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Ranji Trophy, Super league, 2007-08 [Ranji SS available]

Chandan

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Chandan

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Round up of ROUND ONE, DAY 2 KARNATAKA vs MUMBAI: On a rollercoaster second day at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai began promisingly, allowed their position to slip slightly against a spirited Karnakata, but regrouped to finish 107 runs ahead at the close of play. The hosts dominated the first session, thanks to a 110-run opening stand between Wasim Jaffer and Sahil Kukreja, only to stumble as Karnataka grabbed quick wickets in the second session to force their way back into the game. But a composed 78 from debutant Prashant Naik allowed Mumbai to soak up pressure of five wickets and reach a healthy 302 for 7 by stumps. Karnataka added just six runs in the morning and folded for 195 as Ajit Agarkar bounced out B Akhil in the fourth over of the day. The Karnataka new-ball bowlers, Vinay Kumar and NC Aiyappa, had the openers in trouble whenever they hit the fuller length but an initially circumspect Jaffer shrugged aside his nerves. Kukreja, also cautious, was the more assured of the two, leaning forward to get behind the line. Like Jaffer, he too played and missed but as the bowlers erred in lengths at the end of their spells, both openers cashed in with drives and pulls. At 32 for 0, Anil Kumble brought himself on in the 13th over. With a short leg and a silly point in place, he floated his first few deliveries but there was no sign of any bite off the pitch yet. The short cover disappeared and Kukreja skipped down the track to whip an on-drive through wide mid-on while Jaffer punched one crisply through cover point and drove through the covers. Sunil Joshi appeared in the 23rd over and Jaffer, in a nice groove, welcomed him with two boundaries. He raised his fifty soon after and Kukreja followed, top-edging Joshi in over before lunch. After the interval, Karnataka swung back with three wickets in nine balls. Jaffer, late in leaning forward, played on to an incutter from Aiyappa and Joshi snapped up Ajinkya Rahane, offering no stroke to a delivery on the stumps. Aiyappa got Kukreja to edge one to Thilak Naidu, the wicketkeeper, and Kumble returned with fielders hovering around the bat. He didn't strike immediately, as Amol Muzumdar and Naik put on 48 in 70 minutes, but at 173 for 3 Kumble trapped Muzumdar as he played across the line. Abhishek Nayar, who hit two breezy centuries in this season, opened with three consecutive boundaries off Kumble and gave Mumbai the lead with a fourth in Kumble's next over. But in the last over before tea, Nayar missed a reverse-sweep against Joshi and was out for an 18-ball 24. He added 44 in just 39 balls, but paid for his impetuosity. When Ramesh Powar lofted Joshi to mid-off for 10 off seven balls, the score read 231 for 6. Naik, who lofted C Raghu over long-on for the first six of the game, found an able ally in Agarkar and proceeded to stretch the lead. He didn't take any undue risks, pushing the ball into the gaps for singles and twos and inspired Agarkar to do the same. Naik punished the loose deliveries; he lofted Kumble over mid-off before sweeping really fine when Kumble went round the stumps. The bowling looked flat and Vijay Bharadwaj, Karnataka's coach, wore a rueful expression at the state of the wicket. "It has gone flatter. I won't blame my bowlers." The moisture and dampness had evaporated from the wicket as the Mumbai sun beat down hard on it. Slow spin was on offer and Kumble, in particular, wasn't at his usual zippy best. Then, against the run of play, Naik - who hit a ton in his first-class debut in the Mohammad Nissar trophy recently - fell to a sharp fielding effort from Yere Gowd: Agarkar had set off for a quick run after tapping the ball close on the off side when Gowd swooped on the ball to fire in an accurate throw to the 'keeper to find Naik short of the crease. Kumble took the new ball in the last over of the day but Agarkar and Vinayak Samant, who came to bat lower than usual, held on as Mumbai ended the day on a strong position, thanks in no small part to Naik's level-headed approach. UP vs ORISSA : Suresh Raina hit a smashing double-century to put Uttar Pradesh in a commanding situation against Orissa in Cuttack. Raina's 203 came off only 217 balls and featured 27 fours and two sixes - 120 runs in boundaries. Raina's score was just 13 less than Orissa's total and took 167 fewer deliveries. This was his first first-class double-century, beating his previous best of 127. Raina had come in to bat when UP were struggling at 35 for 3 and left them at 360 for 7. He was supported well by Shivakant Shukla, Ravikant Shukla and wicketkeeper Amir Khan. UP were not done, though, as Piyush Chawla made Orissa suffer further with an unbeaten 59 off 62 balls. BENGAL vs HYDERABAD Manoj Tiwary carried on from where he had left last season with a characteristically quick unbeaten 147 to take Bengal to 289 for 5 at stumps on day one at Eden Gardens. When Tiwary came in to bat, Bengal were in a somewhat tricky situation at 67 for 2. Right from the start, he attacked and capitalised on an inexperienced Hyderabad attack. His century came up in 111 balls with 14 fours and two sixes, after which Bengal lost two quick wickets on 221. With stumps approaching, Tiwary scored only 36 off the next 102 balls. Debutant wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, though, picked up the scoring rate from the other end and finished unbeaten on 34 off 53 balls. Saha's was the second-highest contribution in Bengal's innings. DELHI vs RAJASTHAN Twenty wickets fell on a manic Sunday at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium as Delhi were bowled out for 119 but still secured a 34-run first-innings lead by stumps, bowling out Rajasthan for 85. Only seven of 22 batsmen reached double figures and a wicket fell every 23 balls. Delhi had been given a stable start and were 62 for 1 at one stage, but Rajasthan medium-pacers Pankaj Singh and Sumit Mathur never let them off the hook once the slide started. Pankaj finished with a deserved 5 for 43. Rajasthan looked shaky from the start and never really threatened to go past Delhi's total. Only opener Vineet Saxena showed any inclination to fight, as he slugged it out for 173 minutes to score 35. He was the ninth man out. All the Delhi bowlers had impressive figures, with Rajat Bhatia and Pradeep Sangwan scalping three each, and Kunal Lal and Amit Bhandari getting two wickets each. PUNJAB vs AP Uday Kaul and Pankaj Dharmani rescued Punjab from a precarious situation to leave their match against Andhra at Amritsar in fine balance. In reply to Andhra's 334, the hosts were 56 for 3 at one stage, but Dharmani and Kaul batted for more than 52 overs and ensured that Punjab ended the second day without any further loss, still 159 runs in arrears. Dharmani, the wicketkeeper-batsman captain, is playing his 120th game. Kaul, 19, who is a wicketkeeper himself, is playing his tenth first-class game. Both of them put their heads down and negotitated the tough time well. Earlier, their bowlers had recovered well to take the last four Andhra wickets for 40 runs. Gagandeep Singh ended with figures of 4 for 53. SAURASHTRA vs HP Himachal Pradesh's middle order collapsed to let Saurashtra fight their way back after Sandeep Sharma and Sangram Singh threatened to bat Saurashtra out with a 119-run second-wicket stand. From 131 for 1, HP's next seven wickets fell for 40 runs, leaving Saurashtra at the threshold of a big first-innings lead. Sharma was looking good for a hundred when he fell lbw to left-arm spinner Rakesh Dhurv. Then, the offspin-left-arm spin duo of Kamlesh Makvana and Dhurv proved to be too much for HP as one wicket fell after the other. Earlier, Ashok Thakur, the HP left-arm opening bowler, cleared up the Saurashtra tail to restrict them to a manageable total. From an overnight 262 for 6, Saurashtra could manage only 291. Thakur took three of the four wickets that fell in the morning. TN vs MAHARASHTRA Only 3.2 overs were possible in Chennai because of rains and Maharashtra moved from a comfortable 261 for 4 to 272 for 4 in that duration. Overnight batsman Yogesh Takawale added eight to his 52. Yesterday Harshad Khadiwale, the Maharashtra opener playing his sixth first-class match, scored his maiden century to lead Maharashtra's batting. ------------------------------------ So this is it!! Surprisingly Kumble and co couldn't get the same bite from the pitch, that had started breaking up on Day 1 itself, which Powar and co did. Really interesting. The Kotla match is even more interesting. Is it being played on a minefield or what??!! 20 wickets in a day?? Will the match get over tomorrow or will Chopra et al grit it out? And really a terrific day for Raina and Tiwary. Hope they keep performing like this throughout the season!

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