Internet Desk: Suresh Raina hit an aggressive 91 in his first first-class match after a brief illness-related lay-off as Uttar Pradesh sniffed victory over Railways on the third and penultimate match of their Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match on Thursday.
Raina, who did not play in the New Zealand ODI series after being named in the India squad due to an illness, played a captain’s knock to help UP score 330 all out in their second innings at the SCA Stadium.
Raina hit nine fours and two sixes in his 106-ball innings. His innings is expected to draw attention of national selectors when they pick the Indian team for the home ODI series against England next month.
Kuldeep Yadav (19), who was sent as night-watchman yesterday, hung around for 17 overs in the morning and added 37 runs to overnight 64 for 2 along with Shivam Chaudhary (124).
After Kuldeep was dismissed at the team score of 101, UP scored at 4.77 per over from that point with Raina leading from the front. His partnership of 140 with Chaudhary, who scored his maiden first-class century, helped swell the lead before they were bowled out for 330.
Chasing a stiff victory target of 377, Railways were reduced to 35 for 5 at stumps today as they suffered a top-order collapse.
Railways captain Karn Sharma returned with a five-wicket haul (5/71), including the scalp of Raina, but his side stared at a defeat after the flop show by his batsmen.
UP medium-pacer Praveen Kumar, playing his first match of the season, took wickets in consecutive overs to reduce Railways to 4 runs for 2 in the third over.
Railways could not quite recover from this as they went on the defensive, and crawled to 35 for 5 in 27 overs at the close of play today.
Only opener Shivakant Shukla (13) could reach double digit score out of the five Railways batsmen dismissed so far.
Wicketkeeper Mahesh Rawat (3 runs off 43 balls) was batting with Karn (7 runs off 33 balls) at stumps.
Railways now require another 342 runs for a win with five second innings wickets in hand.
In another match, Gujarat put themselves in line for full seven points after enforcing the follow-on against Punjab on the back of a strong show by their bowlers on the third and penultimate day of their Ranji Trophy Group B match on Thursday.
After declaring on 624 for 6, courtesy Priyank Panchal’s triple century on the second day yesterday, Rush Kalaria picked four wickets for 41 runs to skittle Punjab for 247 in 85.2 overs in their first innings.
Manan Vohra top-scored with 68, while cameos from Mayank Sidhana (39), Gitansh Khera (35 not out) and Manpreet Gony (26) ensured Punjab added 113 for the last four wickets.
Hardik Patel and RP Singh complemented Kalaria by picking two wickets each.
Having to wipe out a deficit of 377, after being asked to follow-on, to prevent Gujarat from winning a bonus point, Punjab closed on 36 for 1, with Vohra (14 batting) and Jiwanjot Singh (4 batting) at the crease.
Punjab now trail by 341 runs overall with nine second innings wickets in hand.
A win for Gujarat will give them seven points, including one bonus point, and that will put them in a good position to qualify for the knock-out stage. They are at third position in Group A with 21 points from five matches before this game.
On the other hand, a loss for Punjab (17 points from six matches before this game) could mean that their qualification for the knockouts hinge on other results.
Only three top teams from Group will qualify for the knock-out phase.
Bottom-placed Saurashtra were poised for an upset win over Karnataka after their spinners spun a web around the opposition batsmen on the third and penultimate day of their Group B Ranji Trophy cricket match on Thursday.
Saurashtra duo of off-spinner Kamlesh Makvana and left-arm spinner Jay Chauhan took five wickets between them as group toppers Karnataka ended the day with an overall lead of just nine runs by reaching 168 for 5 in their second innings .
Yesterday, Saurashtra had already taken the first innings lead by reaching 297 for 6 in reply to Karnataka’s 200 all out. Today, they were bowled out for 359 with Karnataka left-arm spinner Abrar Kazi wiping out the lower order to finish with 4 for 83.
Prerak Mankad, who had raised his maiden first-class century overnight, finished with 126.
Karnataka struggled early in their second innings, and were reduced to 27 for 2 in the eighth over before being lifted through a third-wicket stand of 110 between Kaunain Abbas and Manish Pandey. Their association ended with Pandey’s dismissal for 58.
Stuart Binny (6) and CM Gautam (0) were dismissed cheaply after that, but Abbas stayed not out on 62, and along with Shreyas Gopal (15 batting), ensured that there was further damage. The pair took Karnataka to 168 for 5 at stumps.
Brief Scores:
Uttar Pradesh: 259 & 330 all out in 90 overs (Shivam Chaudhary 124, Suresh Raina 91; Karn Sharma 5/71).
Railways 213 & 35 for 5 in 27 overs.
Gujarat: 624 for 6 declared.
Punjab: 247 all out in 85.2 overs (Manan Vohra 68) & 36/1 (f/o) in 12.1 overs.
Karnataka: 200 & 168 for 5 in 60 overs (Kaunain Abbas 62 batting, Manish Pandey 58; Kamlesh Makvana 3/46).
Saurashtra: 359 all out in 115 overs (Prerak Mankad 126; Snell Patel 87; Vinay Kumar 4/54, Abrar Kazi 4/83).