Pujara surpasses Merchant’s record
RUN MACHINE Scores 12th firstclass double century in Ranji contest versus Jharkhand
NEWDELHI: Cheteshwar Pujara is renowned for grinding bowling attacks in domestic cricket. And the India No 3 claimed the record for most double centuries in firstclass cricket by an Indian batsman on Thursday.
Pujara claimed the accolade while scoring 204 for Saurashtra against Jharkhand in a Group B Ranji Trophy game at Rajkot.
Pujara’s 12th double century overall took him past the mark of former India Test bats man Vi jay Merchant ( 11). Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid are joint third in the list with 10 double centuries each.
Three of Che te sh war Pu jar a’ s 12 first-class double tons have come in Test cricket while two of those knocks are triple centuries.
The right-handed batsman, who began the day on 125, finished on 204 off 355 balls, hitting 28 boundaries.
Saurashtra declared the innings at 553/9. His performance would please the Indian team management that may have been worried because of his below-par performances in English county cricket, where he notched up a highest of just 34 in his last eight innings.
His Ranji Trophy openers this season too have yielded little.
Towards the end of the day, Jaydev Unadkat removed both the Jharkhand openers.
SPINNER SAURABH RALLIES UP VS DELHI
NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh fought back through left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar to reduce Delhi to 228/6 at stumps on day two of the Ranji Trophy Group A match.
UP, who resumed at 270 for eight, were 291 all out.
In response, Delhi were looking good at 125/1 before Gautam Gambhir’s fall triggered a collapse which left the team in serious trouble at 187/5.
After Gambhir ( 86), Dhruv Shorey ( 65*) held the innings together but Delhi were still 63 runs behind UP’s first innings .
While Delhi pace rs revel led on a green surface on day one, UP spinner Kumar (3/74) produced crucial breakthroughs.
He first removed opener Unmukt Chand, who is yet to fire in the tournament, before taking the prized wicket of Gambhir.
Milind Kumar was out for a duck, leaving Delhi at 127/3. Sho- rey and Rishabh Pant (30) were notable to build a big partnership that was needed to change the momentum in the home team’s favour.
Pant, playing his first game of the tournament, batted like he normally does, hammering three four sand a couple of six es during his 23-ball cameo.
Last match’s hero Manan Sharma too departed quickly, and so did Nitish Rana.
Bad light affected play for the second day in a row.
TIWARY GIVES BENGAL EDGE OVER HIMACHAL
KOLKATA: Bengal pacers fought back in the final session after Manoj Tiwary’s splendid century to leave Himachal Pradesh reeling at 163/5 in their Ranji Trophy group D fixture at Eden Gardens.
Resuming at an overnight score of 78, Ti wary cracked 128 to guide Bengal to 419 in their first innings.
Profligate with the new ball initially, India pacer Mo ham med Shami (2/74) got his sting back when the ball got old and ended Priyanshu Khanduri’s 120-ball vigil at the crease for 52 runs.
In space of two balls, Ashoke Dinda(2/39) removed the in-form Nikhil Gangta for a cheap 24 before bad light stopped play at 39.3 overs with the group D leaders trailing by 256 runs.
Resuming the day on 306/5, Bengal made steady progress as Ti wary notched up his 24 th firstclass century and first of this season.
Tiwary found fine support in Shreevats Goswami as the duo looked in control in their 64-run partnership till the latter was trapped by Pankaj Jaiswal (3/83).
Bengal innings folded just after the lunch as Rishi Dhawan (4/86) and Jaiswal wipped the tail but not before they crossed the 400- mark with Mohammed Shami hitting a 22-ball 26.
In reply, Himachal were reduced to 9/1 with Dinda dismissing Prashant Chopra (6) in the third over, but after that skipper Sumeet Verma(64) and Khan- duri looked in control to lay a solid foundation.
BOWLERS TOIL
Bengal bowlers struggled to get any help from the wicket as Verma and Khanduri added 92 runs for the second wicket before Mukesh Kumar gave the breakthrough dismissing the Himachal captain.
Shami looked lacklustre and got his first wicket in the ninth over and conceded 74.
But Khanduri looked dogged and completed his fifty in 107 balls with fine support from Nikhil Gangta.
The duo, however, could not consolidate as Shami trapped Khanduri before Dinda swung the match in Bengal’s favour.