Ranji Trophy 2024-25 Round-up - Tamil Nadu close to knockouts; Maharashtra defeated Baroda

Vidarbha registered a spectacular victory after falling behind.

Vidarbha overcomes 100-run deficit to pull off a surprise win won by 221 runs take on Rajasthan in Jaipur to ensure their place in the knockouts from Group B. It was their fifth straight win in six matches. Akshay WadkarThe captain, who effectively scored a fighting century in the second innings after being reduced to 44 for 5.

Wadkar was assisted by Yash Rathore, who scored 98, and fast bowler Nachiket Bhute, who scored 87 from number 10. The eighth wicket partnership between Wadkar and Bhute was 172 runs. Rajasthan never reached the target of 329; He was out on 107 runs.

Left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey took 5 for 51 – his fifth five-wicket haul this season. Dubey now tops the wicket charts for the season – he has taken 42 wickets in 12 innings at an average of 14.55. Auqib Nabi of Jammu and Kashmir is in second place with 38 wickets.

Sai Kishore and Ajit Ram take TN to the brink of knockout

But his participation was hampered in the first half of the Ranji season due to a thumb injury. R Sai KishoreThe captain impressed in just his third game, taking eight wickets as Tamil Nadu beat Chandigarh in salemSai Kishore had the advantage of having an equally aggressive bowler from the other end – fellow left-arm spinner S Ajit Ram also took four wickets in the second innings, and took nine wickets in the entire match.

Vijay Shankar’s 150 helped Tamil Nadu set a target of 403 for Chandigarh before the spin twins made their mark on the final day. The win took TN to the top of Group D; A draw in their next game against Jharkhand will take them to the knockouts. Chandigarh and Saurashtra are the other two teams in the race to make it to the knockouts from the group.

Kerala showed incredible fight to save the draw

A modest lead of just seven runs proved overwhelming in the end as Kerala challenged the conditions and MP’s bowling attack secure a draw This gave him three important points. This put them in a triangular race with Karnataka and Haryana for the knockouts from Group C. Kerala is currently in second place with 21 points, while Karnataka is on 18. Haryana tops the pool with 26 points.

Kerala had a target of 363 runs to win, but more importantly, they had to bat at least 100 overs to get a draw. Those hopes were dashed when their score reached 47 runs for 5 wickets by lunch on the last day. But an astute lower-order rearguard helped them script a miracle. The effort was led by Mohammad Azharuddin and Aditya Sarwate, who scored 68 and 80 respectively.

For the ninth wicket of Kerala, the pair of B Aparajith and MD Nidheesh batted for an hour and 13.4 overs in dim light and pulled out a draw from the jaws of defeat. MP gave his all for Kerala, with Kuldeep Sen taking 3 for 64 while left-arm spinner Kumar Karthikeya took three wickets in 37 overs.

Baroda faltered after Mukesh Chaudhary took five wickets for the first time.

Baroda’s position at the top of Group A suffered a blow defeat He was left in a bit of a difficult situation in Maharashtra. This result coincides with Jammu and Kashmir’s upset over Mumbai which took them to the top of the table. Baroda will now play Jammu and Kashmir, a must-win win to keep their knockout hopes alive, while third-placed Mumbai have a relatively easy draw as they play Meghalaya.

Baroda’s defeat would be painful as they could not bat for more than two sessions to achieve a draw. Maharashtra batted big to lead their second innings well till the final day, when they declared at 464 for 7 and set Baroda a target of 617 runs. Baroda lasted only 36 overs and were all out for 177, with left-arm fast bowler Mukesh Choudhary scoring 5 runs. For 76.

Source link