Punjab thrashed

Valsad, January 22

Punjab suffered a crushing defeat to Gujarat in their Group A match today, losing six wickets for 22 runs in 7.1 overs on Day 4 to go down by 110 runs.

Starting the day at 87/4, needing a further 133 runs to score a win that would have taken them to the top of the Elite Group A points table, Punjab fared miserably in the chase. The scores of the six batsmen to fall today tell the whole story — Mayank Markande (2), Anmolpreet Singh (4), Anmol Malhotra (8), Abhishek Sharma (7), Siddarth Kaul (5) and Arshdeep Singh (0) contributed a total of 26 runs, while No. 11 Baltej Singh remained unbeaten without scoring.

In fact, the damage had been done yesterday when Punjab, comfortably placed at 74/1, lost three wickets for nine runs to be down to 83/4. However, the lower-order also failed to put up a fight as Gujarat pacer Arzan Nagwaswalla did the damage, ending up with figures of 5/50 while Chintan Gaja had figures of 4/35. Nagwaswalla’s second five-wicket haul of the match gave him match figures of 10/114. He picked up three Punjab wickets for 12 runs today.

Overnight unbeaten batsmen Markande and Anmolpreet were gone by the seventh ball of the morning today, and when first innings centurion Anmol Malhotra fell for 8, it was only a matter of time before the team collapsed.

HP, Baroda get a point each

Dharamsala: The fourth and final day’s play in the Group B match between Himachal Pradesh and Baroda was also washed out, with the match ending in a draw. After Himachal Pradesh put up 496 on the board, Baroda had reached 150/2 in their first innings before rain and bad light intervened and no play was possible on the last two days. The two teams picked up a point each.

Jharkhand beat Uttarakhand

Ranchi: Hosts Jharkhand easily reached the target of 203 in their second innings, in 48.4 overs and for the lost of only four wickets, to beat Uttarakhand in their Group C match.

Starting the day at 76/1, needing another 127 for victory, Jharkhand cruised to 203/3 today, scoring at a rate of 4.17 runs per over.

Opener Kumar Deobrat was the star in the chase, remaining unbeaten on 93 off 157 balls, hitting 13 fours and two sixers. No. 4 Kumar Suraj contributed 49 off 59 balls. — TNS

Brief scores

Gujarat: 281 and 167;

Punjab: 229 and 109 in 33.1 overs (Gurkeerat Singh 34; Arzan Nagwaswalla 5/50, Chintan Gaja 4/35)

HP: 496; Baroda: 150/2

Uttarakhand: 227 and 273; Jharkhand: 298 and 203/4 in 48.4 overs (Kumar Deobrat 93, Kumar Suraj 49)

Felt I could change course of the game: Sarfaraz

Mumbai: Sarfaraz Khan, whose maiden triple-ton helped Mumbai take the first-innings lead against Uttar Pradesh, believed that he was the kind of player who could change the course of the game. Despite suffering from fever two nights ago, Khan scored an unbeaten 301, which propelled Mumbai to go past

Uttar Pradesh’s first-innings mammoth score of 625/8 and take three points on the last day of their Ranji Trophy Group B game. “I wasn’t going to come out to bat,” Khan said. “I wasn’t well for the last two-three days. But I felt that I was the kind of player who could change the game if I remained in the middle. So I came out and played for the team,” he added. Khan’s triple-century is only the third such score by a player batting at No. 6 in First-Class cricket, and the second after Karun Nair’s effort at No. 6 in Ranji Trophy history. Before Khan, Mumbai’s last triple-centurion was Rohit Sharma. “I didn’t think I would be able to go all the way. When I got to 250, I felt I should declare (retire), but the team backed me a lot,” said the 22-year-old, who returned to Mumbai after playing in the Uttar Pradesh squad for three seasons.

Brief scores: Uttar Pradesh: 625/8 decl; Mumbai: 688/7 (Sarfaraz Khan 301*, Siddesh Lad 98; Ankit Rajpoot 3/133)