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The second round of matches in the Elite Stage got underway on Tuesday, the 16th of November. Here is a review of the matches that took place on 16th November to 19th November at various venues across the country.

Review by Venkat

 

Mumbai Vs Railways at Delhi

After a relatively good game that Mumbai had against Railways at Delhi, it was time for them to welcome Madhya Pradesh to Mumbai. It was a game where Mumbai fielded a relatively depleted side that lacked the services of skipper Sairaj Bahutule and all rounder Ramesh Powar. The loss of those two crucial players created an opportunity for two youngsters Santosh Shinde and Wilkin Mota, who made their debut. After stand-in skipper Vinod Kambli won the toss, he elected to bowl on what seemed like a typical Wankhede wicket, and indeed the bowlers did not let him down. Santosh Shinde and Ajit Agarkar bagged early wickets and put MP on the backfoot. The good work by Shinde and Agarkar was carried forward by Swapnil Hazare and Wilkin Mota, who pouched 3 wickets each. The only notable contribution for Madhya Pradesh came from Nikhil Patwardhan, who made a gritty and determined 80 off 255 balls. Madhya Pradesh folded for 255 runs and it was time for Mumbai to grab the initiative and play some positive cricket. But, some great spells of bowling by the limitedly talented Madhya Pradesh bowlers were good enough to put the breaks on the Mumbai scoring and there were no major contributions by any batsmen barring the 68 by skipper Kambli and an entertaining yet crucial 84 by Ajit Agarkar, which rallied Mumbai's total to 233, hence conceding a 22 run first inning lead to Madhya Pradesh. But, as they are known to fight, the two Mumbai opening bowlers bowled a great spell, washing off the Madhya Pradesh top order for just 12 runs, until Devendra Singh Bundela made his way to the crease. His mercurial knock of 139 was good enough to see off a possible comeback in the match for Mumbai, and thanks to that innings, Mandhya Pradesh set Mumbai a target of 245 runs. The Mumbai batsmen certainly seemed in no intention of winning the game, but an inspired spell of pace bowling from Sanjay Pandey who picked 4/20 saw the Mumbaikars restricted to 81/4, with the match ending in an interesting draw. Mumbai have to regroup in time for their next game, while Madhya Pradesh would be ecstatic to pick two crucial points from Mumbai for their First Inning lead. Full Scorecard

 

Railways Vs Bengal at Delhi

After a hard fought game, the Railmen took on an in-form Bengal team at Delhi for their second round Ranji Trophy side. Bengal won the toss and decided to field first. The Railmen started off pretty well, thanks to a good and solid 57 from opener and Mumbai exile Amit Pagnis. Other notable contributions for Railways came from the bat of Tejinder Pal Singh, who held the innings together with his gritty 86 and the aggressive batting from ex-India all rounder JP Yadav, who bludgeoned himself to 93 and helped Railways reach a total of 348. For Bengal, Ranadeb Bose bowled extremely well as he picked a fiver along with Sabir Ali, who chipped in with 3 crucial wickets. Bengal did not get off to the start they would have desired, and in this match, the batsmen contributed practically nothing, except yet another ex-India all rounder Laxmi Ratan Shukla, who made 90, as Bengal could manage all but 255. After his blitzkrieg knock with the bat, JP Yadav did it with the ball by picking 5 Bengal wickets, well supported by ex-Mumbai pacer Santosh Saxena. In their second essay too, Amit Pagnis had a crucial role to play as he cruised to a steady knock of 89 and apart from him 45 runs from Tejinder Pal Singh proved handy for Railways as they set Bengal a target of 311 runs. In response, the Bengal batsmen did well to earn a draw, but not without some crucial contributions from Laxmi Ratan Shukla yet again and the in-form opener Arindam Das. For their commitment to the cause, Railways take two important points from this game, while Bengal have to go back to the blackboard to get going! Full Scorecard

 

Gujarat Vs Karnataka at Bangalore

After their heroic comeback against Delhi at Ahmedabad, it was time for the young Gujarat team to travel to Bangalore to take on the might of Karnataka. Gujarat won the toss and elected to bat first, and did exceedingly well at the start thanks to skipper Mukund Parmar's innings of 73 off 150 balls. As many expected, discarded Indian stumper Parthiv Patel did not contribute much, but the boys from Gujarat had another Patel coming to their rescue - Timil Patel, who scored an unbeaten 59 runs in a manner that will please Andrew Hall. Gujarat eventually folded up for 330 in their first innings. For Karnataka, however good bowling came through paceman Doddanarasaiyya Ganesh and Vinay Kumar who grabbed 3 and 5 wickets respectively. Karnataka in reply looked a shade of what they are capable of, thanks to some disciplined bowling by Gujarat. After having them on the mat, the bowlers never gave anything away to the opposition, and Karnataka's lone hand came through a solid 59 by opener Barrington Rowland. Lalit Patel bagged 4 wickets with good support from Sidharth Trivedi and Timil Patel, who grabbed 2 and 3 wickets respectively, as Karnataka ended their first innings on 272. Gujarat were always on the ascendancy, and their position in the match was only consolidated due to some good batting by Niraj Patel who made 70 good runs. Timil Patel's good run with the bat continued as he backed his first inning performance with yet another unbeaten 78 as Gujarat muscled themselves to 307 for 4 declared, thereby gaining a lead of 365 runs. The Karnataka batsmen did not learn from the mistakes they made in the first innings, and yet again succumbed to some good and disciplined bowling by the Gujarat bowlers, and struggled to manage a draw. Their only notable contributor was keeper Thilak Naidu, who made a good 46 not out as Karnataka ended the game at 156/7. Karnataka were lucky enough this time, but take nothing, but all credit to Gujarat, who earned the 2 important points, which could come handy in the future. Full Scorecard

 

Tamil Nadu Vs Uttar Pradesh at Lucknow

After their thumping win over Hyderabad in the previous game, a depleted side yet full of confidence, took on Uttar Pradesh at Lucknow. Sridharan Sriram, the stand-in skipper for Tamil Nadu won the toss and chose to bat on a good wicket, but unfortunately for him his top order did not play as per expectations. It was left to veteran middle order bat Sridharan Sarath to come to the rescue of TN yet again, with his classy knock of 132, which ensured Tamil Nadu a good total of 353 runs. As for UP, Rudra Pratap Singh bowled well to pick 5 TN wickets, well backed by Ashish Winston Zaidi, who bagged 2 wickets. In reply, UP did not do any justice to the amount of talent that they had, and meekly surrendered to the huge total, thanks to the mesmerising spell of left arm spin bowling by Ramakrishnan Ramkumar, who picked his third consecutive fiver in 3 innings. UP made only 136 in their first innings, with a sole effort from keeper Amir Khan, who made a gritty 62 off 178 balls. Ceasing the initiative, UP were made to follow on by the TN skipper and they found themselves in deep trouble, as the TN bowlers were relentless in their attack and picked regular wickets to keep it going for TN. The only thing that came in way of TN and a win was luck, as it evaded them for once, with UP surviving what looked like a heavy defeat, thereby escaping with a draw. For their efforts, they take back only 2 points, while UP have to do some serious soul searching for the future matches ahead. Full Scorecard

Review by B.V.Swagath
 

Delhi Vs Andhra at Delhi

This was a match that made the headlines for all the wrong reasons. One such headline was something like " Host Club hijacks Ranji Tie". Anyway that is not our interest but our interest is mainly the game that got underway with Delhi piling up 491 after losing 9 wickets. All the Delhi batsmen contributed with impressive scores, most notable of them were Ajay Jadeja's ton, Mithun Manhas's near century and a slow 78 from Test discard Akash Chopra. Andhra medium pacers Kalyanakrishna and RVC Prasad toiled hard to pick 3 wickets each. Andhra had a stiff task ahead and their innings was straightaway in a turmoil at 64/5. However the innings was rescued by the big muscular Sahabuddin, who hit a superb 115 and Satya Kumar who scored 80. Andhra's innings folded at 311 with medium pacer Sanjay Gill taking 6 wickets. Delhi enforced the follow on but Andhra managed to play safely to ensure a draw although they had conceded 2 points for the first innings lead. Skipper M.S.K. Prasad played a crucial skipper's knock of 71 and Andhra ended the game at a 2nd innings total of 152/5. Full Scorecard

 

Punjab Vs Assam at Amritsar

The city of the Golden Temple, Amristar was the venue for this Ranji clash between the homeside Punjab and the team from the North East - Assam. The homeside won the toss and elected to bat first with its two young openers Ravneet Ricky and Reetender Singh Sodhi. Both the Sardars put on a beautiful stand of 97 and that set the tone for a big first innings total for Punjab. Punjab's skipper Yuvraj Singh failed to live up to his expectations as he perished to offie Arnald Konwar for 29. The top scorer was Ravneet Ricky who went on to score 133 and once-upon-a-time Indian player Pankaj Dharmani dazzled with 85 to help Punjab post 422 on the board. Medium pacer Parag Kumar Das picked up 3 wickets including that of Ricky's. Assam's innings got folded at a moderate total of 213 as Punjab's new ball bowler Gagandeep Singh ripped them apart to pick up 6 wickets. Sukhvinder Singh with his 59* did his best to narrow the wide gap between the first innings total of Punjab and Assam. Punjab enforced the follow on and Assam did no better than their first innings' performance and were bowled out for a dismal 158. Assam's imported player from Tamil Nadu, Saravanan was the lone spark in the Assam's innings with a gritty 69. That innings victory gave Punjab the all-important 4 points. Full Scorecard

 

Maharashtra Vs Baroda at Pune

Maharashtra have just entered the Elite Group and their opener was quiet a stiff one as they took on Baroda at the National Stadium, Pune. Maharahstra's skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar won the toss and put the visitors to bat first. A good start from Connor Williams and the strokeful Satyajit Parab got Baroda going. Parab scored a magnificient 120 which came off only 136 balls. Baroda did have a mini middle order collapse but nothing much to worry for them as No.9 Yousuf Pathan produced a heroic 92* with 8 fours and 1 hit out of the ground. Senior players Nayan Mongia and Jacob Martin both got decent scores and all that helped Baroda to post a healthy 446. For Maharashtra, it was the old warhorse Iqbal Siddiqui who finished with figures of 6/109. Maharasthra were without their reliable and run machine Dheeraj Jhadav who was on duty for the Board President's XI against the touring Proteas. That got a young man at 21, Kunal Marathe to make his debut. Kunal and Niranjan Godbole got their side to a solid start. Shekhar Joshi provided the first and crucial break by removing Godbole for a patient 53. Kanitkar played a quiet knock of 23 and Maharashta seemed to be in a rut for sometime. But two young men, one was debutant Kunal Marathe and the other Dhruv Mohan fought hard to take the homeside to a secure position. Both the batsmen scored hundreds, however Kunal's hundred was a bit more special as it was a century on First Class Debut. Maharashtra's innings ended at 387. It was left arm spinner Rajesh Pawar's five-wicket haul that ensured that Baroda walked away with the crucial first innings lead. Baroda in their second innings scored 189 losing the wicket of Connor Williams. Parab continued from where he left in the 1st innings to score an unbeaten 100. Kiran Powar was unbeaten on 64. The match ended in a draw but the visitors were the happier side after picking up 2 points for their first innings lead. Baroda takes on Punjab at the Mohali next week. Maharashtra would go down south to face Hyderabad at the Gymkhana Grounds, Secunderabd. The match is in my hometown and Cricketfundas.com would bring out some exclusives from the Maharashtra players for sure. Full Scorecard

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