Ranji Trophy 2023-24: Kargave’s unbeaten 98 not enough as Himachal tightens noose around Pondicherry on Day 2

Pondicherry batter Akash Kargave, batting on 98, kept losing partners at regular intervals as Himachal Pradesh dominated proceedings on the second day of a Ranji Trophy fixture at the Siechem Stadium on Saturday.

Kargave swept, punched, and rotated the strike well on a pitch that had begun to help the spinners. But his side ended up losing seven wickets while still trailing Himachal by 293 runs.

Kargave and Paras Ratnaparkhe began well for Pondicherry, even though Vaibhav Arora’s pace and Mayank Dagar’s left-arm spin with the new ball had them playing and missing a lot.

Eventually, it was the bowling partnership of Gurvinder Singh and Akash Vashisht that broke through Pondicherry’s top order. Vashisht cleaned up Ratnaparkhe, who missed his sweep, and in the next over, new batter Parameeshwaran edged straight to first slip off Gurvinder.

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Vaibhav then had Paras Dogra edging the ball to slip. Mohit Mittan attempted to play a big hit off Gurvinder but was caught brilliantly at the boundary by Dagar.

Arun Karthick and Kargave then began the rebuilding process, adding 28 runs in the next 10 overs. However, Dagar had Karthick caught before Pondicherry lost captain Rohit Damodaran two balls later. Vashisht then trapped Premraj Rajavelu in front.

Himachal batters provided a solid start to the day earlier as they used the morning zip of the surface to their advantage and added 166 runs in the first session.

Nikhil Gangta and Rishi Dhawan had scored 24 runs in the first 20 minutes of play when the centurion nicked behind off Pankaj Yadav’s fuller delivery. 

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That the duo continued to charge down the wicket in that brief period gave enough hint to the remaining batters about the batting conditions. Rishi added 23 runs with Mukul Negi before Sidak Singh induced an edge to first slip.

Praveen Thakur was hurried by Gaurav Yadav’s pace and found his stumps displaced after he put on 43 runs with Mukul. It seemed like Pondicherry would be able to keep Himachal under 400, but Dagar counter-attacked with a 27-ball fifty.

Dagar and Mukul’s stroke-filled eighth wicket stand added 72 runs in just 50 balls. The former was eventually adjudged leg-before off Sidak, who finished with four wickets. Himachal quickly added 25 runs more after Lunch, before getting bowled out for 463.