Ranji Trophy semi-finals| Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand fight back on the second day
BCCI
Tamil Nadu bowlers helped their team to make a remarkable comeback to snatch the honours of the Day from Mumbai in the second day of the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy. Bolstered by the presence of Indian limited-overs skipper MS Dhoni, Jharkhand also showed poise to end the day on a good note.
Late wickets help Tamil Nadu to make a comeback
Brief Scores: Mumbai vs Tamil Nadu in Rajkot: Tamil Nadu 1st innings 305/10 in 115.2 overs (Shankar 50, Nayar 4/66, Thakur 4/75); Mumbai 1st innings 171/4 in 60 overs (SK Yadav 73, P Waghela 48, S Iyer 24*, V Shankar 1/14, R A Srinivas 1/22) trail by 134 runs.Â
Tamil Nadu resumed the day at 261 for 6, but Mumbai pacers Shardul Thakur and Abhishek Nayar claimed the remaining four wickets for 44 runs to bowl Tamil Nadu out for 305 in the first session.Â
Overnight unbeaten batsman Vijay Shankar gave a catch to wicketkeeper Aditya Tare to give Mumbai their first breakthrough of the day. R Aushik Srinivas couldn’t understand a down-the-leg-side ball of Nayar and nicked it to Tare to leave Tamil Nadu at 298/8. Tamil NaduÂ
Mumbai then lost the wicket of debutant Prithvi Shaw in the first over of the innings. The 17-year-old opener edged pacer Aswin Crist to the wicketkeeper to depart for four. Surya Kumar Yadav then joined the other opener Praful Waghela in the middle and the pair took Mumbai to Lunch at 34 for one.
Suryakumar kept the momentum on Mumbai’s side by scoring quick runs while Waghela held up the other end to take them to Tea at 111 for one. The pair added 121 runs for the second wicket. Mumbai had held the upper hand until a mini-collapse in the last session of the day left the game evenly poised.
Yadav edged Vijay Shankar to Dinesh Karthik and departed for 73 with the team at 125 for three. In the next over, Waghela was run out for 48 and off the last ball of the over, Siddhesh Lad handed a catch to Tamil Nadu skipper Abhinav Mukund. Iyer then joined Aditya Tare in rebuilding the innings and the pair took the team to 171/4 at stumps.
Ishan Kishan half-century put Jharkhand in good stead
Brief Scores: Gujarat 1st innings 390/10 in 126.2 overs (P Panchal 149, RP Singh 40, Ajay 3/67, R Shukla 3/71); Jharkhand 1st innings 214/5 in 51 overs (I Kishan 61, I Jaggi 40*, RP Singh 3/48) Trail by 176 runs
Jharkhand were 214 for five at stumps on Day 2, after bundling Gujarat out for 390 in the first innings. Ishank Jaggi put up a 92-run stand for the fifth wicket with former India Under-19 skipper Ishan Kishan (61) to help Jharkhand to revive from the precarious position of 121 for four.
Making his return to the team, former India pacer RP Singh accounted for Sumit Kumar in the first over with eight runs on the board and then claimed Pratyush Singh to end the blossoming second wicket stand for 49.
Saurabh Tiwary then took Jharkhand to a safe position with a partnership with Jaggi until Hardik Patel struck to send the skipper back. Jaggi then partnered with Ishan Kishan to take the team to 213 until the latter was sent back by RP Singh in the penultimate over of the day. Shukla then saw the team through to stumps.Â
Earlier, resuming at the overnight score of 283 for three, Gujarat lost Priyank Panchal in the sixth over of the day. Panchal, who has been on a run-scoring spree this season, couldn’t bring his 150 as he got out to Ajay Yadav for 149. In his next over, the bowler accounted for Manprit Juneja. Chirag Gandhi became the third scalp of Yadav.
