Ranji Trophy 18-19: Jharkhand vs Haryana

Match Summary: Haryana (81 & 72) lost to Jharkhand (143 & 12/1) by 9 wickets

Points: Jharkhand 6, Haryana 0

As the scorecard says it all, the game was played in Lahli, a ground known all over India for producing seaming wickets and low scores! And that’s what happened. Haryana won the toss & elected to bat but were knocked out for 81 by the Jharkhand seam attack of Ajay Yadav, Rahul Shukla & Varun Aaron. Anukul Roy once again top scored for Jharkhand and get a 61 run lead. Haryana were knocked over again in the second innings. Jharkhand missed a chance for a bonus point victory as they lost Ishan kishan’s wicket in the chase of 11.

Highlights:

• Team Changes: In: Sumit Kumar, Rahul Shukla, Out: Kumar Deobrat, Ashish Kumar 
• Ajay Yadav picked up the Player of the Match for his 7-wicket match haul
• Varun Aaron took his 5th first-class 5-wicket haul with a career-best 6/32 in the second innings.

Season Stats:

• Top Scorer: Ishan Kishan – 164 @ 41.00
• Top Wicket-Taker: Varun Aaron – 9 @ 17.44
• Player Count – 13

Points Tally: 9 from 2 games – currently at 3rd place.

Coming Up Next – Rajasthan who are the table toppers with 2 bonus point victories.

Ranji Trophy 18-19: Bihar vs Uttarakhand

Match Summary: Bihar (60 & 169) lost to Uttarakhand (227 & 4/0) by 10 wickets

Points: Bihar 0, Uttarakhand 7

A terrible return to first-class cricket for Bihar, getting knocked over for 60 in the first innings against the pace of Deepak Dhopola. Only some lower order resistance in the second ensured that Bihar avoided a follow-on. But Uttarakhand still got the bonus point victory in a game which finished within 5 sessions. Also dents the chances for qualifying given that Uttarakhand were expected to be the main rivals for the sole spot from this group.

Highlights:

• Playing XI: Vikash Ranjan (wk), Kumar Rajnish, Babul Kumar, Vivek Mohan, Keshav Kumar, MD Rahmatullah, Ashutosh Aman, Pragyan Ojha (c), Samar Quadri, Anunay Singh, Himanshu Hari
• First Class Debut: Vikash Ranjan, Kumar Rajnish, Vivek Mohan, MD Rahmatullah, Ashutosh Aman, Anunay Singh, Himanshu Hari
• Ashutosh Aman’s 4-wicket haul in the first innings.

Season Stats:

• Top Scorer: Samar Quadri – 41 @ 21.50 (who would have thought!)
• Top Wicket-Taker: Ashutosh Aman – 4 @ 9.50
• Player Count – 11

Points Tally: 0 from 1 game. Currently bottom of the group.

Coming Up Next – Puducherry who are going to play their 1st game of the season.

Ranji Trophy 18-19: Jharkhand vs Assam

Match Summary: Jharkhand (344 & 230/4d) drew with Assam (298 & 140/2)

Points: Jharkhand 3, Assam 1

A solid performance to start the season. Jharkhand were missing Shahbaz Nadeem, who has finally got his maiden national call-up. Ishank Jaggi was back in action after sorting out the yo-yo test issues. 

Highlights:

• Playing XI: Kumar Deobrat, Nazim Siddiqui, Utkarsh Singh, Saurabh Tiwary, Ishank Jaggi, Ishan Kishan (c & wk), Anand Singh, Anukul Roy, Varun Aaron, Ashish Kumar, Ajay Yadav
• First Class Debut: Anukul Roy
• Ishan Kishan gets his 5th First-Class century, keeping him firmly in contention for the national keeping duties. 
• Maiden First-class half-century for Utkarsh Singh
• A fine all-round debut for Anukul Roy who top-scoring in the first innings & taking the team to a respectable score.
• A maiden 5-wicket haul for Ashish Kumar which ensured Jharkhand got the lead and also secured him the Player of the Match Award.

Season Stats:

• Top Scorer: Ishan Kishan – 138 @ 69.00
• Top Wicket-Taker: Ashish Kumar – 5 @ 13.80
• Player Count – 11

Points Tally: 3 from 1 game. Currently in 3rd place in the group.

Coming Up Next – Haryana who are 2nd in the group but also with 3 points.