India Domestic Season 2015-16

The Ranji Trophy, India's premier First Class competition is underway.
There are 27 sides across 3 divisions who are fighting it out.
The Zonal Duleep Trophy and the Irani Trophy played for between the Ranji winners and Rest of India are the other FC fixtures.
The Vijay Hazare Trophy, the Mushtaq Ali trophy and the Deodhar trophy are the major limited overs tournaments.

Up's Sarfaraz Khan, Haryana's Himanshu Rana who opened the season with a knock of 157, Deepak Hooda and Hartik Pandya of Baroda, are some of the youngsters who would be looking to make a mark. this season.

The Likes of Rishi Dhawan, Vijay Shankar, Sanju Samson, Gurkirat Singh Man, Jayant Yadav, Srinath Aravind, Manish Pandey, Kuldeep Yadav, all in the fringes of the national team, would be looking to push their cases further.
Ravindra Jadeja would be one player looking to push his case for a national recall, and Naman Ojha would be hoping to make his case for being retained in the test side. And veterans Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh would still be holding out some hope for a national recall.

Jadeja's runs are heavily discounted now...he is a Ranji FTB...inspite of his 3 triple hundreds..... his ability to hold his wicket is proven worse than Ishant's

He can make a come back only if he delivers with the ball big time.

Sarfaraz is indeed to watch out for after his much publicized move from Mumbai to UP.

Sehwag is ( actually was) well past his prime.

To watch out for Shardul Thakur, Balwinder singh sandhu Jr and Ishwar pandey as seamers

The two Off spinning Yadavs, Karn sharma and Shreyas Gopal as spinners

Sehwag is done at international cricket, but he still can be a big draw for domestic cricket and for a side like Haryana, his presense itself could mean a lot. And with an innings of 92, he has had a good start to the season.
Of course Shreyas Gopal, and in fact the other Shreyas, Iyer, are to be watched out for.

And lets not discount Jadeja's runs altogether, when India won a test outside the subcontinent the last time, Jadeja's 68 in the 3rd innings was pretty much match-winning.
And he has had a good start with the ball too, after his first day 91 with the bat, 3-18 in 16 overs so far.......

India seamer Umesh Yadav hits an unbeaten ton, he's just smoking it and has hit 7 6s in his 128 not out so far!.

Hundred for Gurkirat Singh Man.

msp83 wrote:And lets not discount Jadeja's runs altogether, when India won a test outside the subcontinent the last time, Jadeja's 68 in the 3rd innings was pretty much match-winning.
And he has had a good start with the ball too, after his first day 91 with the bat, 3-18 in 16 overs so far.......

he can't ride that hit and miss chancy inning ( no doubt a big contributor to winning that test) forever.
he doesn't look like surviving against good seam bowling even on Indian pitches....
Ishant looks more solid than Jadeja.

Mishra and Ashwin off course are miles superior batters than Jadeja against international bowling.
Mishra even had a 200 run partnership with tendulakr in Eng where he himself contributed 87

At the end of day 2 of the opening round, Saurashtra and Services are in a strong position to register outright wins, Karnataka and Delhi are fighting back, the Tamil Nadu-Baroda contest is producing lot many swings towards either sides. UP and Punjab have put up massive totals and unless they produce similarly effective bowling performances, those games might end up as first innings points games.......

A 6for for Ravindra Jadeja and he has already added 2 more in the 2nd innings, Services seamer Diwesh Gurdev Pathania had an impressive Ranji debut, taking 13 wickets in the game against Jharkhand, took 6 in the first innings and followed up with 1 better the 2nd time. Gurkirat Singh Man scored the first double hundred of the season, an unbeaten 201 for Punjab, the innings also saw hundreds from Uday Kaul, Gitansh Khera and Mandeep Singh. UP's young Mohammed Saif fell just 2 short of his double ton, Sheldon Jackson of Saurashtra became the latest to miss out in the 90s when he was out for 97, young Himanshu Rana made 157 for Haryana, UP's young prospect Sarfaraz Khan, who moved from Mumbai to UP this season, marked his debut for the side with a rapid 155. Unmukt Chand made 84 for Delhi and former India opener Gautam Gambhir has an unbeaten half-century to his credit as he and his side to fight their way back against Rajasthan.
Champions Karnataka bowled Assam out for 194 through a collective bowling performance to make up for the poor start with the bat to the season, and then they reached 77 without loss at stumps to find their way back into the game. Baroda need 118 to win against Tamil Nadu on an absolute rank turner of a track. Those will be 118 absolutely difficult runs they would be making.......

First wins of the first rounds have gone to Services and Saurashtra. Services thrashed Jharkhand by 9 wickets and Saurashtra routed Tripura by an innings and then some more. Ravindra Jadeja added 5 more wickets to his first innings 6, and he made 91 with the bat when Saurashtra batted.

Just noticed that Sanju Samson is in fact keeping for Kerala this time. He's leading the side too! Nikhilesh Surendran, who kept wickets for Kerala last season is also playing, not sure if Samson is filling in as keeper for just this game or whether he has really made the right decision at the end of the day. Hope it is the latter. Nikhilesh is a good wicketkeeper batsman, but I hope his time will come soon, but hopefully when Sanju is away keeping for India.......

Tamil Nadu edges the thriller on the rank turner by 7 runs. Baroda bowled out for 114, chasing 122. When Hartik Pandya and Deepak Hooda were together, it looked like Baroda will get across the finish line but as the ball was turning a mile, it just wasn't easy to bat on.
I would take such a wicket over the one that UP and MP are playing, and this type of a game over the borfest that is going on at morabad, but still, this was a track that again got the balance wrong. Even average spinners would look worldbeaters on such a track.......

At the end of day 3 of the first round, Saurashtra has won by an innings and services by 9 wickets. Tamil Nadu won by 7 runs against Baroda. Punjab looks in prime place to register an outright win against Railways. Delhi and Karnataka have bounced back from poor first innings performances and resultant deficits to set-up interesting last day contests against Rajasthan and Assam respectively. Kerala has secured 3 points and has a shot at an outright win, Goa has secured 3 points for the first innings lead. The contest between Andhra and domestic powerhouse Mumbai is shaping up wel l despite weather ruining a lot of the game time, as Mumbai are 5 down and 87 behind in the first innings going into the last day.

Odisha are following-on against Vidarbha, The Haryana Maharashtra game has seen multiple weather interventions and is shaping up to be a contest for the first innings lead and Maharashtra have the advantage going into the last day. The UP-MP game is a live demonstration of all that is wrong with the Ranji Trophy, an absolutely borfest.......

Sanju Samson made 101 and Naman Ojha made the battle of the wicketkeeping prospects more interesting when he made 88. Ravindra Jadeja took 5 wickets to complete a very satisfactory all-round game, 11 wickets and 91 runs, Ravikumar Samarth of Karnataka made a fine 131, Gautam Gambhir made 93 for Delhi but the decisive contribution came from number 9 Sumit Narwal who made a 94 ball 106 to turn the game back towards Delhi. Kerala/RR youngster Sachin Baby made 151, Odisha's Govinda Poddar made an unbeaten, unsupported 148 not out as his side was forced to follow-on by Vidarbha. Punjab seamer Brainder Sran triggered a massive Railways collapse with a 6for as they saw their innings derailed from 150-1 to 196 all out. in the follow-on innings it was Varun Khana who took all the 5 wickets that have fallen so far. Siddharth Kaul also chipped in with 4 first innings wickets. And in the contest of the spinners, it was Rahul Shah of TN who's 5for that proved to be match-winning.

I am surprised to see the groups...assma , odisha and vidarbha in groupA
and that Hyd, Saurashtra have dropped to C

so jadeja's performance is against the worst of C Group Tripura will be taken with a big pinch of salt

Group A
Assam
Bengal
Delhi
Haryana
Karnataka
Maharashtra
Odisha
Rajasthan
Vidarbha

Group B
Andhra Pradesh
Baroda
Gujarat
Madhya Pradesh
Mumbai
Punjab
Railways
Tamil Nadu
Uttar Pradesh
Group C
Goa
Himachal Pradesh
Hyderabad
Jammu & Kashmir
Jharkhand
Kerala
Saurashtra
Services
Tripura

Assam topped the C division last season and Andhra came second. Hyderabad has been a div c side for some time now. J&K and Saurashtra dropped to div c this season after finishing bottom of the top 2 groups.

End of the first round. On the 4th day, most games produced interesting moments. Domestic powerhouse Mumbai had to settle for 1 point against the just promoted Andhra Pradesh as Andhra managed a 7 run first innings lead over Mumbai. Mumbai could not bring about any dramatic change in fortune when Andhra batted a 2nd time.
Assam, promoted to Div A this season, held out for a very well earned draw against Champions Karnataka, and in the process took away 3 points to Karnataka's 1 as they again had a 7 run first innings lead.
The big win of the day went to Punjab who thrashed Railways by an Innings and 126 runs. Punjab left-arm spinner Varun Khanna, playing his first FC game in years, took 8-97.......
Though the Delhi batsmen tried to reverse their fortunes in the game against Rajasthan, some good old fashioned stonewalling by veteran opener Vineet Saxena in the company of Puneet Yadav helped them take away 3 points as they held out for a well earned draw.
Having declared on their overnight score, Kerala then bowled J&K out for 225 to set-up an interesting final hour as they chased 71 for a win in 8 overs. J&K resisted by putting 9 men on the boundary and Kerala eventually settled for the 3 points, finishing at 44-4 in the 8 overs.
Odisha held out for a draw and 1 point against Vidarbha after they were forced to follow-on. India seamer Umesh Yadav, who had lots of funn with the bat in smashing his first FC ton, didn't have anything to celebrate with the ball though.......
Ankit Bhawne's 172 helped Maharashtra to walk away with the 3 points against Haryana as the game ended in a draw. Goa took the 3 points from their rather borring drawn game against Hyderabad.
In the mother of all borfest in the round, UP and MP settled for a point each as the first innings of MP couldn't even be completed on the absolute road of a track where UP had scored close to 700. MP were 7 down for 500+, and perhaps if they played on for another week or so, something would have started to happen!

Ranji 2nd rounds have started. Mumbai v Punjab, Karnataka v Bengal, Delhi v Vidarbha, Railways v Baroda, Assam v Rajasthan, Odisha v Maharashtra, Gujarat v Andhra, Madhya Pradesh v Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad v Kerala, Saurashtra v Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh v Jammu&Kashmir, Goa v Services.

Mumbai bowled Punjab out for 154, and on the back of a quickfire half-century from Shreyas Iyar, have wiped out most of that score and are on course for a big first innings lead. Shreyas reached his 50 in 33 balls.......
Baroda bowled out Railways out for 166 and like Mumbai, are on course for a big first innings lead.
India seamer Ishant Sharma took 3 economical wickets for Delhi against Vidarbha. Wicketkeeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha, returning to action after he left injured, half-way into the Sri Lanka tour, marked the occasion with an innings of 90 against champions Karnataka. All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja continues his impressive start to the season with another fine all-round performance, first taking 6-71 with the ball, and then 58 with the bat as Saurashtra established asmall yet significant first innings lead against Jharkhand. Cheteshwar Pujara managed only 27.......
India A All-rounder Rishi Dhawan opened the Ranji season with 3 wickets for HP against J&K, and the other fringe all-rounder, J&K skipper Parwez Rasool has made an unbeaten 101. IPL star and another prospective all-rounder in the making, Baroda's Hartik Pandya took a 5for that helped his side dismantle Railways. Among other young notables, Baba Aparajith  and Ankit Bawne made half-centuries.
Veteran wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel made a fine ton for Gujarat, and Bengal's Sudip Chatterjee and Kerala's Rohan Prem were the other century makers of the day.

The other performance of the day came from Jharkhand's young 17 year old opener Ishan Kishan who smashed a 69 ball 87, resisting Ravindra Jadeja and Saurashtra on his own, scoring more than half of the runs that his side made. Kishan hit 8 6s in his innings.......

Like they did it in the first round, Saurashtra registered the first outright win of the round, and again, they did it inside 2 days, and yet again, it was Ravindra Jadeja who was the absolute key to the win. Jadeja followed up his first innings 6for and 58 with the bat with 7-55 that set up a chase of 86. Saurashtra couldn't claim the bonus point win as they lost 2 wickets in chasing down the total. Cheteshwar Pujara was there at the end scoring the winning runs, remaining not out on 23.
Mumbai and Baroda have taken decisive steps towards consolidating their positions. Shreyas Iyer, not out on an overnight 50, converted it into a big one, scoring a rapid 200. Skipper Aditya Tare made an unbeaten ton and Suryakumar Yadav a mature half-century to support young Shreyas. Mumbai lad by 341 at stumps and shuld look to push for an outright win. Hopefully Shardul Thakur, who had taken 4 first innings wickets would be up to the demands of bowling on a day 3 track, he is a prospect to watchout for.
As for Baroda, Deepak Hooda made a fine hundred, 122, and received support from Kedar Devdhar, Yusaf Pathan and Hartik Pandya, as they look to consign Railways to a 2nd consecutive innings win.
Defending champions Karnataka has taken the first innings lead against Bengal and looks in control of the game. Assam has taken the first innings lead against Rajasthan, HP has taken the lead over J&K. Delhi, Kerala, Services, Andhra, all in front in their respective games though even the first innings lead scenario is not yet clear.

Besides the headline grabbing performances from Jadeja and Iyer, there were other notable performances from India-India hopefuls. Seamer Ishant Sharma finished with 6-36 against Vidarbha as Dehli has gained control of the game. They still have some way to take the first innings lead, but Gautam Gambhir is batting on 63 and there is batting to come.
Karun Nair, the reserve batsman in the test side during the Lanka tour, did no harm to his case when he stroked a nice unbeaten 119 for Karnataka that has put them in command against Bengal. He has young Shreyas Gopal, not out on 54 for company to push the game forward. Manish Pandey made 53.
In the match of the fringe all-rounders, Parwez Rasool finished with 114 with the bat and then took 2 wickets, but Rishi Dhawan who took 4 wickets and then took his side into the lead with an unbeaten, run-a-ball 40 seems to be edging the contest for now.
Andhra openr Srikar Bharat, a wicketkeeper batsman who made a Ranji triple last season, is doing pretty well for himself in Div 1 too, scoring an unbeaten 119 against Gujarat. Kerala's Rohan Prem made the 2nd double hundred of the day when he stretched his innings to 208 against Hyderabad. J Kousik and M Rangarajan made hundreds for TN against MP.

As day 3 ends of round 2, Baroda completed an innings win over Railways. Upcoming prospect Hartik Pandya, who had taken 5 first innings wickets, added 3 more in the 2nd innings. He made a brisk 64 when Baroda batted to finish a fine all-round game. Railways legspinner Karn Sharma, largely ineffective with the ball, made a couple of 50s in the game.
Delhi took the first innings lead against Vidarbha in dramatic style, starting badly, then rebuilding very well, then collapsing hopelessly and then through an 88 run 9th wicket partnership, just about managed to get a 4 run first innings advantage. Gautam Gambhir made 96, his 2nd dismissal in the 90s in as many games, and young Nitish Rana made 61. Delhi looks in control ones again as they reduced Vidarbha to 47-4 at stumps.
Hundreds from Shreyas Gopal (139) and Shishir Bhavane (119) helped Karnataka consolidate their position against Bengal as they managed a 225 run first innings and then reduced Bengal to 58-2, thus setting up the game nicely.
Mumbai stretched their 1st innings lead over Punjab to 415, and then took out 4 Punjab wickets in the 2nd innings. Mandeep Singh is key for Punjab as they still need another 171 runs to make Mumbai bat again. Andhra took a big first innings lead over Gujarat, Himachal did the same v J&K. Assam, promoted along with Andhra, is in a strong position to register an outright win against Rajasthan.

Jiwanjot Singh made 91 against Mumbai for Punjab, HP's Nikhil Gangta made 203, Bipul Sharma an unbeaten 117 and Rishi Dhawan 66 in the same game and Parwez Rasool took 3 rather expensive wickets. MP's Jalaj Saxena is 99 not out against TN and is involved in a 181 unbeaten first wicket partnership. Odisha's GobindarPodder made a hundred against Maharashtra but his wicket led to a batting collapse and Maharashtra managed a 14 run first innings lead and they managed to consolidate their position further by stumps. Kerala's K Monish took 6 wickets as his side is eying a 1st innings lead against Hyderabad. Despite Goa opener Swapnil Asnodkar's 139 upfront, a late collapse gives Services the advantage in the fight for the 1st innings points.

The other performance of note came from Vidarbha spinner Akshay Wakhare as he triggered the Delhi collapse by taking 5.

Mumbai won by an innings v Punjab with the parttime spin of Akhil Hervadkar undermining Punjab's fightback eventually.
Delhi won by 10 wickets against Vidarbha to take away a bonus point as well, the chase wasn't small enough for a 10 wicket win, they were chasing 96 but Gautam Gambhir and Unmukt Chand made it look easy. India seamer Ishant Sharma took 3-11 in Vidarbha's 2nd innings to finish with 9-47 in the match.
Assam, promoted to Div A this season, is now leading the group as they collected a comprehensive innings win against Rajasthan. Seamers Krishna Das and Arup Das took 5 each in the Rajasthan 2nd innings to bowl them out for 84. The former had taken 5 wickets in the first innings as well.
Himichal Pradesh opened their season with a bonus point win against J&K. They had a small chase of 16 on their hands and the openers didn't let the side down. Bipul Sharma who scored a hundred for HP, then took 3 wickets too.
Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Services, all had to settle for the 3 points with the first innings lead.

Third round on. Services defeated Jammu & Kashmir inside 2 days, a 9 wicket win....... They had a small chase of 18, but couldn't secure the bonus point though.
Assam and Odisha are involved in a close game, Assam, promoted this season, continuing to do well, taking a 4 run first innings lead after getting bowled out for 92. Their seamer Krishna Das, who had taken 10 wickets against Rajasthan in the last match, took a 7for in the Odisha first innings.
Delhi had another dramatic move towards the first innings lead, yet again helped on by the lower order. They eventually took a 40 run lead, but Virender Sehwag helped wipe it out and stays unbeaten overnight to make it a difficult night for his former side.
Tamil Nadu's Dinesh Karthik hit 167 against Mumbai, Gujarat's Parthiv Patel made 113 against Punjab. Karnataka's Manish Pandey and Hyderabad's Hanuma Vihari have also made hundreds.
Jharkhand and India seamer Varun Aaron followed up his first innings 37 with 5 Kerala wickets that gave his side a 54 run first innings advantage. Roshan Raj and Mohammed Khalid of Services have taken 7fers in their win against J&K.

As round 3 ended today, Delhi defeated Haryana by 4 wickets, Odisha defeated Assam by 8 wickets in group A. Karnataka took the the first innings lead in their drawn game against Vidarbha, and Bengal did the same against Rajasthan.
In group B, A n absolute thriller of a game finished in Mumbai's favor as they defeated Tamil Nadu by 1 wicket. Dinesh Karthik's hundred gave TN a big 140 run first innings lead despite Sitish Lad's 150, but Vishal Dabholkar took 7 wickets in the TN 2nd innings to bowl them out for 95, and then Shreyas Iyer smashed 83 of 66 to set up Mumbai's tense finish.
Railways, who started poorly having lost the first 2 games very badly, bounced back by thumping UP by 282 runs. Set a target of 340 in 2 and a half sessions, UP were bowled out for 58 in 42 overs as Railways seamer Anureet Singh took a 5for.
Yuvraj Singh's 187 helped Punjab take the first innings points against Gujarat, and hundreds from Srikar Bharat, Ricky Bhui and AG Pradeep helped Andhra claim first innings honors against Baroda.
In group C, Shahbaz Nadeem's 7 wicket haul helped Jharkhand to their first win of the season as they got the better of Kerala. Services had won against J&K and Goa against Tripura. Robin Bisth made an unbeaten 220, India A players Ankush Bains 161 and Rishi Dhawan 114 as Himachal Pradesh made a first innings total of 708-7 and took away the first innings points against Hyderabad.

Well this is now becoming a routine! Yet another 5 wicket haul for Ravindra Jadeja as the round 4 of the Ranji Trophy got underway!. That is 5 out of 5 for Jadeja, this time a 6for. Failed with the bat though for a change, managed only 2, and his India teammate Cheteshwar Pujara, who hasn't been anywhere near his best so far this season, managed to bag a duck.

The highlight of the day though was the Karnataka Haryana game. The freshly internationally retired Virender Sehwag, for whom cricket is a celebration, celebrated his retirement in typical Sehwag style, smashing the Ranji champions for 136 of the most authentic Sehwag runs where going by reports, people had to wonder which the home team was. In the end an HS Sharat hat trick made the crowd very happy as they witnessed a Sehwag special, and afterwords their side came back into the game pretty strongly. Haryana finished the day at 319-8.
From an Indian standpoint, perhaps the most important contribution of the day came from Mumbai youngster Shreyas Iyer who scored a fine 167 not out, continuing his brilliant season. Mumbai had lost 2 early wickets as he walked in, but the youngster yet again became the foundation of the Mumbai innings and the tempo of his innings means the opposition would quickly be on the backfoot. He's still learning, but the way the ODI side is struggling at present, think he has to be given a go sooner rather than later at the highest level.
Parwez Rasool of J&K, and Priyank Panchal of Gujarat scored hundreds, as did Goa's Sagun Kamat. Rishi Dhawan took a 5for.

Bengal's Sudip Chatterjee made a ton for Bengal, and India wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha is unbeaten overnight on 67. Parthiv Patel made a half-century for his side. Madhya Pradesh opener Aditya Sriwastava made yet another ton, 4th of his 6 match FC career. He's shaping up to be a domestic run machine, and hopefully would have more about him and lots of international runs too.

Jayant Yadav, of Haryana and India A, primarily an offspinner, batting up the order, made a ton of his own batting alongside Sehwag. But he was dropped a few times during the innings. But the score would further press his case with the national selectors.......

Ravindra Jadeja continues to create history, as he became the first bowler in well over a century to take 6 successive 5 wicket hauls in first class cricket. Jadeja finished with 7 in the Hyderabad 2nd innings and 13 in the match as Saurashtra completed a come from behind win after they conceded a 46 run first innings lead. Jadeja and Cheteshwar Pujara failed with the bat though in both innings.
Despite India opener KL Rahul's 63, Karnataka conceded a big first innings lead to Haryana, and despite being bowled out for 206, Assam managed a 52 run first innings lead against Vidarbha as Swarupam Purkayastha, spinning the ball impressively, took a 4for. Despite Praveen Kumar taking 4-86, Andhra took a significant first innings lead against UP.
The other bit of drama was in the Mumbai v Baroda game. After Shreyas Iyer was run-out adding only 6 more to his overnight 167, Mumbai lost 5-10, and the score of 327 proved particularly challenging. But then, Abhishek Nayar made a counterattacking halfcentury as they recovered to post 447. An innings of many parts.......

Railways lost 16 wickets on a day to hand an innings win and thus a bonus point to Gujarat. Former India seamer and UP import RP Singh, and upcoming prospect Jasprit Bumrah took 4 each in the Railways 1st innings, and Bumrah added 3 more and RP 2 more wickets in the 2nd innings.
A lower order counterattack by Eklavya Trivedi (72) and skipper Praveen Kumar (53) helped UP recover from 52-5 and post 309, setting Andhra a score of 183 to win. Andhra went to stumps at 26-1, Srikar Barat is still there.......
Vidarbha are set a score of 213 to win by Assam. After edging the erlier parts of the games, like in the last game, Assam are losing the plot a bit, as Vidarbha reached 88 without loss at stumps.
Haryana set champions Karnataka a stiff last innings chase of 370, Virender Sehwag, batting at 7 smashing around a bit for his 40 as Haryana were looking for quick runs.
Bengal took the first innings lead against Railways comfortably as India spinner Pragyan Ojha, who moved sides this season to play in division A took a 4for.
Underrated Punjab wicketkeeper batsman Uday Kaul, playing as batsman only, scored a fine 139, but Ankit Sharma's 5 for and a couple of early, tone setting wickets from Ishwar Pandey helped MP take a 12 run first innings lead. Punjab aren't out of it though as they chipped out 3 MP wickets for 81 in the 2nd innings.
Paras Dogra's 167 helped HP take the first innings lead against Goa. The Dharmashala track is turning rather flat this season, with some real big scores out there.......
Kerala and Services are locked in a close contest for 1st innings ponts as Services need another 41 with 3 wickets remaining.
J&K are in a strong position against Tripura, taking a decisive 1st innings lead and stretching it far by stumps, as Bandeep Singh smashed a 15 ball half century, a new Ranji record.

Aditya shrivastava of MP is in smashing form with the bat as is Parthiv ....who is only 30 years old still ...and is plucking out plenty of catches too

Shriwastava is evolving into a domestic run machine.

UP, after conceding a big first innings lead, eventually managed a 56 run win over Andhra to turn the tables. Ankit Rajpoot taking a 5for.
Though they lost a few wickets towards the end, the experience in the Vidarbha batting lineup helped them to a 3 wicket win over Assam despite conceding a 52 run first innings lead.
Karnataka managed to hang on for life and saved a point as they managed a draw against Haryana who came up short by 2 wickets .
Kerala took the first innings honours by 3 runs against Services. Services needed 41 to take the lead with 3 wickets remaining. They lost 2 early wickets but a last wicket partnership of 20 took them within 1 hit away from the 3 points but Kerala managed to strike just in time.
Not much drama elsere as the 4th round ended. Bengal took the 3 points for the first innings lead against Delhi, Mumbai did the same v Baroda and MP v Punjab. Himachal Pradesh and J&K also had to settle for 1st innings points v Goa and Tripura respectively.

Rajasthan's Ashok Menaria made an unbeaten 150 against Maharashtra. Jayant Yadav took a 6for against Karnataka in Haryana's near miss.

So it has happened at last!, Ravindra Jadeja has failed to take a 5for!. After taking 6 5fors on the trot, Jadeja has been stopped, and by one of his own teammates, Jaidev Unadkat who took 6 of the 10 Services wickets. What more, Jadeja went wicketless and bowled only 9 overs in the seamer friendly conditions. He would be looking to get some confidence boosting runs before the first test against South Africa, and Saurashtra would need it as Cheteshwar Pujara is away playing the tour game for the BP side against the South Africans. Not that Pujara has been anywhere near his best this season, and even his poor form continued for the BP side today. Becoming a matter of concern for India even before the tests start. Hard to see Rohit being benched after his recent limited overs showing and the team management's special dispensationtowards him, and Pujara isn't helping his case by not scoring runs continuously throughout the Ranji season and here too.

Many of India's OD specialists are back playing for their Ranji sides, Gurkirat Singh Man and Ambati Rayudu leading their respective sides, Punjab and Baroda, and Axar Patel and Stuart Binny are back in the Gujarat and Karnataka folds. Unless he's injured, pretty disgusting from Suresh Raina, not playing for UP....... He had a terrible time of it with the bat for most of the limited over games, yet he's not showing the willingness to try and get his act together. Has to be the first to go out when the ODI side is restructured.

Seamer Mohit Sharma is back for Haryana, and fast bowlers Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron have tried to play Ranji when they haven't been playing for India. Just really unhappy with Raina's attitude.

Gurkirat showing with the ball on Punjab return, taking 4-14 as Andhra where bowled out for 80. Baba Indrijith scored a hundred for TN against Railways, Fais Fazal for Vidarbha against Maharashtra, and Rajit Palliwal of Services did the same against Saurashtra. Mithun Manhas made a fine 150 for J&K.

Apart from Gurkirat with the ball, the other India players didn't have as much impact. Mohit and Axar bowled economically but didn't take many wickets. Stuart Binny could make only 14 for Karnataka

Punjab defeated Andhra with Gurkirat taking 9 for the match, Praveen Kumar showed with ball and bat as his side UP defeated Gujarat. Madhya Pradesh beat Baroda, champions Karnataka registered their first win of the season, against Rajasthan. Himachal Pradesh won against Tripura by an innings, Tamil Nadu defeated Railways. Saurashtra chased 302 to win their 4th successive game of the season, against Services. Ravindra Jadeja, who had a quiet game with the ball, made a crucial 55 in their 2nd innings. And Vidarbha, who would be missing Umesh Yadav's services for some time, defeated Maharashtra.
Goa took the first innings points against Jharkhand, Delhi did the same v Odisha. Bengal managed a first innings advantage against Haryana, and J&K did so against Hyderabad.
So 8 outright results, most of the other 4 games producing moments of interest all the way up to the final session. The best round of Ranji this season.

India spinner Axar Patel took a 5for and made a 2nd innings 80 against UP in a losing cause for Gujarat. Praveen Kumartook a 5for and made some crucial lower order runs, and took 3 more wickets in the 2nd innings. But it was left-arm spinner Saurav Kumar who took 10 wickets in the game who stood out. J&K's Mithun Manhas made 150, Karnataka's Robin Uthappa, batting down the order at 4 rather than at top, made a smashing 160 of 128, TN's Baba Indrajith made 151, HP's Paras Dhogra's 209 was one of 3 hundreds for HP, Prashant Chopra and Ankush Bains making tons of their own. Rajit Palliwal made twin hundreds and Yashpal singe made a 2nd innings ton for Service in their loss against Saurashtra. Rajasthan opener Pranay Sharma's 4th innings hundred wasn't enough to save his side against Karnataka.

The 6th round of Ranji 2015-16 ended today. All group A games produced outright results, Delhi beat Maharashtra, seamer Navdeep Sainy with a 6for and opener Dhruv Shauri with a ton for the winning side. Karnataka defeated Odisha with Robin Uthappa, Mayang Agarwal and Karun Nair chipping with the bat, Shreyas Gopal took 7 in the game and Stuart Binny took 4 in the 2nd innings. Assam, despite conceding a first innings lead, defeated Haryana by 6 wickets in the end, Krishna Das and Arup Das taking 6fors in the course of the match for Assam. Pragyan Ojha took 11 for the game as Bengal defeated Vidarbha.
Despite the return of Irfan Pathan who took a 6for and scored a half-century, and Munaf Patel who bowled economically, Baroda lost to Gujarat by an innings. Axar Patel scored 81 with the bat and then collected 4 2nd innings wickets for Gujarat. Shreyas Iyer and Rohit Sharma scored tons as Mumbai posted 610 in their first innings, and though there were a number of contributions from the UP batsmen, they ended up conceding the first innings lead in a boring draw. Rain ensured TN and Andhra game didn't move much, after Andhra were bowled out for 203, TN ended up with 164-7 when the game was called off. Jalaj Saxena's spectacular 16 wicket haul ensured MP thrashing Railways, Jalaj taking 8 each in the 2 Railways innings.
Saurashtra, after winnings all their earlier games, had to settle for 1st innings points against Goa. Bad weather meant HP couldn't force the issue against a determined Sercices to take the innings lead in a high scoring bor fest. HP's Paras Dhogra made his 2nd double hundred of the season, his 7th overall in Ranji, to draw level with Ajay Sharma's domestic record, and there were hundreds for Rajit Palliwal and Yashpal Singh of Services. Jharkhand made 551 in their 1st innings thanks to tons from young Ishan Kishan and Anand Singh, and made J&K follow-on, but the visiting side managed to save a point by batting out the day. Kerala had to be satisfied with the 1st innings points against Tripura. Kerala's Rohan Prem, who made runs in both innings, has gone pass Shreyas Iyer to be the top-scorer of the season at the end of round 6.

Round 6 of Ranji done.
In Div A, toppers Delhi lost to newly promoted Assam, and Assam has now moved into the 2nd position. Vidarbha defeated Rajasthan in the other outright win of the group. Bengal took the first innings points in their draw against Maharashtra and Odisha did the same v Haryana.
In group, Mumbai hunted down 295 in less than 70 overs to hand Railways their 6th defeat of the season. Gujarat defeated MP and Baroda thrashed Punjab. UP took the first innings points v Tamil Nadu.
In Div C, Kerala defeated Goa and Jharkhand won against Tripura. HP took the first innings points against Saurashtra and Services against Hyderabad.

India batsman Suresh Raina scored a ton for UP, former India seamers Munaf Patel and Irfan Pathan took 6 wicket match hauls for Baroda, Irfan made a 50 as well. Praveen Kumar took a 4for for UP and RP Singh took a 5for for Gujarat.
Young gun Shreyas Iyer made twin 50s for Mumbai, and their opener Akhil Herwadkar made a ton and a 50. Bengal's Sudip Chatterjee made his 4th ton of the season and Pragyan Ojha was among the wickets. India seamer Umesh Yadav took a 4for for Vidarbha, Jalaj Saxena took a 6for for MP. HP's Prashant Chopra made a big ton, and Assam's Krishna Das continued to impress with the ball and their TN import KB Arun Karthik with the bat.