Indian Domestic : Season 2012-2013

First topic message reminder :

Irani Trophy is out of the way....Challenger is ongoing.......Duleep Trophy will start soon and then the entire Ranji season with a new 3 group and 2 tier structure.
In between there are A tours........India A in NZ and then Eng-A side comes to play India-A.

It warrants a separate thread

On the 3rd day of the 5th round of Ranji, Ravindra Jadeja couldn't add a lot more to his 320 notout and managed only 11 more. But his overnight partner Kamlesh Makvana scored a ton. Looks like a borring first innings only match though. Tamil Nadu vs Vidarbha isn't promising much either. Is TN the most borring team in Indian domestic cricket?
But there are good news elsewhere. Utter Pradesh have won their match against Baroda inside 3 days and gains the bonus point for a 10 wicket win. Buvneshwar Kumar finishing with 7 wickets for the match. Cricinfo reported that he was swinging the ball in Praveen Kumar style. So UP never missed their injured star.
Punjab continuing their superb start to the season, just 55 away from another outright win against defending champions Rajasthan this time. They have been the team to watch in this season, emerging seamers Sandeep Sharma and Siddarth Kaul, and young opener Jivanjit Singh are turning in top performances consistently, and the senior players like Manpreet Goni and Uday Kaul are doing a fine job as well. Even Harbhajan Singh scored a few runs when he played for Punjab!.
In other matches, Delhi and Haryana are involved in an interesting match that could produce an outright result tomorrow, and the Mumbai v Bengal match could also produce some interesting cricket tomorrow. Mean while Rohit Sharma had a 2nd failure in the match, out for 14 this time, after being dropped first ball.
J&K's Parwez Rassol is having a brilliant match against Assam, after picking up 7 wickets in Assam's first innings, Rassol scored an unbeaten ton in his team's 2nd innings.

The 4th day of the 5th round was an exciting one. Punjab completed their 4th win of the season, this time against defending champions Rajasthan. Young opener Jivanjit singh went on to his hundred and remained not out.
Proverbial no hopers Tripura registred an impressive win, only their 7th in Ranji history, over Himachal Pradesh. For HP, Paras Dogra resisted with his 4th ton of the season, but that wasn't enough.
In another absolute thriller, Haryana won against Delhi. Haryana's season so far has been a sorry one, but they managed to bowl Delhi out for 209 to register an 83 run win. 83 was the first innings lead they had achieved. Delhi resisted through veteran Mithun Manhas and in parts through Rajit Bhatia, but Haryana managed to take the final wicket in the last minutes of the contest. Former India spinner Amit Mishra, who's 74 stretched Haryana's 2nd innings to 209 then took 4 Delhi wickets in the 2nd innings.
Mumbai and Bengal played out an exciting draw. Mumbai had declared yesterday and set Bengal a target of 391 in the last innings. A fine bowling display from Abhishek Nayar who had 50s in both Mumbai innings then took 6 bengal wickets. Manoj Tiwary failed 2nd time in the match, out for 14. But Bengal resisted through India reserve wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha and managed to get away with a draw with 3 wickets remaining.
Saurashtra and Gujarat managed to enforce follow on against their rivals but couldn't do much after that. Ravindra Jadeja picked 3 Railways wicket on top of his 331.
Defensive TN suffered agin, they have not showed any intent to try ind win matches, have tried to go for the first innings lead. Like it did in the Karnataka game, Vidarbha also managed to deny TN yet again.

Good news for the next round, Harbhajan Singh and Ajinkya Rahane are made available for the next round of Ranji matches. Punjab and Mumbai are playing each other and the availability of the 2 would do some good for both sides.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-england-2012/content/current/story/595351.html

CF wrote:IMO Jadeja is a better all-round cricketer than Yurvaj IN THE LONGER FORM OF THE GAME.

care to elaborate?

CF, Jadeja averages almost 9 runs more than Yuvraj does in first class cricket with the bat. We could debate as to who as the better bat, but there is no debate on who is the better bowler. Jadeja has taken 136 wickets from 42 matches at an average of 27 with 10 fifers and twice taking 10 wickets in a match. Yuvraj has only 26 wickets from 103 first class matches and his only fifer came against England in a tour match recently.

exactly so me saying Jadeja is better is proved...

As an all-rounder, no questions.

which is what i said!

CF wrote:care to elaborate?

Just giving you a taste of your own medicine

The 6th round of Ranji Trophy have got underway today. Teams other than Tamil Nadu, Andhra and Hyderabad are in action. Ajit Agarkar, R Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun and Ashesh Nehra are back after injuries. The other good news is that former India seamer S Sreesanth is back playing club cricket. Hopefully he'll be back for Kerala in the next round. Ajinkya Rahane and Harbhajan Singh are playing for Mumbai and Punjab respective after they were made available for the match, freed from squad duties for the national test team. Ravindra Jadeja is playing for Saurashtra against Maharashtra.
In early actions, Delhi has reduced Karnataka to 61-4 with Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey already gone. Tripura, after last week's highs, is back to normal, struggling at 68-6 against Jarkhand. Punjab, the team of the season is 88-1 against Mumbai, Jivanjit Singh is batting on 31.

At the end of day one of the 6th round of Ranjji we have a balanced days work. Punjab's Mandeep Singh scored a hundred against Mumbai, Ajit Agarkar got a couple of wickets for Mumbai.
Ravindra Jadeja scored 70 out of Saurashtra's total of 209. For Bengal, spinner Irish Saxena picked up 5 wickets. Seems there is some help for spinners, Jadeja can look forward to making further contributions with the ball as well.
Stuart Binny scored a half-century for Karnataka against Delhi. Karnataka were bowled out for 192. Parvinder Awana picked up 5 wickets. Shikhar Dhawan is looking good for Delhi.

Odisha were bowled out for 182 against Baroda, Govind Poddar scoring 82 and Bhargav Bhatt picking up 6 wickets.
UP's Mukul Dagar scored his 3rd hundred of this season.
J&K's Ian Dev Singh carried his bat against Kerala for 117 in a team total of 215. Kerala's left-arm seamer CP Shahid picked 8 wickets for his team.

The one high profile failure of the day came from Suresh Raina, who was bowled for 8.

Ravindra Jadeja has alrady taken 2 out of the 3 Bengal wickets that have fallen today. Bengal struggling at 40-3, but Manoj Tiwary and Wriddhiman Saha are at the crease.
The squad for the 4th test is to be picked later today.

Ravindra Jadeja makes to the test squad and he finished with 4 wicket in the Bengal first innings. Bengal finished their innings at 112-9 with Manoj Tiwary retiring hurt for 55. That is a handy 97 run lead for Saurashtra. Mumbai have bowled Punjab eventually and Ajinkya Rahane is slated to bat 3 for Mumbai. Will Harbhajan Singh offer any support to Punjab's young seamers who have been doing a fine job in the tournament so far?

good to see Jadeja rewarded for his fine form..

he deserves this test call up.

At the end of the 2nd day, the highlight has been Jarkhand's win over Tripura inside 2 days. 20 wickets fell today, 7 in Jarkhand's first innings, then Tripura were bowled out and Jarkhand then chased down the 54 needed with 7 wickets remaining.
The other highlight has been the all-round performance from Ravindra Jadeja. Jadeja picked up 4 wickets in the Bengal first innings and then registered his 2nd half-century of the match, cracking an unbeaten 67 on a dificult track. Thanks to his efforts, Saurashtra now leads by 231 runs with 6 wickets remaining in the 2nd innings.
Punjab finished their first innings against Mumbai at a mammoth score of 580, thanks to a stroke filled 211 from India A batsman Mandeep Singh Amitoze Singh blasted 91. Mumbai are 69-1 at stumps with Ajinkya Rahane, who was bowled of a no-ball before he opened his account batting on 18.
UP has gone on to make a 500+ score against Vidarbha with Piyush Chawla scoring 85 and Arish Alam scoring an unbeaten 93. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is batting on 34.
Baroda have taken the first innings lead over Odisha with Ambati Rayudu still at the crease.
The Karnataka Delhi match is shaping up well with both sides making comebacks at different points. In the morning Karnataka bowlers steadily chipped away at the Delhi batting lineup, but then had to encounter some lower order resistance from Sumit Narwal and Parwinder Awana who has got his first national call up. Awana, who had earlier taken 5 wickets then smashed 74 from number 9 to provide Delhi with a 74 run first innings advantage. Then Karnataka hit back through their openers Robin Uthappa and KL Rahul who both scored unbeaten 50s. Delhi bowlers did creat chances but the fielding didn't back them up.
Rishi Dhawan picked up 4 wickets for Himachal against Assam, Veteran Yashpal Singh scored a hundred for Services against Goa, Captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar scored a hundred for Rajasthan against Gujarat.

The noted failure of the day belonged to India reserve wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha who was out cheaply to Nayan Doshi.

Chawla and Awana smashing half centuries..shows how flat the pitches are!

Awana's effort came on a track where there was plenty of help for the seam bowlers. He played his shots at number 9 and it was one of those things, just came off well for him and his side.

hmmm ok, well i will wait to see him bat before i declare him a useful batsman.

Don't think we can really call him a decent lower order bat as yet. His previous FC highest was 28. Can hit the cricket ball and it just came off today. Has to be able to bat ahead of the likes of Pragyan Ojha and Umesh Yadav.

At lunch on day 3, Rohit Sharma is batting on 55 against Punjab for Mumbai. Ajinkya Rahane got out for 31. Harbhajan Singh has picked up the wicket of Kaustaabh Pawar.
Ravindra Jadeja didn't add much to his overnight score, he was out for 68, adding only a single. Ashok Dinda not making much of an impression today.

At the end of day 3, there have been 2 more outright results on top of Jarkhand's win yesterday.
Baroda defeated Odisha by 10 wickets to take away a bonus point win. Baroda's lower order gave in rather easily today morning with Ambati Rayudu after scoring 64 getting out early. They had a first innings lead of 121, but Odisha collapsed to 123 and Baroda won without any loss.
J&K won against Kerala to take away 6 points. Their young offspinning all-rounder Parwez Rassol taking 5 wickets in Kerala's 2nd innings. Sreesanth is getting back to fitness, Kerala would need him back as soon as possible.
The Madhya Pradesh Railways match is heading for a result with Railways after being behind by 163 runs in the first innings losing 5 wickets already following on for not much.
The Saurashtra Bengal match is also shaping up well. Sheldon Jackson's unbeaten hundred along with Ravindra Jadeja's rappid 68 ensured Bengal will be chasing a stiff 431 and they have already lost 3 wickets in the 2nd innings with Wriddhiman Saha getting out for 3 to Ravindra Jadeja. Manoj Tiwary has some fitness concerns and that makes Bengal's task all the more dificult.
The Karnataka Delhi match is also shaping up well, Delhi have lost 3 wickets already in a dificult chase.
Haryana have already lost 2 wickets after conceding a huge first innings lead against Maharashtra.
Other matches might be decided on first innings lead. On a flat Wankhede track different from the one used for the India England test, Mumbai are trying to give Punjab a run for their money. Punjab had scored 580, and Mumbai are replying well with Rohit Sharma unbeaten on 163.
Stuart Binny scored his 2nd 50 of the match for Karnataka against Delhi, Manish Pande also scored a 50 like the openers Uthappa and Rahul who couldn't go on after their 50s from yesterday. UP's Arish Alam scored an unbeaten ton for UP, Parthiv Patel missed his hundred by 8 runs but his innings ensured Gujarat took the important first innings lead against Rajasthan. Sangram Atitkar scored a hundred for Maharashtra so did Kedar Jadhav.

Saurashtra win their match against Bengal by 270 runs.
Ravindra Jadeja finishes the match with performances of 70 and 68 with the bat and 4-48 and 4-50 with the ball. Surely he has to play in the test?

After the first round of this season where the presence of the national players was the basis of excitement, Ranji trophy reached a point of major actions today.
There were more outright results, Saurashtra winning against Bengal on the back of an excellent all-round game from Ravindra Jadeja and good contributions from Sheldon Jackson and Nayan Doshi. J&K, Baroda and Jarkhand had already won their respective matches this round. Karnataka, through a disciplined bowling performance won their match against Delhi, Rajit Bhatia and Mithun Manhas, the Delhi veterans tried hard to resist, but a combined bowling effort saw Karnataka through.
Rakesh Dhurve's 14 wicket performance, with him taking 8 wickets in the 2nd innings saw defending champions Rajasthan losing to Gujarat by 8 wickets. Rajasthan couldn't really stand up to Dhurve, only captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar resisting a bit for his team, just as he did in the first innings.
There were a few well earned draws as well. The most exciting match of the round was one that suddenly burst into life. The Punjab Mumbai match was all set to become a dull draw. Rohit Sharma had scored a double hundred for Mumbai and at one stage it seemed Mumbai would overtake Punjab's first innings score of 580. But then Manpreet Goni produced a magic spell where Mumbai lost 4 wickets for 1 run They eventually fell short by 95 in the first innigs, But that was just the beginning. Set to bat out a couple of hours to easily walk away with 3 points, Punjab, the most consistent batting lineup of the season collapsed spectacularly to left-arm spinner Ankeet Chavan who picked 9 wickets for 23 to bowl Punjab out for 59. Set a very dificult target of 155 in 11 overs Mumbai opened with Rohit Sharma and Abhishek Nayar and at one stage reached 49-0 after 4 overs. But then Sharma fell and so did wicket keeper Aditya Tare and the captains eventually called the match off at Mumbai 61-2.
In another match, Railways wicketkeeper Mahesh Rawat scored an important ton that just about enabled his side to deny an outright win for MP. Haryana also earned a hardfought draw against Maharashtra through some sensible batting.
The match between Assam and Himachal Pradesh that saw regular badlight interventions finished as a dull draw with Himachal's first innings not getting completed. Young all-rounder Rishi Dhawan, who has already taken 32 wickets in the season completed his 3rd hundred as well.
The dullest of the matches was the one between UP and Viderbha. Vidarbha failed to take the first innings lead. But with more than 2 sessions remaining, UP captain Suresh Raina decided to bat on. Not just that, he promoted himself to open and promptly scored a no pressure hundred against a weak bowling lineup. Rather disgraceful!.

A fresh round of Ranji trophy has started today. The one of the most important highlight even before play started, was Sreesanth, the mercurial India seamer playing his first FC game in over a year, coming back after an injury. Kerala would dearly need him to be on top of his game, they are struggling in group C at the moment.

So at the end of day 1 of round 7, the bowlers generally are the happier lot. UP was bowled out by Haryana, Baroda are 9 down against Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad was bowled out for 115 by Bengal who in return have lost 8 for 79. J&K were bowled out for 85, but Services are 6 down for 156 in response. Delhi, fielding a 5 men all pace attack, bowled Maharashtra out for 196, but are 60-3 in response. Jarkhand lost 6 wickets for 153. against Andhra.
Mumbai are a comfortable 304-2 against a Ravindra Jadeja less Saurashtra. Karnataka are 292-2 against Vidarbha. Madhya Pradesh are 266-5 against Punjab. Kerala 275-5 against Tripura. Himachal 168-4 v Goa.

Mohit Sharma took a fifer for Haryana, Shami Ahmed took 4 against Hyderabad, Yo Mahesh took 5 for TN, Sandeep Sharma, the U-19 star who tops this season's wicket charts, took 3 for Punjab.
KL Rahul and CM Gautam scored unbeaten hundreds for Karnataka, Aditya Tare is also batting having scored a hundred for Mumbai. Kerala's Rohan Prem has scored an unbeaten ton for his side. Rohit Sharma is unbeaten on 70 for Mumbai and Saurav Tiwary is batting on 73 for Jarkhand. Ambati Rayudu also scored a 50 for Baroda.
The most noted failure of the day was that of Ajinkya Rahane, who failed to convert his start and was out for 24. After scoring a most pressure free hundred for UP opening the innings in the last match, a very borring draw, captain Suresh Raina too failed to convert his 49 into something significant.

Punjab are playing without Harbhajan Singh Haven't read about him being injured, not sure whether Punjabe have also dropped him. Yuvraj Singh is playing. Zaheer Khan isn't playing Mumbai's ongoing match but should be available for the next match.

On day to of round 7, the Bengal Hyderabad match and the Services J&K matches are closer to a result perhaps on the 3rd day itself. Bengal gained a first innings advantage of 1 run over Hyderabad who were allout for 115 thanks to opener Arindam Das scoring 73. In response Hyderabad are 172-7, with India A seamer Shami Ahmed taking 4 wickets for Bengal, Shami had taken 4 wickets in the first innings as well. Young all-rounder Ashish Reddi scored 42 for Hyderabad, he had taken 5 wickets in Bengal's first innigs.
On the back of Rajat Paliwal's 3rd hundred of the season, Services established a 136 run lead over J&K, but J&K have just about overhauled the deficit, but they have lost 6 wickets already.
The team of the season Punjab are having a bit of a struggle after that Ankeet Chavan attack last week, they are following on against MP. Devendra Bundela, a Ranji veteran and MP captain scored a hundred to take his side to 323. Sandeep Sharma picked up 5 wickets fro Punjab. But Punjab were allout for 148 in their first innings with Yuvraj Singh topscoring with 39.
Railways are in a good position against Rajasthan. Railways have scored 405 in their first innings and Rajasthan have lost 3 early wickets for 52.
Returning India seamer Shanthakumaran Sreesanth added 88 lower down the order with his Kerala captain Rohan Prem who scored 170 to take Kerala to a first innings score of 400. Tripura are 55-4 in response, but Sreesanth is yet to get a wicket, as all 4 wickets were taken by young seamer U Manukrishnan.
Another impressive comeback was that of former India T-20I all-rounder Joginder Sharma. Returning after a year following an injury, Sharma scored 65 for Haryana, and in the company of opener Rahul Dewan who scored 93, managed to establish a first innings lead of 44 over UP with 2 wickets remaining in the first innings.
The Delhi Maharashtra match is also shaping up well, Maharashtra manage to restrict Delhi to 193 and gain a 3 run first innings. Samit Falla took a fifer for Maharashtra. They are 3 for no loss at stumps, If the light that has been a problem over the first 2 days stays good we should have an outright result in this match as well.
On the back of a double hundred from wicketkeeper CM Gautam and a hundred from opener KL Rahul Karnataka scored 619-5 declared in their first innings. Stuart Binny and Manish Pandey chipped in with rappid 50s. Vidarbha are 48-0 in response.
Opener Aditya Tare scored a double hundred, Rohit Sharma scored 166 and Abhishek Nayar continued his fine consistent run this season with another 50 and Mumbai declared their first innings for 606. Saurashtra in response are struggling a bit at 42-2.
The Tamil Nadu Baroda match is shaping up well. Half-centuries to U-19 star Baba Aparajith and R Prasanna saved TN from 52-4 but both fell towards the end of the day with TN still behind in the first innigs by 42.

Sourab Tiwary's hundred and a 50 from captain Shahbaz Nadeem helped Jarkhand to 257 in their first innings, and Andhra are 132-4 in response.

On the 3rd day of round 7, the first outright result of the round went to Bengal who defeated Hyderabad by 4 wickets. Bengal needed 181 to win the match after Shami Ahmed completed a 10 wicket match by picking up 6 in the Hyderabad 2nd innings to bowl them out for 181. Although there early and late wickets, 50s from opener Rohan Banerjee and wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha saw Bengal through.
The Services J&K match that has seen too many twists and turns is interestingly placed. Services need another 63 runs with 6 wickets remaining. But J&K were allout for 85 in their first innings, but hit back by reducing Services to 39-6 in their first innings. After that Services recovered to take a 136 run first innings lead and J&K struggled at 112-6 2nd time round before eventually managing to set 134 for Services to win. Services at one stage were 7 for 3.
Punjab have hit back at Madhya Pradesh after being forced to follow-on. Hundreds from Yuvraj Singh and young opener Jiwanjit Singh have enabled the team of the season to establish a lead of 179 with 2 wickets remaining in the 2nd innings. Yuvraj, after being axed from the test side, scored 131 on his Punjab return, and Jiwanjit scored his 4th hundred of the season. If Punjab can stretch the lead to 200, it will be a tough fight for MP against the best bowling lineup of the tournament.
The Maharashtra Delhi encounter is another match that is shaping up well. Delhi need 270 to win on day 4 after Maharashtra was eventually bowled out for 266 in their 2nd innings. Harshit Katewale scored 96 and Ankit Bawne scored 55. Chasing 270 is not easy on the last day, but Delhi need a win to keep their campaign going.
Rajasthan, who are following on against Railways are batting better 2nd time . Anureet Singh's fifer helped Railways enforce the follow-on .
Tripura was made to foloow-on by Kerala. Tripura were bowled out for 127 replying to Kerala's 400, and are 70-3 in their 2nd innings. Returning India seamer S Sreesanth has taken 1 wicket so far in the Tripura 2nd innings. U Manukrishnan took 6 in the first innings, and Sandeep Waryar took 3. Sandeep has taken 2 in the 2nd innings as well.
Elswhere, Mumbai are tset to ake big first innings lead against Saurashtra. The Karnataka Vidarbha match looks like a first innings battle. Baroda coulnd't prevent TN from taking a first innings lead and after conceding a 22 run lead, they are 116-4.
After having been behind by 49 runs against Haryana, UP are 221-4. Suresh Raina out for 3.
Goa have taken a first innings lead against Himachal Pradesh.
Veteran Amol Muzumdar's 180 helped Andhra take the first innings lead against Jarkhand.

The 7th round of the Ranji Trophy produced 6 wins and 6 draws. Clearly the additional point for the outright win is hhaving a more positive impact.
Bengal had won their match against Hyderabad yesterday itself. Today the defending champions Rajasthan, continuing a terrible season, lost to Railways by an innings. Rajasthan looked to fight back yesterday through Ashok Menaria and Robin Bist, and they both got 50s today, but that was it, Railways legspinning all-rounder Karan Sharma picked up 8 wickets and Rajasthan failed to make Railways bat again.
The runaway team of the season Punjab, had the first taste of defeat at the hands of Madhya Pradesh. by scoring 364 in the follow-on innings , Punjab set MP 190 to win. Sandeep Sharma provided Punjab an early opening when he reduced MP to 8-2. But India A all-rounder Jalaj Saxena and domestic veteran Devendra Bundela then took over, Bundela the MP captain scoring his 2nd ton of the match and Saxena scoring his 2nd 50 as well and they both remained not out.
Set a dificult last day chase of 270 by Maharashtra, Delhi reached their target through an unbeaten hundred from captain Shikhar Dhawan and a quick 51 of 40 balls from veteran Mithun Manhas. Mohit Sharma also scored a 50 and Delhi won by 7 wickets to keep their chances alive.
The game of the round, between J&K and Services eventually went Services way, with them knocking off the remaining 63 runs with the loss of one additional wicket, that of veteran Yashpal Singh who all but saw his team through with 61. Rajat Paliwal, who scored a hundred in the first innings remained not out on 47 to hand his side a 5 wicket win.
Kerala registered their first win of the season over Tripura by an innings. Although Manishankar Murasingh resisted with a 50 lower down the order, Tripura couldn't avoid the innings as Sandeep Warriar took 5 wicket and the first innings hero U Manukrishnan picking up 3 wickets. Returning India pacer Shanthakumaran Sreesanth picked up 2 wickets and bowled economically throughout the match.
Mumbai settled for the first innings points against Saurashtra. Arpit Vasavada scored a ton to Extend Saurashtra's first innings to 300, and as there was not much time and also considering the flat pitch, Mumbai didn't enforce the follow-on. Ajinkya Rahane failed again, caught behind for 6, but Rohit Sharma and veteran Wasim Jaffer scored 50s.
Tamil Nadu had to settle for the 3 points with the first innings lead against Baroda. Through a fighting 50 from captain Ambati Rayudu and a last wicket partnership of 35 between Murtuja Wahora and Bhargav Bhatt, Baroda managed to set TN 239 to win in 40 overs. S Badrinath was unfit, and Murali Vijay and Dinesh Karthik went early. So Baba Aparajith and Abhiniv Mukund then played for the draw.
Karnataka's massive score of 619-5 eventually let them put pressure on Vidarbha and walk away with 3 points.
Haryana took away points for first innings lead against UP, Goa did the same to HP and Andhra over Jarkhand. For Jarkhand, Saurabh Tiwary failed to score his 2nd ton of the match when he was out for 99. Himachal's Paras Dogra scored his 5th ton of the season. Harshal Patel took 4 wickets for Haryana, and Joginder Sharma, returning from injuries following an accident last year, was also among the wickets.

Round 8 of Ranji has started today.
Gujarat are playing Punjab, a collective bowling performance from Punjab has Gujarat at 261-9. Harbhajan Singh, Sandeep Sharma and Siddhart Kaul have all picked up 3 wickets each.
Half-centuries from B Sandeep and young all-rounder Ashish Reddy have allowed Hyderabad to score 247-6 against Railways.
A fine effor from Ishwar Pandey who picked up 4 wickets had Mumbai reduced to 235-5 against Madhya Pradesh. Pandey had some injury concerns later in the day and although he came back on the field, he had to serve time in the field before he could bowl. MP haven't taken the new ball and Kausthabh Pawar's unbeaten 89 has saved the situation a bit for Mumbai.
Saurashtra have reduced defending champion Rajasthan to 268-9. Ashok Menaria's first hundred of the season has been the only saving grace for Rajasthan. Jaidev Unadkat and Siddhart Trivedi have taken 3 each for Saurashtra.
Uttar Pradesh are 279-6 against Tamil Nadu. Mohammed Kaif with 68 for his side.
Vidarbha are 188-8 against Odisha. Basant Mohanti and Biplab Samantray among the wickets for Odisha.
A 125 run unbeaten 8th wicket partnership between Amit Mishra and Jayant Yadav saved Haryana's day against Karnataka. SL Akshay bowling for Karnataka.
Baroda are well placed against Railways, Kedar Devdhar scoring a hundred.
Kerala bowled Jarkhand out for 120 and have reached 165-1 in response. The best news for India came from that match, India seamer Shanthakumaran Sreesanth picking up 4-28 for Kerala.
J&K were bowled out for 175 against Himachal who have reached 26 -0 in response. Vikramjit Malik picking 5 wickets for HP.
Andhra are 214-8 against Assam, with Amol Muzundar not out on 82.

Madhya Pradesh are 191-5 against Mumbai's first innings score of 304. Ajit Agarkar picked up 2 wickets for Mumbai and Zaheer Khan who hasn't been picked for India's limited over squads for the Pakistan series picked up 1. A catch was put down of his bowling as well. Earlier, Ishwar picked up 6 wickets for MP, and the Mumbai opener Kaustubh Pawar carried his bat for 111 in the Mumbai first innings.
Punjab are 227-7 against Gujarat's 266. Wicketkeeper Uday Kaul is batting on 63. Mayang Sidhana and Mandeep Singh also scored half-centuries for Punjab. An interesting battle for the first innings is on cards tomorrow.
Cheteshwar Pujara failed on his Saurashtra return, but his side are still fighting against Rajasthan who were allout for 299 in their first innings. Sheldon Jackson and Kamlesh Makvana scored 54 each to put up a fight for Saurashtra with the latter notout overnight to take Saurashtra to 213-7. Pankaj Singh and Rituraj Singh did most of the damage for the defending champions.
Murali Karthik's 4 wickets helped Railways restrict Hyderabad to 337. Young all-rounder Ashish Reddy scored 82 for Hyderabad. Railways lost 2 early wickets to India spinner Pragyan Ojha, but through veteran Sanjay Bangar they are trying to fight back and are 145-2.
Ali Murtaza scored 106 at number 8 to carry UP to 392 against Tamil Nadu. Murtaza wasn't finished, he then took 4 wickets to help his side reduce TN to 149-6.
Kedar Devdhar failed to add to his overnight 104, but Aditya Waghmode reached his hundred to take Baroda to 361 against Maharashtra. Harshit Katiwale then scored an unbeaten 50 to take Maharashtra to 135-3. Srikant Mumde had earlier taken 4 wikets in the Baroda first innings.
Vidarbha managed an 85 run first after being bowled for 206 against Odisha as the Odisha batting collapsed to Sandeep Singh and co. Singh took 4 wickets, and although they lost 2 wickets in the 2nd innings, Vidarbha are relatively better placed at 64-2.

Haryana where were 168-7 against Karnataka at stage. Noone would think too much about that, as India spinner Amit Mishra and number 9 Jayant Yadav both scored double hundreds and put together a small mattter of 392 runs for the 8th wicket to eventually take their side to 587-9 declared. The day became happier for Mishra who has also been recalled to the India OD side. Karnataka are 11-0 at stumps.
J&K are involved in another thriller after their last week effort against Services. They were bowled out for 175 against Himachal, but hit back through seamer Ram Dayal and reduced HP to 58-6 at one stage. But HP then cameback and eventually finished with a 14 run first innings lead. J&K have overhauled the lead but lost 3 wickets in the process, and are effectively 2-3.
Hundreds from VA Jagadeesh and Robert Fernandez helped Kerala score 325 and take a 205 run first innings. Captain Shahbaz Nadeem took 4 wickets for Jarkhand. Jarkhand are 37-2 in their 2nd innings.
Veteran Amol Muzumdar scored an unbeaten ton for Andhra to take them to 249 against Assam. Arup Das picking 4 wickets. Assam are 166-2 in response.
After the first day lost to bad weather, the Tripura Goa match saw some game time today, enough for Tripura to score 170-5.

The 3rd day of round 8 produced 2 results, with a few other matches placed for interesting finishes.
Kerala took all 7 points by beating Jarkhand by an innings and 35 runs. The Sreesanth effect is clearly showing on the side, although the 2nd innings damage on Jarkhand was imposed by Sandeep Warrier who took 6 wickets and CP Shahid who took 3. Another win in their last match would give Kerala a great chance to make it to the next round.
Vidarbha defeated Odisha by 106 runs to get into contention for the next round. Alok Mangaraj had taken 5 wicket in Vidarbha 2nd innings to bowl them out for 140, but Odisha batting collapsed and were allout for 119 with Amol Jungade taking 5 for Vidarbha.
Team of the season Punjab are chasing 231 to win on the last day against Gujarat. Uday Kaul's 93 enabled Punjab to take a 2 run first innings lead today morning and then Gujarat were rolled for 232. Harbhajan Singh was unwell, Sandeep Sharma too didn't bowl in the 2nd innings due to some fitness concerns, but Sarabjit Singh Ladda stepped in well and took 4 wickets for Punjab.
Saurashtra are chasing 306 to win against defending champions Rajasthan. Rajasthan took a 71 run first innings lead thanks to Pankaj Singh's 5 wicket haul, and declared their 2nd innings at 234-9. Saurashtra are 11 without loss in their 2nd innings. Cheteshwar Pujara is slated to bat at 4, he had failed in the first innings.
Himachal Pradesh are 32-1 in their 2nd innings chasing 233 for a win. J&K's all-rounders Parwez Rasoll and Ram dayal scored half-centuries to take them to 248 in their 2nd innings. A close finish is on the cards.
Mumbai took a 60 run first innings lead over MP in the first innings and have extended the overall advantage to 252 by the end of the day. The Domestic heavyweights need an outright win tomorrow, will be interesting as to the timing of that declaration. Zaheer Khan just took 1 wicket in the MP first innings, he'll have a job at his hands in the 2nd effort.
Tarjinder Singh's unbeaten hundred let Assam declare their first innings at 394-5 and gain a first innings lead of 145. Andhra are 10-0 at stumps in their 2nd innings.
Hyderabad took a 124 run first innings lead over Railways who were bowled out for 213. But Hyderabad lost 6 for 130 in their 2nd innings, and the match is wide open for day 4.
Harshal Patel's fifer allowed Haryana to take a 315 run first innings over Karnataka. In the follow-on innings, Karnataka are 63-0.
Tamil Nadu are 5-0 chasing 421 against UP. UP had criticised teams not declaring and trying to win, but that's exactly what they have been doing, Ali Murtaza's 7 wickets let them take a 213 run first innings lead, but they batted on and were eventually bowled out for 207.
Maharashtra has taken the first innings lead against Baroda, Tripura are in a position to do the same against Goa.

In a super thriller, Mumbai defeated MP by 7 runs. Zaheer Khan, who had some fitness concerns, took 5 wickets to break the backboene of the MP batting to provide Mumbai with a lifeline in the tournament. Besides Zaheer, Abhishek Nayar continued his good all-round tournament. He scored an unbeaten 50 to setup Mumbai's 2nd innings declaration, and then chipped in with 3 wickets in a fine supporting act to Zaheer.
Ali Murtaza picked up 10 wickets for the match to go with his hundred from number 8 to inflict an innings defeat on Tamil Nadu by Uttar Pradesh. Praveen Gupta also chipped in with 4 wickets in the 2nd innings.
Gujarat defeated Punjab by 37 runs to keep group A of the Ranji very interestingly placed.
Himachal Pradesh who looked to chase down 233 for the win against were denied by by the weather as fog and bad light prevented their progress beyond 189-2.
The match between Hyderabad ended in another interesting draw. Set to score 323 to win, Railways finished with 280-7.
Robin Uthappa and Kunal Kapoor scored 2nd innings tons for Karnataka to save them against Haryana.
The Goa Tripura match ended without the first innings being completed, with poor weather being the culprit.
Andhra Pradesh managed a comfortable draw against Assam and Baroda managed the same against Maharashtra.

Is Ali Murtaza a realistic candidate for national recognition? On the times I've seen him in the IPL he's done well, and he seems to have pretty good stats.

Murtaza hasn't really come into the national reckoning as yet. Actually he hasn't really done well enough to be even considered for the A team as yet. Although his first class bowling average is 23, that is largely thanks to that last match. He has played only 7 fc matches and picked up only 16 wickets. 10 of them came in the last match where he also scored his maiden fc ton. But he's not yet 23, and if he keeps working on his game, who knows, particularly considering the barren state of Indian spin bowling......

The exciting last round of the Ranji Trophy has got underway today. Only Punjab and UP are assured a place in the next round. 15 teams are in with a chance to make it to the next round, with 6 more spots up for grabs. Here are the possibilities.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ranji-trophy-2012/content/current/story/598846.html
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ranji-trophy-2012/content/current/story/598847.html
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ranji-trophy-2012/content/current/story/598848.html

Saurashtra (toss) 212 for 9 (Vasavada 54, Jackson 53, Pandey 3-37) v MP in Rajkot

Mumbai (toss) 24 for 1 trail Gujarat 244 (Parthiv Patel 101) by 220 in Mumbai

Railways 214 for 9 (Paunikar 50) v Bengal (toss) in Kolkata

Rajasthan 274 for 5 (Saxena 84) v Hyderabad (toss) in Jaipur

Odisha (toss) 70 for 5 trail UP 160 (Deepak Behera 6-37) by 90 in Cuttack

Delhi (toss) 254 for 4 (Chand 82) v Vidarbha in Nagpur

Karnataka 306 for 4 (Gautam 132*, Binny 115*) v Maharashtra (toss) in Pune

No play on day one between Tamil Nadu and Haryana in Chennai

Andhra 249 for 7 (Muzumdar 99*) v Kerala (toss) in Cuddapah

Goa 264 for 3 (Amogh Desai 101*, Kamat 70) v Assam (toss) in Porvorim

Jharkhand (toss) 4 for 0 trail Services 185 (Chatterjee 97, Ajay Yadav 5-30) by 181 in in Delhi

No play on day one between J&K and Tripura in Jammu.
Those are the scores after an exciting first day of the last round of the Ranji group stage. As more sides are looking for outright results, there was an improvement in the pitches, in the sense that there was lot of life for the bowlers that made for interesting cricket. Parthiv Patel Braved it out against Zaheer and co to score a hundred for Gujarat, veteran Amol Muzumdar made yet another significant contribution with the bat and is set to score yet another hundred in the Ranji Trophy. Cheteshwar Pujara had another failure, his 3rd consecutive one in the Ranji trophy this year.
CM Gautam and Stuart Binny scored hundreds for Karnataka, so did Amogh Desai of Goa.
Ajay Yadav, Deepak Bahera and Shahbaz Nadeem had a good day with the ball, so did the Kerala attack led by Sreesanth.

Interesting to see a fair few teams being put in, which isn't the custom in Asia. I guess they think its the best way to secure the win. Particularly interesting that 9 wickets went down on the opening day in Rajkot. I believe that match is at the new ground which will host the ODI - maybe a bit more bowler friendly than the previous ground which, whilst having a particular charm about it was (along with Gwalior and SSC) a candidate for flattest pitch in the world.

Scores at stumps on the 2nd day of the last round of the group stage.
Saurashtra (toss) 242 (Vasavada 54, Jackson 53, Makvana 51, Pandey 3-43) and 18 for 1 lead MP 125 (Joshi 3-17, Unadkat 3-20) by 125 in Rajkot

Mumbai (toss) 323 for 5 (Jaffer 171) lead Gujarat 244 (Parthiv Patel 101) by 79 in Mumbai

Railways 214 (Paunikar 50, Sarkar 4-62) and 20 for 0 lead Bengal (toss) 157 (Karan Shamra 4-22) by 77 in Kolkata

Hyderabad (toss) 160 for 5 trail Rajasthan 384 (Saxena 84, Ashish Reddy 5-67) by 224 in Jaipur

Odisha (toss) 127 (Imtiaz 5-45) and 46 for 4 (Imtiaz 3-11) need another 99 to beat UP 160 (Deepak Behera 6-37) and 111 (Mohanty 4-31) in Cuttack

Vidarbha 20 for 1 trail Delhi (toss) 523 for 9 decl. (Rawal 104, Chand 82) by 503 in Nagpur

Maharashtra (toss) 58 for 1 trail Karnataka 572 for 9 decl. (Gautam 264*, Binny 172) by 514 in Pune

Tamil Nadu (toss) 181 for 3 v Haryana in Chennai

Kerala (toss) 55 for 2 trail Andhra 329 (Muzumdar 146, Manukrishnan 3-87) by 274 in Cuddapah

Assam (toss) 134 for 1 (Pallav Das 70) trail Goa 381 (Amogh Desai 105, Das 5-83) by 281 in Porvorim

Services 185 (Chatterjee 97, Ajay Yadav 5-30) and 31 for 2 lead Jharkhand (toss) 120 (Suraj Yadav 6-43) trail by 96 in Delhi

Tripura 60 for 2 v J&K (toss) in Jammu

The UP Odisha match should see a result tomorrow. Sourashtra MP, Railways Bengal, Services Jarkhand Rajasthan Hyderabad are all set up nicely. Karnataka and Delhi have ran up huge first innings totals and have taken an early opposition wicket. Mumbai have established a significant first innings lead over Gujarat.
Jaidev Unadkat, Suraj Yadav, Ishwar Pandey, Imtiaz Ahmed, have all been among the wickets. CM Gautam scored a big double hundred, and Wasim Jaffer and Stuart Binny scored big tons of their own. Amol Muzumdar not only scored a hundred, but also extended Andhra's score in a significant last wicket partnership.

UP 160 (Deepak Behera 6-37) and 111 (Mohanty 4-31) beat Odisha (toss) 127 (Imtiaz 5-45) and 101 (Imtiaz 5-29, Rajpoot 3-42) by 43 in Cuttack

MP 135 (Joshi 3-17, Unadkat 3-20) and 89 for 2 need another 312 to beat Saurashtra (toss) 242 (Vasavada 54, Jackson 53, Makvana 51, Pandey 3-43) and 303 for 4 decl. (Pujara 203*, Vasavada 55) in Rajkot

Gujarat 244 (Parthiv Patel 101) and 159 for 5 trail Mumbai (toss) 447 (Jaffer 171) by 44 in Mumbai

Bengal (toss) 157 (Karan Shamra 4-22) and 13 for 1 need another 359 to beat Railways 214 (Paunikar 50, Sarkar 4-62) and 314 for 9 decl. (Paunikar 54) in Kolkata

Rajasthan 384 (Saxena 84, Ashish Reddy 5-67) and 103 for 2 lead Hyderabad (toss) 349 (Jhala 75*, Ashish Reddy 62) by 138 in Jaipur

Vidarbha 257 and 1 for 0 trail Delhi (toss) 523 for 9 decl. (Rawal 104, Chand 82) by 265 in Nagpur

Maharashtra (toss) 99 (Mithun 6-36, Binny 4-37) and (f/0) 315 for 2 (Khadiwale 136, Atitkar 78, Bawne 80*) trail Karnataka 572 for 9 decl. (Gautam 264*, Binny 172) by 158 in Pune

Tamil Nadu (toss) 415 for 5 (Dinesh Karthik 145*) v Haryana in Chennai

Andhra 329 (Muzumdar 146, Manukrishnan 3-87) and 23 for 0 lead Kerala (toss) 312 (Sanju Samson 122, Jagadeesh 117, Vijaykumar 4-77, Atchuta Rao 4-78) by 40 in Cuddapah

Goa 381 (Amogh Desai 105, Das 5-83) and 11 for 0 lead Assam (toss) 366 (Roy 87, Pallav Das 70) trail by 26 in Porvorim

Jharkhand (toss) 120 (Suraj Yadav 6-43) and 35 for 0 need another 183 to beat Services 185 (Chatterjee 97, Ajay Yadav 5-30) and 152 (Ajay Yadav 6-43) in Delhi

Tripura 226 for 5 v J&K (toss) in Jammu.
UP registered the first win of this round to stay top of group B and easily make it to the knockouts. Punjab had already qualified as the topper of group A.
Mumbai's strong position with Gujarat in their 2nd innings still trailing Mumbai's first innings score of 447 by 44 runs with only 5 wickets remaining.
Assam's and Andhra's last round matches are heading for draws, meaning Services, even if they lose the match against Jarkhand, are set to qualify from group C. If Jarkhand win against Services, they would qualify, otherwise Andhra have a great chance.
As far as group B is concerned, other than UP who have already made it, Karnataka, Delhi, and Baroda are all in with a chance.

Hyderabad from group A and Maharashtra from group B are relegated to group C.

After 3 successive failures, Cheteshwar Pujara chose to show his class in an absolute pressure cooker situation. His 203 not out was a masterful innings, first helping his side recover from 23-3 and then setting up the innings in real style. Took him 151 balls to reach the hundred mark, the next 50 came of 51, the next 50 came of just 17 balls.

Saurashtra (toss) 242 (Vasavada 54, Jackson 53, Makvana 51, Pandey 3-43) and 303 for 4 decl. (Pujara 203*, Vasavada 55) beat MP 135 (Joshi 3-17, Unadkat 3-20) and 183 (Saxena 75, Jadeja 6-51, Makvana 3-43) by 227 in Rajkot

Delhi (toss) 523 for 9 decl. (Rawal 104, Chand 82) drew with Vidarbha 257 and 216 for 7 (Shrivastava 80*) in Nagpur

Karnataka 572 for 9 decl. (Gautam 264*, Binny 172) and 92 for 2 (Rahul 42*) beat Maharashtra (toss) 99 (Mithun 6-36, Binny 4-37) and (f/0) 567 for 9 (Bawne 155*, Khadiwale 136, Atitkar 78) by eight wickets in Pune

Jharkhand (toss) 120 (Suraj Yadav 6-43) and 219 for 5 (Nemat 86, Verma 72) beat Services 185 (Chatterjee 97, Ajay Yadav 5-30) and 152 (Ajay Yadav 6-43) by five wickets in Delhi

Railways 214 (Paunikar 50, Sarkar 4-62) and 314 for 9 decl. (Paunikar 54) beat Bengal (toss) 157 (Karan Shamra 4-22) and 249 (Anureet Singh 4-46) by 122 in Kolkata

Gujarat 244 (Parthiv Patel 101) and 337 (Juneja 98, Gandhi 64) drew with Mumbai (toss) 447 (Jaffer 171) and 65 for 1 in Mumbai

Rajasthan 384 (Saxena 84, Ashish Reddy 5-67) and 329 for 9 decl. (Saxena 146*) drew with Hyderabad (toss) 349 (Jhala 75*, Ashish Reddy 62) and 38 for 0 in Jaipur

Tamil Nadu (toss) 571 for 6 decl. (Dinesh Karthik 187) drew with Haryana 180 for 3 in Chennai

Andhra 329 (Muzumdar 146, Manukrishnan 3-87) and 191 (Shahid 5-52) drew with Kerala (toss) 312 (Sanju Samson 122, Jagadeesh 117, Vijaykumar 4-77, Atchuta Rao 4-78) and 192 for 4 (Jagadeesh 70*, Samson 51) in Cuddapah

Goa 381 (Amogh Desai 105, Das 5-83) and 241 for 4 drew with Assam (toss) 366 (Roy 87, Pallav Das 70) in Porvorim

Tripura 355 for 8 decl. drew with J&K (toss) 41 for 1 in Jammu.
So the Ranji Trophy group stage finished on an absolutely exciting note. Karnataka won their match against Maharashtra with less than 2 overs remaining. Kerala needed 17 to win against Andhra in the last over when bad light eventually forced the players in. Had they won, Run rate would have come in and it would have been dificult for Jarkhand. Jarkhand themselves defeated not only group leader Services, but also the weather. Almost 3 hours of the match was lost to fog in the morning today before the Jarkhand batting lineup took up the challenge. Delhi did fight hard, but Vidarbha lower order resisted, and with Karnataka completing the win in the dying moments, Delhi found themselves out.
Gujarat held Mumbai to a draw, but since Saurashtra thrashed Madhya Pradesh, they also had to go out. Mumbai had a chasable 4th innings total, but they rather strangely opted to play out a draw.
In the knockouts, Group A champions Punjab will be taking on Jarkhand. Saurashtra will be playing Karnataka and Mumbai will be playing Baroda. Uttar Pradesh will be taking on Services.

After the group stages, it is the Karnataka wicketkeeper CM Gautam who has scored the most runs. He has already scored 938 runs from 8 games and has the opportunity to add more in the next round. Parthiv Patel, one of India's reserve wicketkeepers, also had a fine season, scoring 895 runs, but since Gujarat are out, he doesn't have the chance to add any more to that tally. Kerala's VA Jagadeesh led their campaign with 871 runs, but at 29, with a past record of inconsistencies, he doesn't look much of a national prospect. Veteran Amol Muzumdar who was unwanted in Mumbai also scored more than 800 runs for Andhra Pradesh. Gujarat youngster Manprit Juneja scored close to 800 runs for the season. Ravindra Jadeja the India all-rounder, scored 794 runs from just 5 matches and picked up 24 wickets as well.
Abhishek Nayar scored 7 50s and a couple of hundreds for Mumbai. Rohit Sharma and veteran Wasim Jaffer were also among the runs for Mumbai.

In the bowling department, it has been the impressive Madhya Pradesh seamer Ishwar Pandey who has topped the charts after the group stage. He has picked up 48 wickets from 8 games at an impressive average of 21.06. He took 5 wickets 5 times in an innings and took 10 for the match ones. His wickets have come at a strike rate of 43. And he slogged some very entertaining runs at 10 or 11 as well. Unfortunately MP are out of the knockouts, but Pandey is one to watch for.
The India U-19 star Sandeep Sharma Swung and seamed his way to 41 wickets at an average just under 18 and a strike rate of 40. One more solid season, he has the makings of a quality player for India.
The Jarkhand captain Shahbaz Nadeem is the only spinner who managed to break into the 40 club, picking exactly 40 wickets at an average of 22. Significantly, he and the Gujarat spinner Rakesh Dhurv are the only spinner among the top 10.
veteran Vikramjeet Malik took 36 wickets for Himachal Pradesh.
Punjab youngster Siddhart Kaul picked 34 wickets, and SHami Ahmed, who has made it to the India ODI squad against Pakistan and impressed Wasim Akram a great deal over the last couple of years has taken 28 wickets from 5 matches at an average of 21 and strike rate of 44, and he took 2 fifers as well as twice 10 wickets in the match.