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Bengal beat Delhi as Karun Nair's unbeaten 155 saves Karnataka
Bengal knocked off 89 inside 16 overs to win by nine wickets at Kalyani. Champions Jammu and Kashmir hung on seven down against Madhya Pradesh, and Haryana finished off Himachal.
Key points
- Bengal beat Delhi by nine wickets, chasing 89 in 15.3 overs.
- Karun Nair's 155 not out turned a 144-run deficit into a safe draw for Karnataka against Andhra.
- Jammu and Kashmir slid to 12 for 5 chasing 326 but held on for a draw.
The opening round of the Ranji Trophy ended on Wednesday with Bengal finishing what their batters had started, and with two of the bigger names in the competition left to scrap for draws.
Bengal close it out at Kalyani
Delhi began the final day 88 behind with seven wickets in hand, and lost them all for 277. That left Bengal 89 to win, and they got there in 15.3 overs for the loss of one wicket, with captain Abhimanyu Easwaran unbeaten on 34. Pradipta Pramanik took 3 for 72, and Amir Gani and Sumanta Gupta two each.
The win, worth six points, was built over the first three days by Abishek Porel’s 149 and Sudip Kumar Gharami’s 133, which gave Bengal a first-innings lead of 189.
Karun Nair’s long day
Karnataka had trailed Andhra by 144 on first innings and were only 32 ahead overnight. Karun Nair batted the danger away. He finished unbeaten on 155 as Karnataka declared on 337 for 9, setting Andhra 194, and Andhra were 104 for 4 when play ended in fading light. Andhra take three points for the first-innings lead and Karnataka one.
There was a closer escape in Srinagar. Defending champions Jammu and Kashmir, set 326 by Madhya Pradesh, collapsed to 12 for 5 and were seven down when the match ended, with bad weather reported to have cut the last session short. Madhya Pradesh take the first-innings points.
The other finishes
Haryana needed 45 more on the last morning against Himachal Pradesh and got them for no further loss, winning by seven wickets in 18.1 overs, with Himanshu Rana making 37 and Dheeru Singh an unbeaten 24.
Maharashtra beat Services by 127 runs after bowling them out for 120 in a chase of 248. Vicky Ostwal took five wickets in an innings for Maharashtra. Gujarat beat Odisha by 10 wickets after bowling them out for 161 in their second innings; Siddharth Desai’s 5 for 36 was the best return of their game. Vidarbha beat Puducherry by 160 runs, Harsh Dubey taking 4 for 29.
Baroda completed an innings-and-135-run win over Goa, bowling them out for 138 a second time with Bhargav Bhatt leading the way. In the Plate group, Manipur recovered from 52 for 5 to beat Mizoram by three wickets, Pheiroijam Jotin making an unbeaten 105.
Final-day results, round one
- 9 wktsBengal 429 & 89/1 beat Delhi 240 & 277
- 7 wktsHaryana 296 & 74/3 beat Himachal Pradesh 253 & 113
- 127 runsMaharashtra 333 & 141 beat Services 227 & 120
- DrawnKarnataka 274 & 337/9d v Andhra 418 & 104/4
Draws elsewhere
Saurashtra, 80 ahead on first innings, declared on 229 for 1 against Chhattisgarh with Chirag Jani unbeaten on 127, but there was no time to force a result. Punjab drew with Assam after debutant Vihaan Malhotra (103) and Emanjot Singh Chahal (114 not out) had earned them a 105-run lead. Kerala, made to follow on after Jharkhand’s 587, were 62 for 2 at the end, and Railways batted out the day on 272 for 4 against Uttarakhand. Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu agreed a draw with Tamil Nadu on 73 for 0.
Together with the innings wins for Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh and Hyderabad on Tuesday, ten of the round’s matches produced outright results.