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League.

“I will be honest… I thought there will be a bit of rustiness as Dhoni has not trained for quite some time. The last time we had spoken, he had said that he would start in January and here you go. He is a man of his words and it came as no surprise that he was out there training with the guys just like any other regular Jharkhand player. But what surprised me most was how he middled almost every ball, be it in the pacer’s net or the spinner’s net. He even took throwdowns just like a player going through the batting drills does.

“I haven’t had any talks with him with regards to the national team and him donning the India jersey again. But, his preparations for the next edition of the IPL has begun and while the senior team will be busy playing the Ranji Trophy game from Sunday, Dhoni will continue training till the time he is in Ranchi,” the coach pointed.

Asked if Dhoni did anything specific in the two days that he has trained so far, Kumar said the former skipper spent a lot of time talking to the bowlers.

“He is such a professional and has been going on spending time with the youngsters, especially the bowlers. He is discussing the line and length that they should target and the ways to fox the opposition batsmen. He has been as vocal as can be expected from a senior player like Dhoni,” Kumar said.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday announced the men’s central contracts for the period between October 2019 and September 2020 and the major omission was Dhoni. While eyebrows were raised if this meant the end of the road for the Man with the Midas Touch, BCCI officials, as well as head coach Ravi Shastri, have made it clear that the IPL will decide if Dhoni will board the plane to Australia to play in the World T20.

“It all depends on when he starts playing and how he is playing during the IPL. Also, what are the other people doing with the wicket-keeping gloves or what is the form of those players as opposed to Dhoni’s form. The IPL becomes a massive tournament because that could be the last event after which more or less your 15 will be decided.

“There might be one player who might be there and thereabouts in case of an injury or whatever. But your team, I would say, would be known after the IPL. What I would say is rather than speculating who is where wait for the IPL to get over and then you are in a position to take a call on who are the best 17 in the country,” Shastri had told IANS.

Eden Gardens ka repeat ho jaaye? Jharkhand 1st team in Ranji Trophy to win after following on.

Source – indiatoday.in

On Thursday, Jharkhand became the only team in the rich 85-year-old history of the Ranji Trophy to win a first-class match after being forced to follow on. After conceding a 153-run lead in the first innings against Tripura in their Group C match, with more than 2 days of play left in the game, the visiting side was asked to follow on by opposition captain Milind Kumar. The rest, as they say, is history!

But the match was still in Tripura’s favour when Jharkhand batsmen Ishank Jaggi and Saurabh Tiwary got together in the middle with half their side back in the pavilion while still needing 15 runs to avoid an innings defeat. However, Jaggi’s conversation with the team manager PN Singh which had happened before the 2nd innings inspired the duo to launch a stunning fightback.

“Eden Gardens ka repeat ho jaaye? (Should we have a repeat of Eden Gardens)” Singh had asked Jaggi after Jharkhand were asked to follow on, according to ESPNcricinfo. Jaggi, though wasn’t feeling so positive and replied: “Kabhi Kabhi ho sakta hai, baar baar nahi(It might happen once in a way, not always).”

The reference to Eden Gardens was obviously the famous Test win by India over Australia in 2001 when the hosts under Sourav Ganguly stunned the then world champions to win by 171 runs in Kolkata. Even though Jaggi might not have believed it initially, his performance on the field suggested otherwise.

Jaggi retired hurt after scoring 107 off 207 balls and in partnership with Tiwary (122* off 190 balls), helped set up their team’s eventual total of 418/8 when Jharkhand decided to declare the innings.

Being set a target of 266 to win with less than a day left in the game, Tripura crumbled under pressure as Jharkhand pacer Ashish Kumar made good use of the rest to pick up a 5-wicket haul even as MB Murasingh struck a counterattacking 103 for Tripura. The game actually came to an end in the last over of the match in fading light when Ashish trapped Rana Dutta LBW to fuel joyous celebrations from all his teammates.

With the victory, Jharkhand are now the 1st team after Ganguly’s India to win a first-class game in India after following on.