Ranji 2016: Ton up Hooda takes Baroda to drivers seat against Punjab

Deepak Hooda
Deepak Hooda on his way to a brilliant ton. Image Source: Deepak Hooda FB Page

Internet Desk: Deepak Hooda hit a career-best unbeaten 190 runs knock, as Baroda reached a competitive total of 358 for six in 90 overs against Punjab in a Ranji Trophy group A encounter at the Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi on Thursday.

Hooda, whose sparkling 215-ball knock had 16 boundaries and three sixes, added 178 runs for the third wicket with Dhiren Mistry (76) as Punjab bowlers toiled hard throughout the day.

Barring Sandeep Sharma  (4/64 in 20 overs), none of the other bowlers could create an impression as skipper Yuvraj Singh himself bowled five overs.

The other contributor was Pinal Shah (42) with whom Hooda added 80 runs. He also shared an unbroken 59-run stand with Swapnil Singh (29 batting).

Yusuf Pathan (0) edged one from Sandeep to Geetansh Khera behind the stumps.

The day however belonged to Hooda, who has played for Rajasthan Royals and was with the Sunrisers Hyderabad during the last season.

A clean striker of the ball, the right hander, whose previous best in first-class cricket was 142, was particularly severe on Siddharth Kaul, hitting on both sides of the wicket.

He was severe on left-arm left-arm spinner Vinay Choudhary (0/119 in 25 overs) using his feet to good effect.

He also lofted Gurkeerat Singh for maximums as the Punjab bowlers had to go through the grind.

In another match, Delhi took firm control of the proceedings after a collective performance from bowlers saw them bowl out Odisha for a lowly 237 in a Ranji Trophy group B encounter, on Thursday.

At stumps, Delhi comfortably reached 43 for no loss in 10 overs with skipper Gautam Gambhir reaching 26 in company of Unmukt Chand, who was batting on 13.

Earlier, Gambhir won the toss and put Odisha into bat.

Veteran seamer Sumit Narwal (2/34) used the new ball to good effect as he remnoved Ranji Singh (4) with an outgoing delivery and Sandeep Pattanaik (7) with an incoming delivery.

Once Gobind Poddar (24) and Anurag Sarangi (18) were dismissed in quick succession, Odisha were in trouble at 59 for 4.

Seasoned Biplab Samantray (62) and Subhranshu Senapati (76) added 145 runs for the 5th wicket as Odisha recovered at one stage to be 204 for five. While Biplab hit eight fours and a six in 112 balls, Senapati hit 10 boundaries in 153 balls.

But a lower-order collapse initiated by left-arm spin duo of Varun Sood (3/23) and Manan Sharma (2/52) saw Odisha lose last five wickets for only 33 runs.

Ishant Sharma, who opened the bowling, sent down 14 overs with a wicket for 29 runs to show for his efforts.

Ishant has now sent down a total of 35 overs in the two innings that he has bowled so far since his comeback from Chikungunya fever.

More than the number of wickets that he gets, Ishant’s fitness and the number of spells that he bowls will be important for the national selectors with the first Test against England, only a fortnight away.

Brief Scores: 

Baroda 358/6 (Deepak Hooda 190*,Mistry 76 ; Sandeep Sharma 4/64) vs Punjab

Odhisa 237 all out,(Subhransu Senapati 76, Biplab Samantaray 62 ; Varun Sood 3/23), Delhi 43/0, (Gautam Gambhir 26)

Himachal Pradesh 8/2,(Gangta 4*; Ravi Kiran 1/4) vs Hyderabad

Kerala 194/8,(Rohan Prem 62, Sanju Samson 41; Pankaj Rao 3/35) vs Chhattisgarh

Tamilnadu 262/4,(Dinesh Kartik 95, Kaushik Gandhi 71*; Chandrakant Sakure 2/47) vs Madhya Pradesh

Gujarat 276/8,(Parthiv Patel 60, PK Panchal 60; Imtiaz Ahmed 4/48) vs Uttar Pradesh

Andhra 217/6,(Prashant Kumar 74, GH Vihari 62; Yuzvendra Chahal 3/57) vs Haryana

Tripura 283 all out,( RA Dey 87, AA Dey 58; Shadab Jakati 4/67) vs Goa

Services 287/3,(Rahul Singh Gahlaut 127*, SU Yadav 72*; Parvez Rasool 2/68) vs J&K

Assam 268/6,(Amit Varma 125*, Arun Karthick 35; Arvind Sreenath 5/49) vs Karnataka

Vidarbha 105 all out,(Vikash4/24); Jharkhand 146/1,(Pratyush Singh 80*, Anand Singh 58*)

Maharashtra 280/3,(NS Shaikh 118*, AR Bawane 83) vs Rajasthan