Ranji Trophy: Goa make city bowlers sweat, score 618

Chandigarh, January 13

Misery continued for Chandigarh bowlers as hosts Goa piled up 618/7 before declaring their innings on the second day of their Ranji Trophy match at the Goa Cricket Association Academy Ground.

Resuming their overnight total of 267/3, the hosts added 351 runs today, frustrating city bowlers. Suyash S Prabhudessai, who was playing at 124 when the stumps were drawn on Friday, emerged as the highest scorer for the side. Prabhudessai posted 197 off 364 deliveries, with 18 boundaries and one six. Deepraj Gaonkar (115) and Arjun Tendulkar (70) were the other major contributors for Goa.

Resuming the match today, Prabhudessai and RA Tripathi played sensibly to take the team total to 313. Chandigarh lads got the first breakthrough of the day as Jagjit Singh Sandhu claimed Tripathi’s wicket. He scored 40 off 70 balls, with six boundaries. Goa skipper Darshan Misal then joined Prabhudessai and the duo raised yet another important partnership of 104 runs for the fifth wicket. Misal was playing at 47 off 73 balls (with six boundaries), when Manan Vohra’s throw found him short of the crease. Prabhudessai, meanwhile, followed the suit as he fell prey to Kunal Mahajan. Prabhudessai was three runs short to score a double ton, when he moved back to the hut.

Thereafter, the Goa innings witnessed yet another fruitful partnership between Gaonkar and Tendulkar. The duo raised a 127-run stand to take the score over 500-mark. The partnership was broken by Arslan Z Khan, as he took the wicket of Tendulkar, who scored 70 runs off 60 balls, with six boundaries and four sixes. Thereafter, Gaonkar and Mohit Redkar raised an unbeaten partnership of 71 runs, before the host skipper declared the innings.

Gaonkar remained unbeaten on 115 off 101 balls, studded with 15 boundaries and four sixes, while Redkar contributed unbeaten 14.

The Chandigarh attack featured nine bowlers. Sandhu claimed two wickets, while Raj Angad Bawa, Arpit Singh, Khan and Mahajan got a wicket each.

In reply, Chandigarh batters posted 73/1. The side was trailing by 545 runs when the stumps were drawn. Khan made 41 runs off 52 balls, with seven boundaries, while Harnoor scored 23 before getting trapped by Redkar.

Rlys post 343 against Punjab

Playing against hosts Punjab, Railways posted 343/9 on the second day of the match, at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur.

Sahab Yuvraj Singh scored unbeaten 68 off 103, with six boundaries and two sixes, while Pratham Singh (60), Upendra Yadav (58) and Mohammed Saif (50) were the main scorers for the side.

Pacer Siddharth Kaul hogged the limelight as he picked 4/80, while Naman Dhir took two wickets.

Abhinav Sharma, Abhishek Sharma and Mayank Markande claimed a wicket each.