Ranji Trophy Himachal Pradesh Shot out for 36 Test Hopefuls Gambhir, Nair Shine

Tamil Nadu vs Madhya Pradesh, Cuttack

Tamil Nadu strengthened their position against Madhya Pradesh following another fruitful day with the bat in Cuttack on Friday (October 28). Resuming at 262 for 4, Tamil Nadu began the day on a positive note with Baba Indrajith completing his half-century. Few overs later, Kaushik Gandhi reached his maiden ton in first-class cricket.

Even though Indrajith departed for 68, Tamil Nadu continued to accumulate the runs as Gandhi put on 90 more runs with N Jagadeesan before inside edging one onto the stumps. The debutant Jagadeesan though, continued to frustrate the MP bowling attack and went on to score his century in the end. Showing no signs of declaration, Tamil Nadu kept piling up the runs and finished the day at 547 for 7 on a pitch that has offered very little to the bowlers.

Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 547/7 (Kaushik Gandhi 157, N Jagadeesan 118*; Ashwin Das 3-111) vs Madhya Pradesh

Punjab vs Baroda, New Delhi

Baroda skipper Deepak Hooda continued his heroics on the second day against Punjab at the Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi and remained unbeaten on 293 as his side posted a commanding 529 on the board. In reply, Punjab made a sound start to their first innings as they finished at 121 for 1 at stumps.

Earlier in the day, Hooda continued from where he left and kept the scorecard ticking to reach his double hundred off 231 balls. Even though wickets were falling at the other end at regular intervals, Hooda continued his merry run. Last man, Munaf Patel tried his best to stay at the wicket in order to let his captain complete his triple ton but he was dismissed by Shubek Singh Gill to end Hooda's hopes.

For Punjab, Manan Vohra scored an unbeaten half-century after Jiwanjot Singh's dismissal and would hope to make this start count on the third day.

Brief scores: Baroda 529 (Deepak Hooda 293*, DM Mistry 76; Sandeep Sharma 4-101) lead Punjab 121/1 (Manan Vohra 67*; SS Mangalorkar 1-28) by 408 runs.

Railways vs Bengal, Dharamsala

Bengal seized control of their match against Railways after another eventful day in Dharamsala. With the first day witnessing the fall of 14 wickets, the second day saw 15 batsmen getting dismissed. Resuming at 37 for 4, Railways didn't put up a fight in the morning and were bundled out for 105. They touched three figures thanks to skipper Karn Sharma's cameo as he blasted 40 from 26 deliveries.

Pace spearhead Ashoke Dinda picked up five wickets for Bengal.

Having gained a lead of exactly 100, Bengal's top order made solid starts but failed to kick on and register a big one. Skipper Manoj Tiwary and Wriddhimann Saha made 48 and 44 respectively but Railways kept chipping away with the wickets as Bengal lost nine wickets for 208 runs by stumps. The batting side will still be pleased with the lead though since it has already gone past 300.

Brief scores: Bengal 205 & 208/9 (Manoj Tiwary 48, Wriddhimann Saha 44; Karan Thakur 3-39) lead Railways 105 (Karn Sharma 40; Ashoke Dinda 5-45) by 308 runs.

Uttar Pradesh vs Gujarat, New Delhi

Three quick wickets before stumps on the second day put Uttar Pradesh on the backfoot against Gujarat in New Delhi. Responding to Gujarat's 347, Uttar Pradesh made an ideal start to their innings with openers Tanmay Srivastava and Samarth Singh putting on 80 for the first wicket. Even though Samarth was dismissed for 50, Tanmay was patient at the other end and added 38 with Umang Sharma.

But in the space of five overs, Uttar Pradesh lost three quick wickets to hand Gujarat the advantage. HP Patel did the damage by picking up three wickets. Earlier in the day, Gujarat did well to add 71 more runs in the morning with the remaining two wickets to frustrate the Uttar Pradesh bowlers before finally folding for 347.

Brief scores: Gujarat 347 (Chirag Gandhi 87, Parthiv Patel 60; Imtiaz Ahmed 5-73) lead Uttar Pradesh 147/4 (Samarth Singh 50; HP Patel 3-58) by 200 runs.

Delhi vs Odisha, Mohali

Led by Gautam Gambhir's 147, Delhi took a commanding lead against Odisha on Day Two of the Ranji Trophy clash at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali.

Resuming the day on 43 for no loss, Delhi lost opener Unmukt Chand early. After being reduced to 141 for 3, Gambhir combined with wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, who scored an attacking 60, to put Delhi in command.

Milind Kumar and Sumit Narwal made useful contributions in the lower middle order to help Delhi reach 351 for 7 at stumps, and take a 114-run lead.

Brief scores: Odisha 237 (Subhranshu Senapati 76, Biplab Samantray 62; Varun Sood 3-23, Sumit Narwal 2-34) trail Delhi 351/7 (Gautam Gambhir 147, Rishabh Pant 60; Dhiraj Singh 3-61, Govinda Poddar 2-65) by 114 runs.

Assam vs Karnataka, Mumbai

Unbeaten centuries from Robin Uthappa (108*) and Karun Nair (108*) helped Karnataka reach 223/2 at stumps against Assam at Mumbai's Bandra-Kurla Complex Ground.

Earlier in the day, Shreyas Gopal's three wickets helped Karnataka bowl out Assam for 325 in their first innings. However, Karnataka soon found themselves in trouble as both the openers - R Samarth and Mayank Agarwal - were dismissed for ducks.

Nonetheless, Uthappa and Nair combined to put on an unbeaten 219-run stand for the third wicket and rescue Karnataka. They trail Assam by 102 runs at the end of Day 2.

Brief scores: Assam 325 (Amit Verma 166*, Sarupam Purkayastha 59; Sreenath Aravind 5-70, Shreyas Gopal 3-74) lead Karnataka 223/2 (Robin Uthappa 108*, Karun Nair 108*; Arup Das 1-27, Krishna Das 1-46) by 102 runs.

Jharkhand vs Vidarbha, Wayanad

Ishank Jaggi's unbeaten 112 helped Jharkhand take a 257-run lead in the first innings, before Vidarbha wiped off 48 runs from the deficit by the end of Day 2 at the Krishnagiri Stadium in Wayanad.

Resuming the day on 146 for 1, Jharkhand lost overnight batsman Pratyush Singh early. It was the fourth wicket stand between Saurabh Tiwary and Jaggi which helped Jharkhand take control of the contest.

The lower order fell rather quickly as they lost four wickets for 55 runs, before declaring their innings on 362 for 8, in reply to Vidarbha's first innings total of 105.

SR Ramaswamy and Faiaz Fazal put on an unbeaten 48-run partnership for the opening wicket to see Vidarbha through Day 2 and reducing the deficit to 209 runs.

Brief scores: Vidarbha 105 (Jitesh Sharma 21, Ravi Jangid 20; Vikash Singh 4-24, Ajay Yadav 3-28) & 48/0 (Faiz Fazal 29*) trail Jharkhand 362/8 decl. (Ishank Jaggi 112*, Pratyush Singh 86, Anand Singh 76; Akshay Karnewar 2-45, Rajneesh Gurbani 2-61) by 209 runs.

Team Rajasthan vs Maharashtra, Hyderabad

Pankaj Singh's four-fer helped Team Rajasthan restrict Maharashtra to 461 on Day Two at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, before they reached 76 for 2 at stumps.

Resuming the day on 280 for 3, Naushad Shaikh and Rahul Tripathi extended their partnership to 122 runs, before the former was caught and bowled by Ashok Menaria. Barring Vishant More, who struck a fine 62, none of the lower order batsmen managed to reach double digits.

In reply, Team Rajasthan lost Vineet Saxena and Pramod Yadav early as they were reduced to 29 for 2. Rituraj Singh and Menaria, however, put on 47 runs and took the side to stumps on 76 for 2.

Brief scores: Maharashtra 461 (Naushad Shaikh 143, Rahul Tripathi 95, Ankit Bawne 83; Pankaj Singh 4-62) lead Team Rajasthan 76/2 (Rituraj Singh 31*; MM Sayyad 1-19, Samad Fallah 1-33) by 385 runs.

Himachal vs Hyderabad, Guwahati

On a day where 15 wickets fell, it was Hyderabad who took the advantage in their Ranji Trophy clash against Himachal at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Friday (October 28).

Himachal were bundled out for their lowest Ranji score - 36. The Hyderabad bowlers shared the wickets, with Akash Bhandari being the pick with 4 for 0. None of the Himachal batsmen got into double digits, but skipper Rishi Dhawan fought back with the ball. He scalped six wickets to restrict Hyderabad to 99 for seven at the end of the second day's play.

Brief scores: Himachal 36 (Akash Bhandari 4-0, Ravi Kiran 3-12) vs Hyderabad 99/7 (Balachander Anirudh 44*; Rishi Dhawan 6-36) lead by 63.

Goa vs Tripura, Bhubaneshwar

Tripura fought back on day two to hold the edge over Goa at the KIIT Stadium in Bhubaneshwar. They restricted Goa to 220 for eight after being bundled out for 283 on the first day.

The opening pair of Swapnil Asnodkar and Sumiran Praneet Amonkar gave Goa a good start by adding 51 runs. However, the middle order failed to capitalize as none of the batsmen failed to convert their starts. Only Asnodkar crossed the 50-run mark as Gurinder Singh picked up three wickets for Tripura.

Brief scores: Tripura 283 (Rajat Dey 87, Abhijit Dey 57; Shadab Jakati 4-67, Saurabh Bandekar 3-44) vs Goa (Swapnil Asnokdar 57, Snehal Suhas Kauthankar 44; Gurinder Singh 3-40) trial by 63.

Andhra vs Haryana, Mumbai

Andhra keep a strangle hold on current table toppers Haryana after bowling them out for 103 on the second day of their Ranji Trophy encounter at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Yuzvendra Chahal continued his fine work and picked up a five-wicket haul to roll Andhra out for 253. However, the Haryana batsmen allowed all the good work go to waste as Duvvarapu Siva Kumar scalped his own five-for. Only four Haryana batsmen reached double digits, with Shubham Rohilla top scoring with 27. In their second essay, Andhra lost a couple of early wickets before Hanuma Vihari battled to end the day with an unbeaten 47.

Brief scores: Andhra 253 and 95/3 (Hanuma Vihari 47*, Koripalli Sreekanth; Mohit Sharma 2-10) vs Haryana 103 (Shubham Rohilla 27; Duvvarapu Siva Kumar 5-25) lead by 245.

Jammu & Kashmir vs Services, Jaipur

Gahlaut Singh continued from where he had left off as he took his side Services to a healthy first innings total against Jammu & Kashmir at the end of day two at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.

The southpaw with the help of the lower middle order piled on the runs as Services finally ended their innings on 477 and Singh fell 18 runs short of his double hundred. Parvez Rasool picked up five for 117 and was the lone shining star for J&K. After being in the field for more than one and half days, J&K made a positive start with the bat, ending day on 96 for one.

Brief scores: Services 477 (Gahlaut Singh 182, Shamsher Yadav 72; Parvez Rasool 5-117) vs J&K 96/1 (Shubham Pradeep Khajuria 34*, Ian Dev Singh Chauhan 30*) trial by 381.

Chhattisgarh vs Kerala, Jamshedpur

In a seesaw battle at the Keenan Stadium in Jamshedpur, it is Kerala who hold a slight edge over Chhattisgarh at the end of the second day's play.

After bowling out Kerala for 207, Chhattisgarh did not make the most of the opportunities. They found themselves reeling at 179 for nine and trail by 27 runs. Most of the Chhattisgarh batsmen got off to starts, but none went past Abhimanyu Chauhan's 37. For Kerala, it was Iqbal Abdulla and Karaparambil Monish who did the damage, the duo scalped six wickets between them.

Brief Scores: Kerala 207 (Rohan Prem 62, Sanju Samson 41; Pankaj Rao 3-35, Sumit Ruikar 5-50) vs Chhattisgarh 179/9 (Abhimanyu Chauhan 37, Iqbal Abdulla 3-56, Karaparambil Monish 3-34) trial by 27 runs.