Ranji Roundup: Delhi, Kerala, Assam eye big wins in Round 2

Dhruv Shorey yet again top-scored with an unbeaten 106 to help hosts Delhi post a massive 376-run target for Himachal Pradesh, who ended the penultimate day at 44/1 in a Ranji Trophy Group B match at the Feroz Shah Kotla here on Wednesday.

After taking a comfortable 94-run first innings lead, Delhi rode on Shorey's unbeaten century, coupled with a few useful knocks from veteran Gautam Gambhir, captain Nitish Rana and the middle order to declare on 281/4 before India veteran Ishant Sharma struck early to remove Himachal captain Prashant Chopra as the tourists found themselves at 44/1 at stumps.

In another Group B tie, Kerala folded for 348 after being 241/1 against Andhra in Thiruvananthapuram. However, off-spinner Jalaj Saxena's magical 7/44 helped the hosts inch closer to victory as Andhra found themselves tottering at 102/8 in their second innings, with a slender lead of 28 and just two wickets in hand.

In the other Group B matches, Abhinav Mukund stroked an unbeaten 101 to help Tamil Nadu reach 163/2 against Hyderabad, who posted 565/8 in their first innings, while Madhya Pradesh rode skipper Naman Ojha's 74 to reach 254/5 but still trail by another 256 runs against Bengal's mammoth 510/9.

In Group A, Vishnu Solanki's ton helped Baroda dominate Maharashtra as his unbeaten 156 helped the side end the day on 367/3 with a massive lead of 421. Kedar Devdhar (91) and Deepak Hooda (96) missed their respective hundreds but their scores were enough to take the game away from Maharashtra.

In Nagpur, Vidarbha took a slim 1-run lead after reaching 72/2 against Karnataka while Chhattisgarh trailed Gujarat's 538/7 by 172 runs at Valsad.

In the other Group A tie, India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja coupled his unbeaten 178 with three wickets in the second innings as hosts Saurashtra reduced the Railways to 278/8. The visitors now have a 130-run lead in their second essay.

In Group C, Assam found themselves in the driver's seat after reducing hosts Tripura for 68/4 in their chase of 428 while Rajasthan ended the third day at 95 for no loss, needing 277 more on the final day against the Services in Jaipur.

In the other two Group C matches, Jammu and Kashmir ended the day at 246/7 to trail hosts Goa's first innings score of 468/9 by 222 runs at Porvorim while Odisha lost seven wickets for 180 runs in their second innings to trail by Uttar Pradesh's first innings total of 437 by 1 run.

Coming to the Plate Group, Uttarakhand cantered to an 8-wicket win over Manipur as they chased down 99 with ease in Dehradun. They are now second in the plate group with 13 points from two games after their bonus point win over Bihar in the first round.

Sikkim rode on a splendid double ton by Milind Kumar as they defeated Nagaland by 9 wickets to pick up their second win and climb to the top of the table.

In Assam's Jorhat, Akhil Rajput starred for Mizoram with a handsome 124 to help his team reach 244/2 and now require only 166 on the final day to beat Arunachal Pradesh.

In Puducherry, Yogesh Nagar's 141 helped Meghalaya post 326 but the Northeastern side however, failed to take the first innings lead after Puducherry scored 389. The hosts, in their second innings scored 95/4 to take a 158-run lead going to the final day.

--IANS

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