Ranji Trophy 16-17: Jharkhand vs Karnataka

Match Summary: Karnataka (577/6d & 162/3) drew with Jharkhand (374)

Points: Karnataka 3, Jharkhand 1

The kind of game where one team decided that it doesn't want to win. Otherwise there is no obvious reason for Karnataka not enforcing the follow-on on the last morning and giving themselves a shot at earning 3/4 additional points.

Karnataka batted first and rode Samarth's double hundred to overcome an initial wobble and pile on a big score. Jharkhand were in trouble but managed to extend their first innings just enough to ensure that Karnataka did not enforce the follow-on. Ishan Kishan played a blistering innings to spare Jharkhand the blushes and secure one point from the game.

Highlights

• Team Changes: In - Samar Quadri. Out - Ajay Yadav.
• 2nd first class century & career best score for Ishan Kishan. Comparisons with another Jharkhand keeper will become a norm if such performances continue. 

Season Stats

Top Scorer: Ishan Kishan 163 @81.50

Most Wickets: Ashish Kumar 9 @19.78 

Points Tally - 7 after 2 games. Currently lying in 4th place in the group, well in hunt for a knock-out berth.

Coming Up Next - Rajasthan, who are currently at the top in the Group.

Elsewhere
Swapnil Gugale & Ankit Bawne put on an unbeaten 594 stand before Gugale declared, leaving themselves just 30 short of the highest partnership record in first class cricket. Apparently they were not aware of the record! Although not similar but reminds of the BB Nimbhalkar's first class epic where he missed out on the highest  first-class score at the time because the opposing Kathiawar team refused to take the field anymore!!!

Coming back to the game, even this huge score almost did not prove enough because young Risabh Pant hammered a triple hundred at near run-a-ball but Delhi just fell short.

Ranji Trophy 16-17: Jharkhand vs Maharashtra

Match Summary: Maharashtra (210 & 188) lost to Jharkhand (306 & 93/4) by 6 wickets

Points: Maharashtra 0, Jharkhand 6

A good start to the new season for team Jharkhand. Probably the exposure in the pre-season Buchi Babu tournament helped the team a lot. Maybe its time for Jharkhand to start their own pres-season invitational tournament.

Maharashtra batted first but didn't score much as they found the pace of Varun Aaron too much to handle. Kedar Jadhav and Ankit Bawne got 50s and stitched a century stand but there was not much else to follow. In response, Jharkhand were in trouble with half the side back in pavilion with only 106 on board. But the tail had other ideas as they built small partnerships to stretch the score past 300 and take a healthy 96 run lead. The bowlers once again combined to restrict Maharashtra to 188 with Kedar Jadhav again scoring a fifty. Jharkhand had a wobbly start in their chase of 93 as both openers got out for ducks, before Virat Singh anchored the chase to set up a 6 wicket victory.

Highlights

• 19 year old Kaushal Singh's maiden first class century.
• Saurabh Tiwary reaching the 5000 run mark in first class cricket.
• 250 first-class wickets for Shahbaz Nadeem.

Season Stats

Top Scorer: Kaushal Singh 130 @130

Most Wickets: Ashish Kumar 6 @12.67 

Points Tally - 6 after 1 game. Currently lying in 2nd place in the group.

Coming Up Next - Domestic powerhouse Karnataka, who did not play in the first round of the season.

P.S - Congratulations to Chhattisgarh on winning their maiden Ranji game. Hopefully this performance will open up the path for teams like Bihar to enter the Ranji fold.

P.P.S. - This is the 400th post on this blog.