The Ranji Trophy has returned after a one-season break prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The rejigged format offered only three games for every team, with only the table-toppers progressing to the knock-outs. The number of games in comparison to 2019-20 (the previous Ranji edition) was reduced from 169 games to 65.
However, the curtailed season produced several close contests. Those that readily come to mind include 41-time winners Mumbai surviving a scare against Goa, Jharkhand’s 15-run and two-wicket wins against Delhi and Tamil Nadu respectively, Bengal chasing down 350 against Baroda after being bowled out for 88, and Uttar Pradesh chasing down 359 on the last day against Maharashtra. The teams were going for the kill and it also showed the value of a first-innings lead was diminishing.
At Stumps, Madhya Pradesh 238/2 in 99 overs. Shubham (102*) and Patidar (20*) remain unbeaten for MP in a well-crafted day's play at Alur (III) on Tuesday. MP leads by 19 runs.
Bengal 577/5 Stumps on Day 2 in First innings. Sudip Kumar Gharami 186.
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WICKET! Abishek Porel is gone for 68(111) ct Kumar Kushagra b Sushant Mishra. Bengal: 564/5
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh take a first-innings lead. MP: 222/2 in 92 overs
The Mumbai coach Dinesh Lad remembers when a short boy Suved Parkar walked into his school nets at Borivali with his parents who requested him to enroll their son in the Swami Vivekanand International High School team. A short stint of batting against tennis ball convinced the coach to do the needful. “His bat was coming nicely behind the ball and his eyes remained on the ball. I felt we can work on this boy,” remembers Lad, who has coached Rohit Sharma and Shardul Thakur amongst others. The hand-eye coordination that attracted the coach was on display over the last couple of days when the 21-year old Parkar slammed 252 on debut against Uttarakhand in the Ranji quarter-finals before he was run out. (READ MORE)
The first T20 between India and South on Thursday is set to be a sell out with 94 per cent of tickets already sold at the 35,000 capacity Arun Jaitley. An international game is being held in Delhi for the first time since November 2019. Read More
INNINGS BREAK! The 44-run stand for the last wicket ended as Shreyas Gopal removed Shivam Mavi for 32. Uttar Pradesh has been bowled out for 155 runs. Karnataka take the first innings lead. Ronit More (3/47), V Vyshak (2/29), Vidwath Kaverappa (2/19), K Gowtham (2/43) and Shreyas Gopal (1/14) shared the spoils. For Uttar Pradesh, Priyam Garg (39) and Rinky Singh (33) were the notable contributors.
Suved Parkar scores a double century on his debut first-class match. He is only the 12th Indian to score a double century on FC debut. 200 off 374 balls; 17x4, 3x6. What a knock by the youngster.
WICKET! Rahul Shukla removes Sudip Kumar Gharami for 186. Great knock by the 23-year-old, he will definitely cherish this for a long time. Bengal: 460/4
Prince Yadav and Saurabh Kumar are gone without opening their accounts. Vidwath Kaverappa cleaned Prince, while Gowtham got the wicket of Saurabh. Uttar Pradesh are trailing by 156 runs. Uttar Pradesh: 97/8
Himanshu Mantri (51 batting) and Shubham Sharma (25 batting) have put on 37 runs for the second wicket. Madhya Pradesh are trailing by only 118 runs. Madhya Pradesh: 101/3
Ronit More (3/35) has dismissed Priyam Garg (39) and Dhruv Jurel (9) in quick succession. Krishnappa Gowtham has removed Rinku Singh (33). Uttar Pradesh are reeling at 92/6. They are still trailing by 161 runs.
Suved Parkar (182*) is inching towards a double century on his first-class debut. He is been accompanied by Shams Mulani, who is batting on 18. The dup have put on unbeaten 44 runs for the sixth wicket. Mumbai: 488/5
Anukul Roy has removed Abhishek Kumar Raman for 61, but Sudip Kumar Gharami is going strength by strength and is batting beautifully on 174. Veteran Manoj Tiwary has joined him in the middle. Bengal: 437/3
Don Bradman - 95.14
Sarfaraz Khan- 80
Vijay Merchant - 71.64
George Headley - 69.86
Bahir Shah - 69.02
Bengal vs Jharkhand
Bengal: 409 for 2 in 124 overs (Sudip Gharami 152 batting, Abhishek Raman 60 batting; Shahbaz Nadeem 1/95)
Mumbai vs Uttarakhand
Mumbai: 452 for 5 in 122 overs (Suved Parkar 161 batting, Sarafaz Khan 153; Deepak Dhapola 3/62)
Karnataka vs Uttar Pradesh
Karnataka: 253 all out in 84 overs (Shreyas Gopal 56 batting, R Samarth 57; Saurabh Kumar 4/73, Shivam Mavi 3/60)
Uttar Pradesh: 53 for 3 in 16 overs (Priyam Garg 27 batting; Vyshak 2/23)
Punjab vs Madhya Pradesh
Punjab: 219 all out in 71.3 overs
Madhya Pradesh: 70 for 1 in 35 overs (Himanshu Mantri 41 batting; Mayank Markande 1/2)
WICKET! Mayank Markande provided the much-needed breakthrough for Punjab. The leg-s[inner has bagged the wicket of opener Yash Dubey, who departs on 20. Himanshu Mantri (41 batting) is going strong and he has been joined by Shubham Sharma (1*) in the middle. Madhya Pradesh: 67/1
WICKET! Vyshak strikes again. He gets his second wicket of the morning as Uttar Pradesh skipper Karan Sharma perishes for 2. Rinku Singh has joined Priyam Garg in the middle. Uttar Pradesh: 40/3
Left-arm spinner Mayank Mishra has finally provided the breakthrough for Uttrakhand. He has cleaned up Sarafaz Khan for 153, and ended the 267-run third wicket stand. In the next over, Agrim Tiwari removed Aditya Tare for 1. Suved Parkar (157 batting) has been joined by Shams Mulani in the middle. Mumbai: 446/5
Sudip Gharami has reached 150." Tomorrow will be a fresh day. I would love to add more runs to my tally. We want to put up a big total,” he told Indian Express on Monday. Bengal: 400/2
Now Sarafaz has crossed the 150-run mark. This is Sarafarz's seventh first-class ton and the lowest score in his previous 100-plus score is 155. Mumbai: 442/3
Suved Parkar reaches 150. The debutant has crossed 150 runs on his debut. Mumbai: 435/3
WICKET! Finally a wicket for Jharkhand. Shahbaz Nadeem has removed Anustup Majumdar on 117. Opener Abhishek Raman, who got injured on Day 1 has joined Sudip Gharami (137 batting) in the middle. Bengal: 375/2
400 up for Mumbai. Suved Parkar (136*) and Sarfaraz Khan (136*) have put on unbeaten 229 runs for the third wicket. Mumbai: 405/3
WICKET! Uttar Pradesh has lost both their openers cheaply. Ronit More removes Aryan Juyal for 5. Big task for Priyam Garg (5*) and Karan Sharma (0*) to rebuild Uttar Pradesh's innings. Uttar Pradesh: 11/2
The daily routine is to face 400 to 600 deliveries, the ‘process’ decreed by cricket tragic father Naushad, who is also Sarfaraz’s coach, mentor, warden and unrelenting taskmaster. At times, Sarfaraz’s mind wanders to contemplate an existence others consider normal. Read
WICKET! Vyshak strikes early for Karnataka. Smarth Singh departs without scoring. Uttar Pradesh: 2/1
INNINGS BREAK! Yash Dayal takes the last two wickets as Uttar Pradesh has bowled out Karnataka for 253 runs in 84 overs. R Samarth (57) and Shreyas Gopal (56 not out) scored half-centuries for the home side. For Uttar Pradesh, Saurabh Kumar (4/73), Shivam Mavi (3/60), Yash Dayal (2/43), and Ankit Rajpoot (1/42) shared the spoils. Karnataka: 253 all out
CENTURY! Ye another century by Mumbai's run machine Sarfaraz Khan. He has completed his century with an upper cut. Mumbai: 350/3
CENTURY! What a brilliant knock this has been from Anustup Majumdar. The Bengal veteran has completed his 10th first-class century. The partnership for the second wicket between Gharami and Majumdar has also crossed 200. Bengal: 336/1
Yash Dayal strikes for Uttar Pradesh. He has cleaned up Ronit More for 6. Meanwhile, Shreyas Gopal has completed his fifty. Karnataka: 243/9
Madhya Pradesh openers Yash Dubey (5*) and Himanshu Mantri (2*) are looking steady and have done well to negotiate the opening burst from Punjab's bowlers. Batting first, Punjab was bowled out for a paltry 219. Madhya Pradesh: 12/0
Shreyas Gopal is fighting the line battle (44) for Karnataka. Saurabh Kumar (4/73) has broken the back of Karnataka's middle order with his left-arm spin. Uttar Pradesh will be eager to get the last two wickets as soon as possible. Karnataka: 233/8
Suved Parkar (116*) and Sarfaraz Khan (80*) have completed the 150-run stand for the third wicket. Sarfaraz is looking to add another century under his belt his season, while the debutant Parkar is playing a perfect second foil. Mumbai: 327/3
Sudip Gharami (112*) and Anustup Majumdar (94*) have started cautiously. Majumdar is inching towards his century. "We want to bat the entre day," Bengal head coach Arun Lal had told Indian Express on Monday. Bengal: 326/1
WICKET! Ankit Rajpoot strikes for Uttar Pradesh. Vyshak departs for 12. Karnataka in deep trouble. Karnataka 214/8
On Monday, Sudip finally did justice to his ability with his maiden first-class hundred that steered Bengal to a commanding 310 for 1 against Jharkhand on the first day of the Ranji Trophy quarter-final. His unbeaten 106-run knock came off 204 balls with 13 fours and a six. He, along with Anustup Majumdar (85 batting, 139 balls) have put on 178 runs for the unbroken second-wicket stand.
It is either boom or bust for Shaw. He played some eye-catching strokes during his brief stay at the crease for Mumbai. Just like his Under-19 teammate Gill, Shaw has chinks in the armour. His tendency to play away from the body has been a reason for concern. Trent Boult and Tim Southee first found that bat-pad gap in Wellington. Next year in Adelaide, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins exploited the same vulnerability. On Monday against Uttarakhand, Shaw dominated proceedings early on but got out in the same fashion. This time the bowler was Deepak Dhapola. A ball nipped back on the stumps, Shaw failed to get his bat down in time, and the ball went through the gate. Read More
Gill had a great IPL season with Gujarat Titans. He amassed 483 runs and guided the franchise to the title in their inaugural season. But it is in the red-ball format where his form has slumped. Since a 91 in the second innings in Brisbane in early 2021, he has managed only two fifties in his next 13 innings. His weakness against the moving ball has forced the Indian management to consider him in the middle order. Read More
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Ranji Trophy knockouts. Catch all the live action from Day 2. Here's what happened on Day 1:
Brief Scores
Mumbai vs Uttarakhand
Mumbai 304 for 3 in 86 overs (Suved Parkar 104 batting, Sarfaraz Khan 69 batting, Armaan Jaffer 60; Deepak Dhapola 3/53)
Karnataka vs Uttar Pradesh
Karnataka 213 for 7 in 72 overs (R Samarth 57; Saurab Kumar 4/67, Shivam Mavi 3/40)
Bengal vs Jharkhand
Bengal 310 for 1 in 89 overs (Sudip Gharami 106 not out; Anustup Majumdar 85 not out, Abhimanyu Easwaran 65)
Punjab vs Madhya Pradesh
Punjab 219 all out in 71.3 overs (Abhishek Sharma 47, Anmolpreet Singh 47, Sanvir Singh 41; Puneet Datey 3/48, Anubhav Agarwal 3/36)