Ranji Trophy round-up: KL Rahul misses out on hundred, Mumbai draw Baroda

Opener KL Rahul (92) missed out on a century after Abhimanyu Mithun orchestrated Delhi's fall with a five-wicket haul as Karnataka earned three points on the basis of their first innings in the Group A Ranji Trophy match, which ended in a draw. 

Karnataka strengthened their top position in the table by taking their tally to 23 while Delhi are second on 17. 

Batting first, Karnataka had amassed a mammoth total of 649 all out in the first innings with Mayank Agarwal's 176 and Stuart Binny's 118. 

In reply, Delhi were bowled out for 301, conceding 348 runs lead to Karnataka after Mithun ripped through the batting lineup by bagging five wickets for 70 runs. 

Resuming at their overnight 277 for four, a formidable Delhi batting lineup collapsed like a pack of cards, just adding 24 runs, with Mithun being the chief wrecker. 

Gautam Gambhir and Dhruv Shorey, who scored 144 and 64 , respectively, lent some respectability to the Delhi score. 

Rest of the batsmen except Rishabh Pant (41) failed to present any resistance against the Karnataka bowlers. 

Mithun picked up four wickets including the prized wicket of Gambhir. Yesterday he had claimed the wicket of Shorey. 

Vinay Kumar picked up Navdeep Saini's wicket who scored 4. Stuart Binny and Krishnappa Gowtham bagged two and a wicket, respectively. 

In their second innings, Karnataka put on a total of 235 for three before the stumps were drawn for the final time. 

Rahul and Ravikumar Samarth (47) gave the hosts a solid start, putting on a 121 partnership for the first wicket. 

Samarth lost his wicket to Manan Sharma after he was caught by Nitish Rana. 

Rahul was fast cruising to his century but fell short after being run out when he was carelessly ambling across the wicket. 

Rahul hammered 92 runs in 109 balls, hitting nine boundaries and two sixes. 

First innings centurion Agarwal scored 23 runs. He was taken by Navdeep Saini. 

Karun Nair (33) and Manish Pandey (34) were unbeaten men on the crease when the match ended.

Lad bats patiently to help Mumbai to a draw against Baroda

Crisis man Siddhesh Lad batted stubbornly in making a patient, unconquered 71 to bail out oft-crowned champions Mumbai against Baroda in their landmark 500th Ranji Trophy Group C game that was drawn. 

The short-statured batsman remained unbeaten after staying at the crease for two minutes over five hours and facing 238 balls in the Mumbai second innings score of 260 for 7 at the Wankhede Stadium. 

The 25-year-old batsman, known for his obdurate measures, stitched together a partnership of 79 runs with Suryakumar Yadav (44) for the sixth wicket to help Mumbai to a tea-time score of 237 for 6 after the 41-time champions commenced at 102 for 4. 

Lad, on 57 in a score of 236 was caught off Swapnil Singh but was fortunate to escape as it was found to be a no-ball through a referral to the third umpire. 

Lad, who struck 7 fours, later got involved in another half-century stand with the stonewalling Abhishek Nayar (8) for the seventh wicket to take Mumbai closer to safety after they commenced the last day facing an innings defeat, having conceded huge first innings lead of 404 to the visitors yesterday. 

Nayar concentrated only in blocking with a string of fielders around the bat for 141 minutes as he faced 108 balls during his 50-run partnership with Lad. 

The left-handed batsman departed with eleven overs still remaining in the game, edging a ball that spun away from debutant off-spinner Kartik Kakade that took the edge and was caught at the wicket. 

But Lad, who had scored 117 in the previous away game against Odisha, and Dhawal Kulkarni (8 not out) held on in determined fashion to force a draw after being together for 46 minutes. 

The hosts lost overnight not out batsman and Test stalwart Ajinkya Rahane in the morning soon after the first drinks break for 45, the batsman losing his concentration and getting out to an attempted cut shot to left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh. 

Yadav too was out in a similar fashion off rival captain Deepak Hooda after batting diligently for 203 minutes in the company of Lad. 

Baroda took the new ball before tea after 83 overs, but the pace bowlers could not do the trick as in the first innings and it was left to the spinners to get breakthroughs on a track where the ball had started to turn appreciably. 

They tried their best with a host of fielders around the bat but Mumbai escaped the noose, in large measure due to Lads highly responsible knock. 

Spinners Swapnil (2 for 55), who had scored 164 in the Baroda innings, and Kakade (2 for 50) were the main wicket-takers in the Mumbai second innings. 

With one point from the drawn game, Mumbai took their tally to 11 with two games in hand while Baroda took theirs to 7, with the same number of matches left to play. 

Brief scores: Mumbai 171 and 260 for 7 (Prithvi Shaw 56, Ajinkya Rahane 45, Suryakumar Yadav 44, Siddhesh Lad not out 71, Dhawal Kulkarni not out 8, Swapnil Singh 2 for 55, Kartik Kakade 2 for 50). Baroda 575 for 9 decl. Match drawn. Baroda 3 points. Mumbai 1.

Vidarbha climb up to top of table as Bengal suffer first loss

Despite India's Test wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha and Sudeep Chatterjee scoring half-centuries, Bengal's batting crumbled and they suffered a 10-wicket humiliating loss at home against Vidarbha in a Ranji Trophy Group D fixture. 

Resuming the day on 86 for three in their second innings after being asked to follow-on, Bengal rode on 148-run partnership by Saha (97) and Chatterjee (82), but none of the others could chip in and they folded for 306 in 101.4 overs, setting a 15-run target. 

Sanjay Ramaswamy struck four boundaries to hit off the winning runs as Vidarbha (21 points) climbed up to the top of Group D table with six points from this match. 

They are currently six points clear of second-placed Punjab. 

After their first defeat of the season, Bengal slipped to fourth place with 13 points from four matches. 

Earlier, medium pacer Siddhesh Neral gave the first breakthrough of the day, claiming the prized scalp of overnight batsman Manoj Tiwary, who got out after edging one behind the stumps, adding just seven runs to his overnight total of 36. 

Chatterjee, who resumed on 40, stayed firm to complete his 14th first-class half-century from 109 balls. 

While Chatterjee played defensively, Saha looked fluent as he notched up his 32nd first-class fifty in 60 balls and Bengal progressed to 197 for 4 at lunch. 

Nine overs after lunch, Saha was at the non-striking end and a confusion with Chatterjee led to his unfortunate run out. Aditya Sarwate then trapped Chatterjee to end the Bengal's resistance. 

For Vidarbha, Lalit Yadav finished with four for 54.