RANJI ROUND-UP
Follow UsNotable results
Tamil Nadu 435 & 71/1 beat Punjab 274 & 231 (f/o) by nine wickets
Karnataka 563/5 decl took first-innings lead against Chandigarh 267 & 236/5
Vidarbha 423 & 205 beat Haryana 333 & 180 by 115 runs
Jharkhand 188 & 269 beat Rajasthan 210 & 158 by 89 runs
Railways 105 & 378/5 beat Tripura 149 & 333 by five wickets - (highest successful chase in Ranji Trophy history)
Madhya Pradesh 200 & 422 beat Jammu and Kashmir 242 & 124 by 256 runs
Mumbai 272 beat Assam 84 & 108 by an innings and 80 runs
Gujarat 346 & 117/3 beat Goa by 317 & 143
Click here to view all Ranji Trophy results from this week
Quarter-finalists
Vidarbha, Saurashtra, Mumbai, Andhra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Baroda.
QF 1: Vidarbha vs Karnataka - VCA Stadium, Nagpur
QF 2: Madhya Pradesh vs Andhra - Holkar Stadium, Indore
QF 3: Mumbai vs Baroda - BKC Ground, Mumbai
QF 4: Tamil Nadu vs Saurashtra - Sri Ramakrishna College of Arts and Science Ground, Coimbatore
(February 23 - 27)
Teams relegated and promoted
Goa and Manipur are the two teams who will be relegated and will feature in the Plate Group next season. While Manipur lost all of their seven games, Goa also remained winless. They lost five and drew two, taking a first-innings lead against Chandigarh. Goa finished with just four points, one less than Chandigarh and Bihar.
Meanwhile, the Plate Group finalists Hyderabad and Meghalaya will play in the Elite division next season.
Top-performers of the week
Pratham Singh and Mohammad Saif
The Railways cricket team created history at the MBB Stadium in Agartala on Monday (February 19), scripting the highest successful run-chase in Ranji Trophy history. They chased down a target of 378 against Tripura, thanks to centuries from Pratham and Saif. The record was previously with Saurashtra who chased down a 372-run target against Uttar Pradesh in the 2019-20 edition.
Railways were reduced to 31/3 in the run-chase but that’s when Pratham and Said joined hands and put on 175 runs for the fourth wicket. Saif got out after scoring 106 but Pratham remained unbeaten on 169 off 30 deliveries and only left the field once the job was done. Despite the win, Railways failed to qualify for the knockouts.
Baba Indrajith and Vijay Shankar
Also read - ‘Score big runs, trust the timing’: Baba Indrajith’s mantra to earn Test cap
In a must-win clash against Punjab, Tamil Nadu’s two senior-most batters stepped up and helped them qualify for the knockouts for the first time since the 2016-17 season. They were 107/4 at one stage before Indrajith and Shankar added 281 runs for the fifth wicket. Indrajith (187 off 295) brought up his second hundred of the season, while Shankar (130) got his first. The two propelled Tamil Nadu to 435 before their bowlers did the rest.
Priyank Panchal
The 33-year-old hit his first century of the season and gave Gujarat an important win, but it was still not enough to give them a spot in the knockouts. Having registered just one fifty in his previous 12 innings, the right-handed opener slammed 171 in an innings where no other Gujarat batter crossed the 40-run mark. Gujarat defeated Goa by seven wickets and ended their season with four wins, but could still not leapfrog Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Vijaykumar Vyshak
A four-wicket haul followed by a maiden first-class ton, Vyshak had a game to remember against Chandigarh. In what was a must-win match for Karnataka, Vyshak took 4/77 in the first innings and bundled Chandigarh out for 267. Manish Pandey and Srinivas Sharath then hit centuries before Vyshak also had his fun with the bat. He smacked 103* off 141 deliveries. The match ended in a draw but Karnataka got the three points to progress further.
Aditya Sarwate
The 34-year-old produced a man-of-the-match level performance for Vidarbha in a match that they had to win to progress further. 99 in the first innings, 42 in the second, plus five wickets in the game - the left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder completely dominated Haryana who themselves were in the knockout race. Sarwate missed out on his third first-class ton but did enough to help Vidarbha finish at the top of the Group A points table.
Other notable performances
S Ajith Ram (Tamil Nadu) - 6/83 & 3/52 vs Punjab
Abhimanyu Easwaran (Bengal) - 200 in the first innings vs Bihar
Manish Pandey (Karnataka) - 148 vs Chandigarh
Nehal Wadhera (Punjab) - 43 & 109 vs Tamil Nadu
Aditya Chandresh Singh (Jharkhand) - 72 vs Rajasthan
Prerak Mankad (Saurashtra) - 173 vs Manipur
Sumit Mathur (Delhi) - 4/97 & 5/26 vs Odisha
Nishant Sindhu (Haryana) - 131 vs Vidarbha
Jiwanjot Singh (Uttarakhand) - 139 vs Baroda
Mayank Dagar (Himachal Pradesh) - 52, 3/52, 5/52 vs Puducherry
Abdul Samad (Jammu and Kashmir) - 103 off 74 vs Madhya Pradesh
Akshay Chandran (Kerala) - 184 vs Andhra
Youngsters who shone
Anukul Roy
Jharkhand made a superb comeback after conceding a first-innings lead against Rajasthan. After giving away a lead of 22 runs, Jharkhand scored 269 in the second innings and set a target of 248. That’s when Anukul weaved his magic. The left-arm spinner scalped five wickets, dismissing the likes of Zubair Ali, Mahipal Lomror, Kukna Ajay Singh, Ramnivas Golada, and Aniket Choudhary. Rajasthan were bundled out for 158.
Sanjeet Desai
The 26-year-old got his maiden first-class ton and went on to convert it into a double century against Uttar Pradesh in Lucknow. The Chhattisgarh middle-order batter scored 202 off 356 deliveries after his team was reduced to 88/4. He put on 212 runs with skipper Amandeep Khare who himself scored 114. The game ended in a draw but Chhattisgarh walked away with three points.
Yash Dhull
The right-hander ended the season with a knock of 112 against Odisha, his only century in this edition. He didn’t score a single fifty in his first 10 innings this season but got 82 in the second innings against Himachal Pradesh. He managed to build on that and brought up his fifth first-class hundred, helping Delhi finish the season with a win.
Harsh Gawli
The 25-year-old crafted 147 off 304 deliveries, studded with 16 fours, after Madhya Pardesh conceded a first-innings lead against Jammu and Kashmir. Thanks to Gawli’s second first-class century, MP set a target of 381. In reply, J&K were bowled out for just 124, losing an opportunity to qualify for the quarterfinals.
International watch
Mukesh Kumar
Having been released from the Indian squad ahead of the third Test against England in Rajkot, the 30-year-old featured in a Ranji Trophy game for Bengal and claimed 10 wickets. Mukesh, who struggled against England in the second Test, took four wickets in the first innings to dismantle Bihar for 95 and followed it up with a six-wicket haul in the second essay. Bengal won the game by an innings and 204 runs.
Shardul Thakur and Shivam Dube
The two had a great time against Assam, helping Mumbai get their fifth win of the season. Dube continued his good form and hit 121* off 140 in a match where the second-highest individual score was 31. Meanwhile, Thakur claimed 10 wickets and played a major role in Assam getting dismissed for 84 and 108 at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy BKC. Thakur was recently dropped from the Test set-up after the South Africa tour.
Cheteshwar Pujara
This was an easy fixture for Pujara and Saurashtra who had fun against Manipur. Arpit Vasavada (148) and Prerak Mankad (173) scored tons, while Dharmendrasinh Jadeja picked up nine wickets in the match. Pujara walked out to bat at No. 6 and smashed 108 off 105, decorated with 12 fours and a six, to bring up his third hundred of the season. He now has 781 runs @ 78.1 in this edition.
Ruturaj Gaikwad
Making his return from a finger injury that kept him out of action for almost two months, Gaikwad hit 96 off 161 deliveries in the first innings against Services. Maharashtra were still bowled out for 225 and Services managed to take a lead of 207. An innings win would have helped them qualify for the knockouts but Maharashtra batted out 90 overs to prevent that from happening, with Gaikwad walking out at No. 8 and staying unbeaten on 4 off 42 balls.
Disappointments of the week
Ajinkya Rahane
Another match, another failure for the former India batter. The 35-year-old could only score 22 against Assam and is now averaging just 16 this season. Rahane has just one 50-plus score in eight innings. That’s not it. Rahane, in this match, was given out obstructing the field when he was on 18. Tea was taken two balls early and during the break, Assam withdrew the appeal. It didn’t matter much as he was out four runs later, this time knocked over by Dibakar Johri.
Hanuma Vihari
29 runs across two innings against Kerala - Vihari hasn’t produced the desired numbers in the ongoing Ranji Trophy that would get him back in the Indian Test set-up. Six out of 11 times he has got starts this season but only once has he managed to hit a century. Ricky Bhui is the leading run-scorer this season, but for Andhra to win their maiden Ranji Trophy, Vihari will have to score big in the knockouts.
Also read - Three tons in five games? Nah, Ricky Bhui wants more, a lot more
What made news this week?
With the league stage of the 2023/24 Ranji Trophy coming to an end, quite a few players announced their retirements. Saurabh Tiwary, who announced last week that he will be retiring from professional cricket, played his last game for Jharkhand. He captained the side and led them to victory against Rajasthan. His teammate Varun Aaron, 34, has decided to move on from red-ball cricket.
Vidarbha qualified for the knockouts but Faiz Fazal has already played his last game for the team. The 38-year-old, under whom Vidarbha won back-to-back titles, could only score one run across two innings against Haryana but ends his career as Vidarbha’s leading run-getter.
Bengal’s Manoj Tiwary also hung his boots after captaining his team to a win over Bihar. The 38-year-old finishes his career with more than 10000 first-class runs. Mumbai’s Dhawal Kulkarni, 35, will also retire at the end of this season. All of the aforementioned players have played for India in the past.
Meanwhile, despite a stern warning from BCCI to players prioritizing IPL over domestic cricket, the likes of Ishan Kishan (Jharkhand), Shreyas Iyer (Mumbai) and Deepak Chahar (Rajasthan) didn't turn up for their respective state sides.
