Ranji Trophy: Bowlers put Delhi in command against Hyderabad

After being bundled out for a moderate 284 runs in a Ranji Trophy Round 3 contest, a four-fer by Delhi's Ishant Sharma (4/19) and Simarjeet Singh (4/23) saw the entire Hyderabad side back in the hut after managing just 69 runs in their first essay as only three of their batsmen could score in double digits at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here on Thursday.

Being asked to follow-on by Delhi, the visitors were once again in trouble as Kunwar Bidhuri picked up a couple of wickets in quick succession to reduce Hyderabad to 20/2 at the close of the second day's play. The visitors still trail by 195 runs.

Another four-fers by Cheepurapalli Stephen (4/78) and KV Sasikanth (4/64) helped Andhra bowl out Bengal for 289 runs as the hosts could manage only 48 runs to their overnight score, losing six wickets at the Eden Gardens. The visitors however, were yet to kick off their first innings as bad light forced early stumps.

A valiant unbeaten 72 runs by Rishi Dhawan and a 69-run innings by opener Priyanshu Khanduri took Himachal Pradesh to 235/7 against Karnataka at the end of the second day in Mysore. The visitors have now taken a 69-run lead as they had earlier wrapped up the home side for 166 runs.

A five-wicket haul by Basil Thampi (5/56) helped Kerala bundle out hosts Gujarat for 210 runs in Surat to set themselves a 268-run target. Chasing the target, Kerala were 26 for no loss at stumps with openers Vishnu Vinod and Jalaj Saxena batting on 22 and three runs respectively.

Meanwhile, the defending champions remained static at their overnight score of 196/6 against Punjab as no play was possible on the second day due to bad light in Nagpur.

Three half-centuries by opener Rameez Khan (87), Venkatesh Iyer (88) and Mihir Hirwani (54 batting) lifted hosts Madhya Pradesh to 281/7 against Tamil Nadu, who were skittled out for 149 runs in their first essay. T Natarajan was the pick of the bowlers for the visitors with figures of 4/96.

Railways rode skipper Karn Sharma's unbeaten 112 to post 266 runs in their first innings against Mumbai, who had a poor showing in their first essay after being wrapped up for just 114 runs in Mumbai. Later, despite starting cautiously, the hosts were reduced to 64/3 as they lost three wickets within 10 runs to trail by 88 runs at the end of the day.

In reply to Saurashtra's 331, Uttar Pradesh were 222/3 in their first essay in Rajkot, thanks to some valuable top-order contributions by Aryan Juyal (52), Akshdeep Nath (80 batting) and Mohammad Saif (41 batting). For the hosts, Jaydev Unadkat, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja and Parth Bhut bagged a wicket each.

In the Elite Group C contests, Odisha took a 28-run lead against Uttarakhand in Cuttack as they ended the second day at 145/6 with opener Shantanu Mishra and Debabrata Pradhan batting on 54 and 2 runs respectively. Earlier, the visitors were bowled out for 117 runs on Wednesday.

Tripura were 16/1 at stumps in their second innings to trail by 31 runs against Services at the Palam Grounds in Delhi. Earlier in the day, Services could only manage 173 runs in reply to Tripura's first innings total of 126 runs.

In Pune, Chhattisgarh trail by 158 runs after ending the day at 131/3 against hosts Maharashtra, who had put up 289 runs in their first innings. Harpreet Singh and Amandeep Khare were batting on 59 and 9 runs when stumps were drawn.

Only four overs of play was possible in Jamshedpur as Haryana added 11 runs to their overnight score to reach 285/6 against hosts Jharkhand. Chaitanya Bishnoi and Harshal Patel were batting on 75 and 47 runs when bad light forced the stop of play.

Similarly, 34 overs of play was possible in Jammu as the hosts added 151 runs losing a wicket to their overnight score to reach 210/2 at the end of the day against Assam. Shubham Khajuria and Henan Malik were batting on 87 and 13 runs respectively.

Puducherry were in the driver's seat against Mizoram in Kolkata as after wrapping up their opponents for a paltry 73, they declared their first innings at a healthy 458/5 to take a massive 385 runs lead, thanks to Paras Dogra's 200 and Suresh Kumar's unbeaten 103. They later reduced Mizoram to 30/4 in their second essay to take control of the match.

No play was possible on the second day of the contest between Sikkim and Nagaland, who were 45/1 to trail by 224 runs in Bhubaneswar.

Manipur took a 133-run lead in Dibrugarh as after bowling out Arunachal Pradesh for 143 runs, they ended the second day at 80/3 with Sagatpam Jayanta and Sultan Karim batting on 30 and 10 runs respectively. Earlier, Manipur had managed to put up 196 runs in their first innings.

Skipper Ashutosh Aman scalped a couple of wickets for just five runs to help Bihar reduce Goa to 65/2 at the end of the day in Patna as the visitors still trail by 261 runs. Earlier, Babul Kumar's 160 and Shasheem Rathour's 69-run contribution had helped the hosts put a healthy 326 runs on board before being wrapped up.

Skipper Manan Vohra missed his ton merely by 10 runs while Raman Bishnoi was batting on 40 as Chandigarh were 168/4 at stumps on the first day of their contest against Meghalaya in Mangaldoi. For Meghalaya, Abhay Negi, Dippu Sangma, Sanjay Yadav and Chengkam Sangma picked up a wicket apiece.IANS