Ranji Trophy: Cheteshwar Pujara Strikes Unbeaten Century As Saurashtra In Command Against Jharkhand

Batting stalwart Cheteshwar Pujara, ignored for the two-Test series against South Africa, cracked an unbeaten century as defending champions Saurashtra made a mockery of the Jharkhand bowling attack to score 406/4 on day 2 of the Ranji Trophy opening round Group A match in Rajkot on Saturday. Pujara was 157 not out at stumps, and giving him company at 23 was Prerak Mankad. Saurashtra, who had bundled out Jharkhand for a paltry 142 on the opening day with Chirag Jani taking his maiden five-for in First-Class cricket, are in complete control after having taken a 264-run lead with opener Harvik Desai (85), Sheldon Jackson (54) and Arpit Vasavada (68) being the other notable contributors.

Overnight batters Harvik and Jackson didn’t last long on day 2, though the duo managed a 108-run partnership for the second wicket to give the hosts a good platform to build on.

Pujara found the gaps and occasionally punished the loose deliveries, consuming 239 deliveries for his 157 that was studded with 19 boundaries.

His 146-run partnership with Vasavada helped the hosts post an imposing total, one which could help them win by an innings and garner a bonus point.

Jharkhand bowlers were woefully ill-equipped to match the batting prowess of the team led by India pacer Jaydev Unadkat with all their six bowlers going for plenty of runs.

Brief scores: At Rajkot: Jharkhand 142 in 49 overs vs Saurashtra 406/4 in 119 overs (Harvik Desai 85, Sheldon Jackson 54, Cheteshwar Pujara not out, Arpit Vasavada 68).

At Solapur: Manipur 137 in 54.1 overs & 85/4 in 39 overs (Hitesh Walunj 3/21) vs Maharashtra 320 in 81.2 overs (Siddhesh Veer 58, Kedar Jadhav 56, Ankit Bawne 153; Bishworjit Konthoujam 4/77).

At Nagpur: Services 241 in 87.5 overs (Rajat Paliwal 84, Lovekesh Bansal 73; Umesh Yadav 3/73,Aditya Thakare 3/39) vs Vidarbha 191/8 in 74 overs (Akshay Wadkar 59; Varun Choudhary 4/44).

At Rohtak: No play between Rajasthan and Haryana due to bad light.

Ranji Trophy Group D

Pacer Gaurav Yadav ripped through the Delhi batting line-up with a seven-wicket haul in a devastating spell as Puducherry shot the home side out for 148 on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Group D match in New Delhi on Saturday.

In reply, Puducherry were 113 for 2 in 29 overs at close of play with Paras Ratnaparkhe and Paras Dogra batting on 31 and 18 respectively.

Senior pacer Ishant Sharma and Himanshu Chauhan took a wicket apiece for Delhi.

Puducherry trailed by 35 runs with eight first-innings wickets in hand.

Earlier in the day, Gaurav Yadav added five more wickets to his overnight two as he almost single-handedly decimated the Delhi batting line-up.

Abin Mathew took two wickets while Saurabh Yadav got one.

Harsh Tyagi top-scored for Delhi with a 49-ball 34.

On the opening day on Friday, only 19 overs could be possible due to poor visibility arising out of fog and haze, with the home side being reduced to 40 for 4.

On Saturday, 72.5 overs were bowled.

Brief Scores: Delhi 148 all out in 62.5 overs (Harsh Tyagi 34; Gaurav Yadav 7/49) vs Puducherry 113 for 2 in 29 overs (Paras Ratnaparkhe 31 batting; Ishant Sharma 1/28).

In Dehradun: Madhya Pradesh 323 all out in 109.3 overs (Saransh Jain 100, Venkatesh Iyer 89; Swapnil Singh 4/56) vs Uttarakhand 170 for 6 in 68 overs (Dikshanshu Negi 44 batting; Kumar Kartikeya 4/51).

In Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir 100 vs Himachal Pradesh 109 for 1 in 26.3 overs (Prashant Chopra 48 batting).

In Vadodara: Baroda 351 all out in 96.5 overs (Mitesh Patel 116, Atit Sheth 57; Rajesh Mohanty 4/74) and 43 for 1 in 13 overs vs Odisha 178 all out in 58.2 overs (Govinda Poddar 68; Atit Sheth 3/50).

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