Rajasthan recorded a tense two-wicket win over Odisha here on Thursday to end a forgettable Ranji Trophy season on a high.
Rajasthan, who were 79 for two overnight and required another 152 runs to chase down down the 230-run target, managed to get over the line in low-scoring game. Fifties from Siddharth Dobal (52) and Puneet Yadav (59) came more than handy in the run chase.
Odisha had made 151 and 129 and Rajasthan were bowled out for a paltry 51 in their first innings.
It was the last match of the season for both teams, having failed to make the quarterfinals. Rajasthan finished with 17 points from eight games and Odisha 12 points from eight games.
Brief scores
Odisha: 151 & 129 lose to Rajasthan: 51 & 231/8 in 65.5 overs (Puneet Yadav 59, Siddharth Dobal 52; Basant Mohanty 3/65, Alok Sahoo 2/61).
Saurashtra beat J&K, seal qf berth
Jammu: A sensational seven-wicket haul by spinner Kamlesh Makvana helped Saurashtra crush Jammu and Kashmir by an innings and 63 runs and seal their quarterfinal berth in the Ranji Tropy cricket tournament here on Thursday.
Ian Dev Singh's 179-ball 127 went in vain as Makvana wrecked havoc on the hosts on the third day, returning with figures of 26.4-5-100-7 at the Gandhi Memorial Science College Ground here.
Resuming at 491/9, Saurashtra ended their first innings at a mammoth 497 in 126.2 overs after Jaydev Unadkat was dismissed by M Mudhasir.
In reply, J&K had a shaky start as Unadkat dismissed Umar Nissar (6) in the 7th over and then Makvana got rid of other opener Pranav Gupta (39) in the 28th over after he shared 52 runs with singh.
Skipper Parvez Rasool (0) was next to go as he was caught by Barot off Makvana. SP Khajuria (8) too was sent packing in the 36th over by Makvana.
Singh then added another 52 runs with Amir Sofi (20), before sharing a 78-run stand with Asif Khan (29) as J&K crossed the 200-mark. However, Singh too was dismissed in the 78th over with CS Jani taking the catch off DA Jadeja.
Once Singh was gone, Z Sofi (4) and VK Dogra (2) failed to reach double figures. M Mudhasir (23) and Sameer Ali (26 not out) fiddled around for sometime before the former was dismissed.
Brief scores
J&K: 138 & 296 lose to Saurashtra: 497 (S Jackson 121; Z Sofi 3/51) by an innings and 63 runs.
Ankit spins mp to big win over ap
indore: left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma claimed his second five-for of the match as Madhya Pradesh notched up an innings victory over Andhra to keep their Ranji Trophy cricket quarterfinal berth alive.
Following on, Andhra were all out for 214 in 78.3 in their second innings with Ankit returning with brilliant figures of 7/91 as the home side won by an innings and nine runs on the third day at the Holkar Cricket Stadium.
Ankit ended the match with 13 wickets for 108 runs as he had also picked up six wickets for 17 runs in Andhra's first innings which was folded at 56 in 38.2 overs.
Their qualification for the quarterfinals will, however, depend on results from the Mumbai-Gujarat game as well as the match between Uttar Pradesh and Baroda. Two teams will qualify from Group B for the quarterfinals.
At start of the day, Andhra needed 74 to stave off an innings defeat with five wickets in hand. That task, it proved, was too hard as Andhra were bundled out for 214. Overnight batsman AG Pradeep completed his half-century before Ankit quashed any hopes of a comeback by having him caught for 62. Substantial partnerships were hard to come by, with the highest being 26 between Shankara Rao (8) — who stuck around for 61 balls — and Pradeep for the eighth wicket.
Brief Scores
Madhya Pradesh: 279 (Rameez Khan 89, Harpreet Singh 81, Bandaru Ayyappa 5/66) beat Andhra: 56 (Ankit Sharma 6/17) and 214 (AG Pradeep 62, Mohd. Kaif 51, Ankit Sharma 7/91) by an innings and nine runs.
Merai’s ton rescues Gujarat
mumbai: Bhargav Merai slammed his first century of the Ranji Trophy season to rescue Gujarat along with Axar Patel on day three of the four-day Group B match at the Wankhede Stadium.
Coming to the crease on Wednesday when the visitors had lost two quick wickets to be 53 for 3, the Surat-born batsman kept the Mumbai attack at bay for the whole day today with an unbeaten knock of 150 to help Gujarat reply with 355 for 7 to the hosts' mammoth first innings total of 531.
The 23-year-old right hander, reprieved soon after he arrived at the crease on Wednesday when a rampaging Shardul Thakur dropped him off his own bowling after taking wickets in successive overs, was watchful through his marathon 506-minute innings that contained 13 fours in 315 balls.
Brief Scores
Mumbai: 531 lead Gujarat: 355/7 (P Panchal 36, B Merai 150*, Axar 88; Thakur 4/75) by 176 runs.
Elsewhere
Bengal: 444/6d lead Assam 143 & 72/2 (f/o) by 229 runs; Services: 512 lead Tripura 229 & 9/0 (f/o) by 274 runs; Baroda: 321 trail UP: 466/7 by 145 runs; Hyd: 145 & 169/6 trail J’khand: 388/8d by 74 runs; Vidarbha: 504/7d lead Hry: 241 & 66/2 (f/o) by 197 runs; Maha: 212 & 260 vs K’taka: 180 & 61/1 (target 293).