Himachal Pradesh rode on left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma’s brilliant six-wicket haul to inflict a six-wicket thrashing on Kerala inside two days in one of the Ranji Trophy cricket matches here on Wednesday.
Trailing by 60 runs, Kerala suffered a batting collapse and were bundled out for 83 in their second innings early on day two with Sharma claiming 6 for 33 in 10.2 overs.
Rishi Dhawan, Karanveer Singh and Rahul Singh picked up a wicket apiece, as none of Kerala’s batsmen managed to score more than 20. Captain Sanju Samson top-scored with 19.
Himachal were set only 24 to win and they reached the target in fifth over of innings to end Group C match inside four sessions.
The visiting side, however, made a heavy weather of the paltry run chase as they lost four wickets in the process with Kerala left-arm spinner Karaparambil Monish picking up all of them in just two overs and without conceding a run.
Monish claimed three wickets on the first, third and sixth ball of the fourth over.
He had taken his first wicket in the fourth ball of his first over and second of the innings. The four-wicket haul put Monish on top of wicket-taking chart of the Ranji Trophy this season.
Himachal secured six points from the win while Kerala got none. By virtue of the win, Himachal are virtually assured of a place in the quarterfinals with 30 points from eight matches. The defeat meant that Kerala are out of reckoning for a knock-out spot.
Brief Scores
Himachal Pradesh: 163 & 24/4 beat Kerala 103 & 83 (Bipul Sharma 6/33) by 6 wickets.
Tiwary scores unbeaten 190
Hyderabad: Saurabh Tiwary scored an unbeaten 190 as Jharkhand reached 336 for six on day two and took a healthy first innings lead over Hyderabad in their Group C match.
In reply to Hyderabad’s first innings total of 145, Jharkhand have already managed to take a huge 221-run lead by the close of play today, with four wickets still remaining.
Resuming on 31 for one, the two overnight batsmen — Shiv Gautam and Anand Singh —got out cheaply to leave Jharkhand reeling at 48 for three.
But Tiwary came to the team’s rescue with his brilliant 244-ball 190 not out that included 24 hits to the fence and four sixes.
He also put on a solid 117-run stand for the fourth wicket with Ishank Jaggi (48) and another 131-run partnership with Kaushal Singh (54) for the sixth wicket to give the visitors an upper hand.
At stumps, Jaskaran Singh (11 not out) was giving Tiwary company.
Brief Scores
Hyderabad: 1st innings: 145 vs Jharkhand: 1st innings: 366 for six in 96 overs (Saurabh Tiwary batting 190, Kaushal Singh 54; CV Milind 3/65).
Ranji roundup (day 2)
Bengal: 444/6 declared lead Assam: 1/4 by 443 runs
J&K: 138 trail Saurashtra: 491/9 by 353 runs
M. Pradesh: 279 lead Andhra: 56 & 159/5 (follow/on) by 64 runs
Maharashtra: 212 & 70/4 lead Karnataka: 180 by 102 runs
Mumbai: 531 lead Gujarat: 102/3 by 429 runs
Odisha: 151 & 129 lead Rajasthan: 51 & 79/2 by 150 runs
Punjab: 206 & 174 beat Tamil Nadu: 68 & 69 by 243 runs
Services: 512 lead Tripura: 45/1 by 467 runs
Baroda: 321 lead Uttar Pradesh: 134/5 by 187 runs
Vidarbha: 504/7d lead Haryana: 53/0 by 451