The results from the fifth day of the Ranji Trophy one-day tournament 2008-09
Cricinfo staff19-Feb-2009
Ajinkya Rahane’s century steered Mumbai to their second straight win © Cricinfo Ltd
South ZoneAn aggressive 95 from M Vijay and good support from opener Srikkanth Anirudha and Arun Karthik handed Tamil Nadu a comfortable eight-wicket win – their fourth consecutive victory in the tournament – over Andhra Pradesh in Visakhapatnam. Tamil Nadu’s job was made easier by their fast bowlers R Suthesh and Yo Mahesh, who took five wickets between them to help restrict Andhra for 190. The duo struck to leave Andhra reeling at 37 for 6. However, Duvvarapu Shivkumar, who top scored for Andhra with 56, triggered a lower-order revival, with the last four wickets added 153. Garikina Prasad, the offspinner, who batted at No. 10, contributed 41. But the total proved inadequate, with Tamil Nadu’s batsmen scoring at more than 5.5 runs an over, led by Vijay, who struck 12 fours and two sixes.Fast bowlers M Arjun and Shoaib Ahmed took three wickets each to help Hyderabad inflict a 105-run defeat on Goa in Visakhapatnam. The two took the first five wickets to fall and left Goa – who were chasing 261 for victory – reeling at 48 for 5 in the 15th over. Though the lower order helped Goa salvage a more respectable final score, the flurry of wickets early in their innings meant they were always behind the eight-ball. Asked to bat, Hyderabad were provided a good start by opener DB Ravi Teja, who scored 69. Though the highest partnership in their innings was only 50 – between Teja and Anoop Pai for the third wicket – the middle order made important contributions to help their team post a competitive score. Amol Shinde made 43, wicketkeeper Abhinav Kumar chipped in with 34, and Ashish Reddy scored a quick 29 to take their team to 260 for 8. Shadab Jakati, the left-arm spinner, took 3 for 52. Goa, at the bottom of the table, have no chance of making it to the knockout stage.A threatening 89-run stand for the seventh wicket between centurion Devraj Patil and Raju Bhatkal could not prevent Kerala from beating Karnataka by a narrow 15-run margin at the Port Trust Golden Jubilee Stadium. Medium-pacer Prasanth Parameswaran took 3 for 15 in 7.3 overs, and was ably assisted by the rest of the bowling line-up as Karnataka faltered in pursuit of 243. They started off poorly, losing their openers Robin Uthappa and CM Gautam with 19 on the board and slipped to a precarious 111 for 6, despite a 54-run partnership between Patil and B Akhil. Though Patil and Bhatkal took their team within reach of the target, Parameswaran’s two wickets ensured Kerala won. Earlier, Kerala squandered a solid foundation for a sizeable score, losing five wickets for 68 runs in reaching 258 for 9. Half-centuries from Karimutthatu Rakesh, Sreekumar Nair and Preambhastn Prem had put Kerala in a dominating position, but three run-outs jolted their hopes of getting a total beyond Karnataka’s reach. It was Kerala’s first win in the tournament.West ZoneMumbai kept alive their chances of finishing in the top two by beating Maharashtra by seven wickets at the Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground in Rajkot. Maharashtra, put in, managed a score over 200 thanks to an unbeaten 58 from No. 7 Ganesh Gaekwad, who added 71 for the eighth wicket with Rohit Motwani after they had been reduced to 110 for 7. Dhawal Kulkarni struck two early blows for Mumbai, while Iqbal Abdulla and Abhishek took three wickets apiece. Chasing 211, Mumbai’s openers – Wasim Jaffer and Ajinkya Rahane – put on 145 in 22 overs. Gaekwad took the three wickets to fall in the innings, while Rahane reached his century before Mumbai completed the win with 12.4 overs to spare. Mumbai, who now are tied at the top with Maharashtra and Gujarat on eight points, will have to rely on the results of the remaining games in the group phase – Mumbai have completed their four.Half-centuries from opener Sagar Jogiyani and Cheteshwar Pujara helped hosts Saurashtra beat Baroda by five wickets. Set a challenging target of 248, Saurashtra began soundly with the openers adding 36 in under ten overs. However, Chirag Pathak’s dismissal slowed down the innings and Saurashtra were behind the asking-rate when they lost No. 3 Bhushan Chauhan with the score on 83 in the 26th over. But Jogiyani batted steadily, and Pujara stepped up the scoring after Jogiyani fell to finish with 75 off 68 balls and take Saurashtra past Baroda’s total in the final over. Pratik Mehta supported Pujara well with a 28-ball 33, adding 60 for the fifth wicket. Baroda, after opting to bat, wasted a solid foundation laid by a 106-run third-wicket stand between Azharuddin Bilakhia, who top scored with 85, and Rakesh Solanki. They lost their last six wickets for 78 runs, with medium-pacer Jayesh Odedra taking 4 for 44 to precipitate a quick end to the innings.North ZoneAjay Mannu, the Himachal Pradesh wicketkeeper, made an invaluable 70 to help his team record a narrow two-wicket win over Delhi in Una. HP were struggling at 194 for 6 in pursuit of a challenging 282, but Mannu steadied the innings, getting involved in crucial partnerships of 31 for the seventh wicket with K Diwan, and 41 for the eighth with offspinner Sarandeep Singh to take his team within reach of the target. HP had begun their run-chase well, with opener Sangram Singh scoring a quickfire 57. However, the middle-order batsmen failed to build on starts – Vikramjeet Malik made 31 and captain Paras Dogra was trapped lbw on 44. Mannu’s rescue act, though, led the team to their third straight win. Delhi’s innings was anchored by opener Aakash Chopra’s century. He and was involved in a 96-run fourth-wicket stand with allrounder Rajat Bhatia, who made 77 off 68 balls.Haryana too completed a close two-wicket win against Services. Batting first, Services – who had complained about poor facilities in Una – managed only 181. Joginder Sharma struck three early blows, while India legspinner Amit Mishra grabbed 5 for 44 as only three Services batsmen made it past 20. Services’ opening bowlers Rakesh Kumar and Narendra Singh took five wickets to leave Haryana at 78 for 6, but Dhruv Singh and Joginder revived the chase with a 79 -run stand. Arun Sharma then removed Joginer and Sandeep Singh – he finished with 2 for 29 off ten overs – but Dhruv’s unbeaten 68 ensured his team reached the target with 4.2 overs to spare. At the other end, Gaurav Vashisht survived 11 balls for his 1.Uday Kaul top scored with 79 as Punjab posted the first win – a six-wicket victory over Jammu & Kashmir in Dharamsala. Set 219, Punjab’s chase was over in the 38th over, with Ravi Inder Singh and Ankur Kakkar chipping in with 40s. It was the third straight loss for J&K, who were off to a steady start after being put in. Openers Imraj Thakur and Ian Dev Singh scored contrasting 45s, but the middle order, barring Manoj Joglekar, failed to capitalise. Joglekar scored 73 to push his team past 200; the best from the rest was 12. Taruwar Kohli was the pick of the Punjab bowlers, with 3 for 28 off his 7.1 overs.East ZoneRanadeb Bose took a three-wicket haul as Bengal’s bowlers put on an impressive display at Eden Gardens to help their side book their place in the knockout stage. Chasing 250, Tripura were bowled out for 158. Ashok Dinda and spinners Iresh Saxena and Manoj Tiwary scalped two wickets each. Shreevats Goswami scored 74 in Bengal’s 249, with Tiwary making 55 and wicketkeeper-opener Wriddhiman Saha 41. For Tripura, opening bowler Rana Dutta, playing his third List A game, took 4 for 43.A seven-wicket win over Jharkhand in Kolkata boosted Orissa’s chances of qualification. Subit Biswal’s maiden List A century and an unbeaten 88 from Halhadar Das steered Orissa to their target of 261 with 5.3 overs remaining. Jharkhand reached 260 thanks to Saurabh Tiwary’s 76, and a 47-ball 62 from Shiv Gautham.