Ranji Trophy: Chandigarh tottering at 78/5 in reply to Saurashtra

A valiant knock of 198 from Chirag Jani helped Saurashtra to put up mammoth 531/9 against Chandigarh on the second day of the Ranji Trophy match being played at the GMSSS, Sector 26, on Thursday. In reply, hosts were on backfoot with 78/5 on board.

Earlier, in the foggy morning, the visitors extended their overnight score from 299/2. Jackson Sheldon (69), after making a partnership of 123 runs with Jani, became the first victim of the day as Birla did the damage. Despite that, Saurashtra was in a strong position with 360/3.

Jani once again made a partnership of 56 runs with Arpit Vasavada and took the team to 416. In the 109th over of the innings, Vishu caught and bowled Jani to end his heroic innings of 198 runs. Thereafter, Rohit Dhanda sent back Vishwasinh Jadeja (11) and sent half of Saurashtra’s team back at 452. Just 16 runs later, Vishu dominated the aggressive looking Arpit Vasavada (58) followed by Jaydev Unadkat (2). In the last moments of the innings, Birla took charge and dismissed Prerak Mankad (53) and Dhamender Jadeja (14) as the visitors declared their innings at 531/9. Birla (4/160) took four wickets while Vishu (3/117) clinched three .

Chandigarh had a dismal start when last match centurion Shivam Bhambri (9) departed early. Arslan Khan and captain Manan Vohra stitched 54-run partnership but not good enough against Unadkat who consumed Khan (42). Later, the hosts suffered a major blow in the same over of Jadeja when Ankit Kaushik (0) and nightwatchman Birla (0) didn’t trouble the scorer. In the very next over, Vohra (27) also made his way to the pavilion as local lads finished the day at 78/5.

Punjab take 127-run lead against Bihar

Mohali Punjab took first innings lead of 127 runs against Bihar on day two of the Ranji Trophy match being played at the IS Bindra PCA Stadium. After bowling out Bihar 135 in their first innings, Punjab were 262/8 in their first innings with Jaskaranvir Singh (47) and Gurnoor Brar (17) at the crease.