Mumbai eye big lead against MP

Cricket Ranji Trophy semis : Pujara ton propels Saurashtra

 Mumbai held a slight edge, reducing Madhya Pradesh to 197 for five, after being bowled out for 371 on the second day of their Ranji Trophy semifinal here on Sunday.

At stumps, Madhya Pradesh trailed by 174 runs, with five wickets remaining. Mumbai were bowled out in 102.5 overs in their first essay after MP chose to bowl on winning the toss on day one of the encounter.

Middle-order batsman Naman Ojha stood firm with a solid 79 off 182 balls, as Madhya Pradesh ended the day reasonably well placed, having recovered from a precarious situation of 78 for four at one stage. Ojha found the fence 11 times during his unbeaten knock.

The other contributors for Madhya Pradesh were Rajat Patidar (33) and Harpreet Singh (36), though they would be disappointed to miss out on big scores after settling down.
Ankit Dane (27 off 46) was giving Ojha company when the stumps were drawn.

Mumbai resumed from 327 for seven, with Siddesh Lad and Shardul Thakur at the crease.
While Lad added only three runs this morning to get out for 60, Thakur made 27 off 38 balls. Lad struck 11 fours during his 125-ball knock.

Medium pacer Chandrakant Sakure was the most successful bowler for Madhya Pradesh, returning with figures of five for 137 in 29.5 overs.

Pujara slams ton

At Vadodara, Cheteshwar Pujara remained unbeaten on 116 to hand Saurashtra the all-important first innings lead in the other semifinal.

At stumps on the second day, Saurashtra made 254 for five in 82 overs in reply to Assam’s 234 all out.

Pujara was highlight of Saurashtra’s innings as he scored his runs off 212 deliveries with the help of 15 boundaries and one six.

Earlier resuming at the overnight score of 193 for seven, Assam managed to add just 41 runs before being bowled out.

Overnight half-centurion Amit Verma (98) added 24 runs to his Saturday night’s tally, before being bowled out just two runs short of his century.

Brief scores: semifinals: At Cuttack: Mumbai: (O/n: 327/7): 371 all out in 102.5 overs (Shreyas Iyer 90, Aditya Tare 68, Siddesh Lad 60, Abhishek Nayar 43, Bhavin Thakkar 30, Sha­rdul Thakur 27; Chandrakant Sakure 5-137, Ishwar Pandey 2-34, Puneet Datey) vs Madhya Pradesh: 197/5 in 75 overs (Naman Ojha 79, Rajat Patidar 33, Harpreet Singh 36, Ankit Dane 27; Balwinder Sandhu 2.41).

At Vadodara: Assam: (O/n: 193/7): 234 all out in 87 overs (Amit Verma 98, KB Arun Karthik 59; Jaydev Unadkat 6-77, Hardik Rathod 3-56) vs Saurashtra: 254/5 in 82 overs (Cheteshwar Pujara 116 n.o., Avi Barot 35, Sheldon Jackson 47, Chirag Jani 29; Arup Das 3-68).