A career-best seven-wicket haul by Pragyan Ojha kept Bengal in line for their first win of the season as they set Vidarbha an imposing 297-run target for a win in their Ranji Trophy Group A cricket match here on Monday.
Having claimed his 23rd five-for on Sunday, the left-arm spinner added two more to his tally on Monday to return with his best figures of 7/58 as Vidarbha were bowled out for 202, conceding Bengal a handsome 132-run lead.
Bengal were bowled out for 164 in their second essay which centered around skipper Manoj Tiwary's dogged 63 (127 balls; 8x4) in a strip with cracks and uneven bounce at the Jadavpur University second campus ground to set a tall target.
For Vidarbha, Akshay Wakhare claimed 5/61 to return with a match haul of nine wickets.
At close on the penultimate day, Vidarbha were three for no loss from two overs after bad light stopped play. The day belonged to the Bengal's new recruit Ojha who kept a steady line and got vicious turn and bounce to trouble the overnight batsmen duo of Shrikant Wagh and Akshay Wakhare who resumed the day with team's score of 141/7.
Ojha dismissed Wakhare (6) leg before wicket with just the addition of two runs to his overnight total to give the first breakthrough this morning.
But thereafter, Wagh (60 not out; 100b, 10x4, 1x6) counter-attacked Ojha to give the visitors some respite. Wagh completed his half century from 82 balls in the 65th over and hit Ojha for a six in the spinner's next over.
But Vidarbha soon ran out of steam after Swapnil Bandiwar (4) became Ojha's seventh victim after he was bowled.
"I was confident of doing well... It's about giving your best and bowling consistently. We have a more important day for us tomorrow. It will become all the more special if we're able to win tomorrow," Ojha said after his career-best show.
"The wicket is helping and has enough cracks... We have to bowl in those areas consistently," he added.
Having gone through a difficult time after his action was reported last season, Ojha had to undergo remedial work and joined Bengal ahead of 2015-16. "It was the biggest challenge... Besides the action, the challenge was to build my mental strength," said Ojha.
Brief Scores
Bengal: 334 and 164 (Manoj Tiwary 63; Wakhare 5/61) lead Vidarbha: 202 (Faiz Fazal 63, Shrikant Wagh 60*; Pragyan Ojha 7/58) & 3/0 by 294 runs.
tn, ap washed off
Chennai: The third and penultimate day's play in the Group B Ranji Trophy cricket match Tamil Nadu and Andhra was called off due to heavy rain here on Monday.
The second day's play on Sunday was also called off without a ball being bowled.
When the stumps were drawn on the first day, Tamil Nadu were not able able to open their account in the one over that was bowled. Andhra were all out for 203 in their first innings.
Saxena spins MP to win
Gwalior: Spinner Jajaj Saxena added eight more wickets to his first-innings effort for a match haul of a staggering 16 scalps, as Madhya Pradesh registered a convincing nine-wicket victory over Railways in a Ranji Trophy match here.
The 29-year-old off-spinner Jalaj returned impressive figures of 8/58 to bundle out Railways for 131 in 51.1 overs at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium.
Resuming at overnight score of 42/1, Railways lost nine wickets for just 89 runs, and had no answer to the questions posed by Jalaj on the third day of the Group B game. Jalaj had picked up 8/96 in the first innings, helping his team bowl out Railways for 258 runs.
Brief Scores
Railways: 256 & 131 lose to Madhya Pradesh: 276 & 112/1 (19.1 ov, target 112)
Assam closer to win
Rohtak: Young paceman Arup Das bettered his career-best figures with a six-wicket haul to take Assam close to an emphatic victory over Haryana in their Ranji Trophy Group A match, here.
Assam, who had conceded a first innings lead of 48 runs, wrapped up Haryana's second innings at a mere 111 to set themselves a 160-run target. The visitors were 122 for four at the end of third day's play, just 38 runs away from an outright win.
Haryana began the day at 15 for three and together with fellow paceman Krishan Das (4/48), Arup ripped apart Haryana batting line-up. Himanshu Rana was top scorer for them with a 27-run knock. It was Krishan who started the rot by dismissing overnight opener Nitin Saini (18) and Sachin Rana (6).
Assam were in a spot of bother, losing three wickets for just 35 runs but Amit Verma (24 batting) and KB Arun Karthik (48) added 76 runs for the fourth wicket to wrest back the initiative.
K'taka in command
Mysuru: India discard Robin Uthappa today cracked his second century of the season to help Karnataka gain a 168-run lead after they declared their first innings at 400 for nine against Odisha on the third day of their Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match played here.
Trailing by 168 runs, Odisha were zero for one in their second innings when the umpires called off the day's play due to bad light.
Nataraj Behera and first innings centurion Govinda Poddar were batting on zero as opener Rajesh Dhuper (0) lost his wicket to Vinay Kumar in the very first over of their second innings.
Uthappa smashed a sparkling 148 runs off 257 balls with 11 boundaries and two sixes, and Karun Nair scored a useful 73 runs off 164 balls with six boundaries and a six. The duo stitched a 169-run partnership for the fourth wicket, which took the match away from the hands of Odisha.
After Odisha succeeded in breaking Nair and Uthappa's partnership, the visitors did well to restrict the hosts by bagging six wickets for 103 runs, with slow-left-arm orthodox Dhiraj Singh (3/156) leading the fightback and ably supported by right-arm medium Suryakant Pradhan (3/94). Basant Mohanty and Biplab Samantaray claimed two and one wicket respectively.
UP reply with 350/5
Mumbai: Uttar Pradesh were facing a daunting task in their quest of taking the first innings lead and points against hosts Mumbai by stumps on day three of their four-day Ranji Trophy Group B cricket match here.
Replying to the 40-time champions' mammoth first innings total of 610 for 9 declared, UP were at a healthy 155 for one before losing four wickets to be 350 for five at close, still trailing the home team by 260 runs at the Wankhede Stadium.
At stumps, leg spinner Piyush Chawla (54 in 55 balls) and wicketkeeper Ekalavya Dwivedi (50 in 88 balls) were leading the fight for the first innings lead.
UP's reply was earlier built around opener Himanshu Asnora's patient 92 in six-and-a-half hours, one-down Umang Sharma's sedate 53 and Mumbai-born youngster Sarfaraz Khan's quick-fire 44, the most enterprising knock from the visiting side till then, off 51 balls.
For Mumbai, Nayar was the chief wicket taker with 2 for 37 in 18 overs, while the other scalps were shared by left-arm spinner Vishal Dhabolkar (1 for 100) and medium pacer Balwinder Sandhu (1 for 54).
Paliwal, Yashpal shine
Dharamsala: Rajat Paliwal and Yashpal Singh slammed unbeaten hundreds to help Services reach 344 for three on day three of their Ranji Trophy match against Himachal Pradesh.
Paliwal and Singh were batting on 106 and 102 at stumps with Services still trailing the hosts by 187 runs. Himachal had made 531 in their first innings.
The two shared a 218-run stand to take the team closer to the opposition total. Paliwal plundered 13 fours while Singh smashed 16 fours and a six.
Elsewhere
Gujarat: 505 lead Baroda: 252 & 82/4 by 172 runs; Haryana: 168 & 111 vs Assam: 120 & 122/4 (38 ov, target 160); HP: 531 vs Services: 344/3 (122.5 ov); Jharkhand: 551/8d vs J&K: 309 & 9/2 (4 ov) (f/o); Odisha: 232 & 0/1 (2 ov) vs Karnataka: 400/9d; Kerala: 347 vs Tripura: 224/7 (94 ov); Mumbai: 610/9d vs UP: 350/5 (117 ov); Goa: 239 & 242/4 (80 ov) vs Saurashtra: 258; AP: 203 vs TN.