Young Karan Sharma led from the front with a calm and composed 93 not out as Uttar Pradesh knocked out favourites Karnataka with a five-wicket win in their Ranji Trophy quarterfinals in Alur on Wednesday. This was UP’s first ever win over Karnataka on 13 occasions and it could not have come at a better time. UP are now headed for a likely semifinal clash against heavyweights Mumbai at the same venue from June 14. Previously, UP had lost four times and drawn nine times but never won against Karnataka.
Captaining the team in his very first season for UP, the 23-year-old Sharma, playing his fourth first-class match, showed solid temperament in their chase of 213 after Priyam Garg made an elegant 60-ball 52.
Sharma, who scored a second innings century in their win over Maharashtra that sealed their quarterfinals berth here, once again stood like a rock.
The Lucknow Super Giants batter, who faced 163 balls (119 of them dots), paced his innings brilliantly, especially at the fag end of the day.
That the slow pitch had little to offer for the pacers also played a part as Sharma happily took on Ronit More, pulling him in front of square, even on front foot.
He slammed 13 fours and one six in his knock as UP fashioned a memorable win with two days to spare.
The skipper found an able ally in Prince Yadav who played a patient innings of 33 not out from 73 balls (3×4, 1×6) in their unbroken match-winning partnership of 99 runs.
Mulani, Jaiswal put Mumbai in firm control against Uttarakhand
Left-arm spinner Shams Mulani‘s five-wicket haul was well complimented by opener Yashasvi Jaiswal‘s maiden hundred as the 41-time Ranji Trophy Champions Mumbai put themselves in the driver’s seat on the third day of their quarter-final against Uttarakhand in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
After the third day’s play, Mumbai’s overall lead stood at a staggering 794 runs and with that they seemed to have put one-foot in the semi-final.
After Mumbai posted a mammoth 647/8 declared in their first essay courtesy a maiden double hundred by debutant Suved Parkar, in-form Mulani run riot as Uttarakhand was bundled out for a meagre 114 in their first innings.
Mumbai thus obtained a massive 533-run first innings lead.
Skipper Prithvi Shaw, however did not enforce the follow-on and in the second essay, it was a Jaiswal (103) show as the 20-year-old slammed his first first-class hundred only in his second game and pummelled the Uttarakhand attack to submission. Mumbai ended the day at 261/3.
Uttarakhand began on their overnight score of 39/2 and none of their batters showed any resistance. Experienced pacer Dhawal Kulkarni got the wicket of his first ball, as he trapped overnight batter Kunal Chandela (8) in front of the wickets.
Then Mulani (5/39) spun a web around the opposition and his first victim was opener Kamal Singh (40), who was caught by Tushar Deshpande. Singh was the top-scorer for the hilly state in the first innings.
Uttarakhand who were teetering at 71/4 never recovered and lost their last six-wickets for just 43 runs with 25-year-old Mulani being the wrecker-in-chief.
Mulani’s other victims were — Swapnil Singh (9), Dikshanshu Negi (12), Shivam Khurana (7) and Agrim Tiwari (0) as the batters did not trouble the scorers.
Pacers Dhawal Kulkarni (1/18), Tushar Deshpande (1/25), Mohit Awasthi (2/22) and off-spinner Tanush Kotian (1/6) ably supported Mulani as the domestic giants dished out an impressive show. This was Mulani’s fifth five-wicket haul this season alone.
Mumbai in their second essay were off to an aggressive start, thanks to Jaiswal and skipper Prithvi Shaw, who made 72 in just 80 balls. The duo took the opposition attack to task as it forged a 115-run stand for the first wicket.
Shaw hammered nine boundaries and two sixes. After Shaw fell, left-handed batter Jaiswal, who struck 10 boundaries and two maximums, found an able ally in experienced Aditya Tare, (57) who too hit a half century.
The duo added 94-runs for the second wicket as Mumbai continued its run-feast.
When stumps were drawn, young batters Armaan Jaffer (17 not out) and Suved Parkar (6 not out) were holding fort.
Just like the first-essay, Uttarakhand bowlers had forgettable outing in the second innings too.
Punjab in disarray as MP smell victory
Left-arm spinner Kumar Kartikeya ran through the top-order to reduce Punjab to 120 for five in their second innings as Madhya Pradesh continued to enjoy the upperhand in their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal match in Alur on Thursday.
Opening the bowling, Kartikeya (4/11) picked up four crucial wickets to return with his second best first-class figures.
The 24-year-old accounted for the vital wickets of Punjab skipper Abhishek Sharma (17), Shubman Gill (19), Mandeep Singh (17) and Gurkeerat Singh Mann (10) to single-handedly demolish Punjab’s batting line-up in their second essay.
At stumps on the third day, Siddharth Kaul was batting on 16 and giving him company was wicket-keeper Aman Malhotra on 9.
Punjab still trail Madhya Pradesh by 58 runs and it would prove to be a Herculean task for them to save the match from here on.
Earlier, resuming at 238 for two, overnight centurion Shubham Sharma (102) failed to add to his score but Rajat Patidar continued his fine IPL form and hit 85 off 167 balls with the help of 12 boundaries to take Madhya Pradesh forward.
Patidar was ably supported by Akshat Raghuwanshi (69) as the duo shared 99 runs for the fifth wicket to hand Madhya Pradesh a sizeable first innings lead before perishing.
After the departure of the duo, the remaining four Madhya Pradesh batters could add just 14 runs before folding out in 154.5 overs, taking a massive first innings lead of 178 runs.
Left-arm spinner Vinay Choudhary was the pick of the bowlers for Punjab with figures of five for 83.
Brief Scores: Punjab: 219 & 120 for 5 in 47 overs (Anmolpreet Singh 31, Shubman Gill 19; Kumar Kartikeya 4 for 31). Madhya Pradesh: 397 all out in 99 overs (Shubham Sharma 102, Himanshu Mantri 89, Rajat Patidar 85, Akshat Raghuwanshi 69; Vinay Chaudhury, 5/83).
Punjab trail Madhya Pradesh by 58 runs.
Nine Bengal batters score 50-plus
The Bengal Ranji cricket team on Thursday created a global first-class record when all nine batters, who took guard, scored half-centuries in a mammoth first innings score of 773 for eight against a hapless Jharkhand on the third day of the quarter-final, in Bengaluru. At stumps, Jharkhand were 139 for 5 in their first innings and it is virtually impossible to stop Bengal from entering the semi-final as the opposition now trail by 634 runs.
The match will be remembered for a record that stood test of time since 1893 when the touring Australian team, in a first-class game against combined universities (Oxford and Cambridge), had eight of their batters scoring fifty or more.
For Bengal, skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran (65) started the march towards milestone along with fellow opener Abhishek Raman (61).
This was followed by impressive knocks from Sudip Gharami (186) and senior-most batter Anushtup Majumdar (117). They added 243 runs for the second wicket.
Promoted
Bengal’s junior sports minister Manoj Tiwary (73) also added his name to the list along with Abhishek Porel (68), who has not let Bengal miss Wriddhiman Saha for once.
RCB all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed (78) and Sayan Sekhar Mondal (53) also made half-centuries to complete an Indian cricket but when Akash Deep came and smashed 8 sixes in 18-ball-53, the global first-class record was broken after 129 years.
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