Ranji Trophy 2019-20 | Elite Group C - Assam, Services complete landslide victories
Ranjit Mali ended with ten wickets as Assam handed Uttarakhand an innings defeat while Maharashtra were blown away by the duo of Diwesh Pathania and Sadichanand Pandey as Service too won by an innings. Elsewhere, Abid Mushtaq's all-round play put J&K ahead while Haryana close in on victory.
Pathania, Pandey hand Maharashtra an innings defeat
Maharashtra batsmen were not able to cope up with the onslaught of the Services bowlers. Diwesh Pathania and Sadichanand Pandey bagged figures of 5/49 and 5/56 respectively as Maharashtra were bowled out for 147. Maharashtra skipper Naushad Shekhar was the lone batsman who showed some fight (41). Thus Services had a comprehensive victory by an innings and 94 runs.
Ranjit Mali runs through Uttarakhand
Ranjit Mali picked up 10 wickets in the game as Assam won by an innings and 90 runs. Despite Mayank Mishra's half century, Uttarakhand were bowled out for 121 in the first innings and were asked to bat again. In their second innings, Uttarakhand were even worse as Mali picked up 4 wickets with Mukhtar Hussain taking the remaining six wickets. Uttarakhand were bowled out for 83, handing Assam a well-deserved victory.
Milind Kumar helps Tripura take ascendancy
Tripura batted first against Odisha after no play on the first two days due to rain. Skipper Milind Kumar scored a brilliant century (102) and was ably assisted by Manisankar Murasingh (72) as Tripura posted 288 runs for the loss of six wickets and declared trying to take ascendency in the game. Odisha ended the day without losing any of their openers and even though Tripura tried to force a result by declaring, a result seems less than likely with just a day remaining.
Abdul Samad ton puts J&K ahead
After bowling out Jharkhand for 259, J&K batsmen were able to put pressure on the Jharkhand bowlers. After Suryansh Raina's steady 76, Abdul Samad scored a brilliant century (128). He was ably supported by Abid Mushtaq's half-century, whose all-round skills are proving to be an asset to the team. J&K were able to post a mammoth 441 runs in their first innings. In their second innings, Jharkhand were reduced to 103-4 till the end of day's play with Abid Mushtaq again being the main man picking two wickets. Still trailing by 79 runs, J&K will be looking to put more pressure on Jharkhand in order to trigger a batting collapse.
Harshal Patel, batsmen put Haryana on the cusp of victory
After an eventful second day where both the teams getting bowled out, Haryana managed to score 258 in the second innings. Wicket-keeper Nitin Saini was the highest run-scorer (55) in that innings and was ably supported by other batsmen. Having set a target of 263 to win, Chattisgarh got off to a worst positive start as they lost three wickets for just 33 runs. Skipper Harshal Patel dazzled with two quick wickets at put Haryana in pole position to win the game.