Mumbai seal second bonus-point win as Kerala, Punjab and Hyderabad close out Ranji victories

Mumbai’s march through the Ranji Trophy continued on Wednesday, the last day of the second round, as they completed an innings-and-97-run win over Himachal Pradesh in Bilaspur for a second straight bonus-point victory. Kerala, Punjab and Hyderabad also finished off outright wins, while Delhi, Saurashtra and Maharashtra had to settle for first-innings points.

Mumbai and Kerala win big

Mumbai had done the hard work with the bat, piling up 528 for 8 declared on the back of Sarfaraz Khan’s 154 and Akash Anand’s 117. Himachal were dismissed for 140 in their first innings and made 291 when they followed on, 388 behind. Mohit Avasthi took five wickets in the second innings, with Tushar Deshpande and Shams Mulani picking up two each. Vaibhav Kalta’s 63 was Himachal’s best effort.

In Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala needed little time to wrap up an innings-and-36-run win over Odisha. Resuming at 102 for 4 in their follow-on, Odisha were bowled out for 143, with Jalaj Saxena taking 5 for 34 from 18 overs. Mohammed Azharuddeen, whose unbeaten 139 had carried Kerala to 404, was named player of the match. The win lifts Kerala to third in Elite Group C, behind Maharashtra and Bengal.

Thyagarajan runs through Andhra

Hyderabad’s Tanay Thyagarajan produced the best figures of the day at Mulapadu. Set 398 to win after Hyderabad declared their second innings at 306 for 7, Andhra were bowled out for 130, with Thyagarajan taking 6 for 35. Gangam Anikethreddy took three wickets as Hyderabad won by 267 runs.

At Mullanpur, Punjab beat Chhattisgarh by seven wickets. Chhattisgarh did well to make 335 after following on, with Ayush Pandey scoring 80, which left Punjab needing 86. They got there in 16.5 overs, with Uday Saharan unbeaten on 40, but losing three wickets cost them the bonus point. Harjas Singh and Emanjot Singh Chahal took three wickets each in the second innings. Shubman Gill, out for 1 in Punjab’s first innings, did not bat in the chase and was reported to have stayed off the field all day, with no reason given.

Points shared elsewhere

Delhi’s run-fest against Gujarat at the Palam B Ground ended in a draw. After Ayush Badoni’s 217 and Priyansh Arya’s 199 had taken Delhi to 648 for 6 declared, Gujarat fought hard for 479, with Manan Hingrajia batting 303 balls for 123 and Chintan Gaja making 82. Hrithik Shokeen took 5 for 143, his first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket. Delhi enforced the follow-on, but Gujarat were 15 for 1 when the match ended, leaving Delhi with three points.

Saurashtra took three points from their draw with Karnataka in Alur thanks to a seven-run first-innings lead. Chasing 237 after Karnataka declared at 243 for 7, they chose to protect those points and were 137 for 2 when bad light ended play. It was Saurashtra’s second straight three-point return.

Maharashtra also collected three points after their 527 for 5 declared gave them a big lead over Jharkhand, who batted out the draw. In Puducherry, rain washed out the final day, and Madhya Pradesh took three points to Puducherry’s one.