A round-up of the second day of the Group A Ranji Trophy matches on December 8, 2014
ESPNcricinfo staff08-Dec-2014Group A
ScorecardFile photo: Dinesh Karthik and Abhinav Mukund added 90 for the third wicket to help Tamil Nadu recover from a rocky start•ESPNcricinfo
Jaffer suffers finger injury
Wasim Jaffer sustained a hairline fracture while fielding and may not feature in the second innings of Mumbai’s Ranji clash against Jammu & Kashmir at the Wankhede Stadium.
Jaffer hurt his right index finger while attempting a catch from centurion Shubham Khajuria in the slips, off Abhishek Nayar. Khajuria was on 104 then. Though the batsman was eventually dismissed, the regulation drop injured Jaffer’s finger, and is likely to take two weeks to heal.
However, with Mumbai in a precarious position with a lead of 48 in their second innings, Jaffer may try and give it a go with the bat. A decision will be made on the third morning.
In a dramatic collapse at the Wankhede Stadium, Jammu & Kashmir lost five wickets for just one run and squandered a strong position to restrict their first-innings lead to only 18 runs after they were all out for 254. However, they fought back by reducing Mumbai to 66 for 4 by the end of the second day, which means the hosts lead by 48 runs.J&K were cruising at 204 for 2 on the back of Shubham Khajuria’s maiden first-class hundred after they lost Bandeep Singh in the fourth over of the day. Khajuria struck 12 fours and three sixes but was run-out for 107 at the score of 204 and captain Parvez Rasool fell five runs later. However, the collapse came when J&K lost three wickets at the score of 253 and two at 254. Left-arm spinner Vishal Dabholkar took three of those – Samiullah Beigh and Waseem Raza in the same over for ducks – to finish with 3 for 30. Dhawal Kulkarni, Shardul Thakur and Iqbal Abdullah took two each. Ian Dev Singh, who came out at No. 4, resisted with a 70 but was one of the batsmen to fall at the score of 253.Mumbai would have liked to capitalise on the turnaround but medium-pacers Ram Dayal and Umar Nazir struck twice each within 23 runs. The new opening pair of Kevin Almeida put on 34 before Dayal broke the stand, and Aditya Tare and Shreyas Iyer were soon sent back for 1 each. Nazir pegged them back further by getting Almeida caught behind for 27. Suryakumar Yadav and Kulkarni played out 3.5 overs before stumps. Wasim Jaffer did not come out to bat because of an injury he sustained while fielding.
ScorecardFifties from Abhinav Mukund and R Prasanna guided Tamil Nadu to 240 for 5, within 50 runs of Karnataka’s first-innings score of 290.The visitors began the day at 22 for 0, but were dealt two early blows. S Aravind, bowling from around the wicket, had Kaushik Gandhi trapped lbw six overs into the day, although replays suggested the ball may have been going over. B Aparajith, coming in at No.2, pushed the first ball he faced past point for four, but did not last too long, as his lack of footwork resulted in him edging Vinay Kumar behind to CM Gautam, who was keeping with Mumbai Indians gloves.Tamil Nadu were struggling at 39 for 2, but Dinesh Karthik and Abhinav led a recovery with a third-wicket partnership worth 90. Mukund batted for nearly six hours, stroking nine fours to make 84, while Karthik’s 38 featured seven fours. Karthik’s innings, however, was far from flawless as he survived two close caught-behind decisions, before running out of luck the third time – replays indicated that HS Sharath’s delivery had only brushed Karthik’s pads on the way back to the keeper.Karnataka were without Vinay Kumar after lunch, but their spinner Shreyas Gopal made the breakthrough, dismissing B Indrajith in his first over. Prasanna, though, put up 40-plus stands for the fifth and sixth wickets with Abhinav and V Shankar to ensure that Tamil Nadu were in a promising position heading into the penultimate day. He remained unbeaten on 51, having muscled seven fours.
ScorecardAn unbeaten century by Arindam Ghosh and his 129-run seventh-wicket partnership with Avinash Yadav revived Railways from a delicate position and helped them take a first-innings lead at the Karnail Singh Stadium. In response to MP’s 181, Railways’ openers had added 54, but the run-out of Abhishek Kaushik triggered a collapse that saw the home team lose five more wickets for 44 runs, three of them to Puneet Datey.However, Ghosh and Yadav dropped anchor and led the slow build past MP’s score. Yadav scored 50 off 133 deliveries, his first half-century at the senior level, and was dismissed in the 81st over of the day. By that time, Railways were already ahead by 46 runs. Ghosh continued to build on his innings and was unbeaten on 113 that included 13 fours and one six when the day ended.
ScorecardSwapnil Singh marked his return to first-class cricket after three years with a five-for. It helped Baroda stage a collapse in the latter stages of Bengal’s first innings. Still, Sudip Chatterjee’s big hundred and late strikes by the visiting captain Laxmi Shukla meant Bengal clearly held an upper hand at the end of the second day’s play at the Reliance Stadium.To read the full report, click here.