The last round of league matches in Ranji Trophy 2024-25 is up and running. Here are the highlights from the second day.
Kohli's short stay
He made six deliveries out of a total of fifteen. After being hit late by a big delivery and then missing a length ball that he poked, Virat Kohli was beaten outside off twice.
In the subsequent over, he produced a lovely straight drive, but Himanshu Sangwan, who works as a Railways ticket collector at New Delhi Railway Station during the off-season, sent his off stump cartwheeling, dismissing him off the very next delivery. With a brilliant nip-backer who slipped through Kohli's large bat-to-pad gap, Sangwan quickly rose to fame.
Ayush Badoni's excellent knock was missed by a boisterous crowd of about 15,000 people who immediately headed for the exit. With three first-inning wickets left, Delhi had a 93-run advantage over Railways thanks to the captain's 77-ball 99.
Pujara 99, Saurashtra on course
The timing could not be more ideal for Saurashtra. Last week, they defeated Delhi in three days, with Ravindra Jadeja taking 12 wickets. They needed two straight games with bonus points, both played at home in Rajkot on turners.
They did not require Ravindra's bowling this week because Assam was forced to follow-on and the other Jadeja, Dharmendrasinh, took four wickets. A strong batting display in the first innings put Saurashtra in a position to impose the follow-on.
Cheteshwar Pujara, who had added four to his overnight total and went dismissed for 99 early on day two, set up their 474. Riyan Parag was Assam's sole obstacle, scoring 51 runs on his comeback to the top division of cricket after suffering a shoulder ailment.
Kuldeep made to toil
Kuldeep Yadav returned to competitive cricket three months after undergoing surgery for a sports hernia. He claimed three wickets in 31 overs, but Uttar Pradesh was sent on a leather hunt. Harsh Gawli and Shubham Sharma contributed double tons to Madhya Pradesh's fictitious 670 for 7 declaration. This game is not very important from a qualification perspective because both teams are eliminated from the knockout stage.
Rahane 96 in mammoth Mumbai total
Mumbai took a 585-run lead over Meghalaya, but Ajinkya Rahane was dismissed for 96, ending his hopes of turning his first-class fifty this Ranji season into a century.
At stumps, Meghalaya was 27 for 2, giving Mumbai a chance to reach 29 points and guarantee a spot in the quarterfinals by gaining seven whole points. They needed a favor from Jammu & Kashmir going into the last round, and they have aided them by giving them a lead in the first innings against Baroda and creating the chance for an outright victory.
Jalaj continues to shine
The Kerala all-rounder Jalaj Saxena achieved the milestone of 6000 first-class runs and 400 wickets earlier this season. He scored five runs in each of the final round of matches on Friday, helping Kerala defeat Bihar by an innings and guarantee a spot in the quarterfinals.
Jalaj reached the seventh-highest number of wickets in the competition with 421. He had taken ten or more wickets in a first-class match for the tenth time. In response to Kerala's 351 runs, which were fueled by 150 from Salman Nizar, Bihar made 64 and 118 runs in a total of 64.2 overs over the course of both innings.
TN stutter but knockouts chances burn bright
Despite needing 97 and having just five wickets remaining against Jharkhand, there is a chance that Tamil Nadu might still advance to the knockout stages. This is because, in a game that they needed to win with a bonus point, Chandigarh, who had won three straight games in the first half, now gave up the lead to Chhattisgarh. Vijay Shankar, who is undefeated at 33, is the key to Tamil Nadu's chances of winning the chase.