Ranji Trophy 2018: Karnataka, Mumbai engaged in tense fight

Belagavi, Nov 21: Arch-rivals Karnataka and Mumbai were in a close fight for the first innings honours in their Group A Ranji Trophy game on Wednesday (November 21).

Mumbai did well to restrict the hosts to 400 all out, built mainly around rookie Krishnamurthy Siddharth's anchoring 161 after Karnataka resumed at their overnight 263 for 4. Shivam Dubey ended up with a highly creditable seven-wicket haul for 63 runs.

In reply, Mumbai made 99 for 2 by stumps on day two, still 301 runs in arrears, with Jay Bista cracking an unbeaten 69. Mumbai lost opener Akhil Herwadkar (5) early but his partner Bista hit 11 fours to remain unbeaten after facing 111 balls.

In Nagpur, veteran Wasim Jaffer (153), skipper Faiz Fazal (151) and wicket-keeper batsman Akshay Wadkar (102 not out) steered reigning champions Vidarbha to a massive 529 for 6 declared against Baroda who replied with 41 for no loss.

During the game, Jaffer became the first batsman to cross 11,000 Ranji Trophy runs. In Raipur, Chhattisgarh managed to restrict Railways to 132 for 4 after putting on 300 in their first innings.

Brief Scores:

At Belagavi: Karnataka 400 all out (Siddharth K V 161, Shreyas Gopal 48, Shivam Dube 7-53) vs Mumbai 99/2 (Jay Bista 69 not out, Abhimanyu Mithun 1-22).

At Raipur: Chhattisgarh 300 all out (Harpreet Singh Bhatia 79, Amandeep Khare 54, Manjeet Chaudhary 4-85) v Railways 132/4 (Pratham Singh 56 not out, Arindam Ghosh 34, Pankaj Rao 2-27).

At Nadiad: Gujarat 324 all out (R B Kalaria 91 not out, Manprit Juneja 66, Chetan Sakariya 5-83) v Saurashtra 221/3 (H Desai 79 not out, Snell Patel 62).

At Nagpur: Vidarbha 529/6 Declared (Wasim Jaffer 153, Faiz Fazal 151, Akshay Wadkar 102 not out; Lukman Meriwala 2-79) against Baroda 41/0.

STUMPS, Day 2, Mumbai: 99/2, 36.5 overs, trail by 301 runs. 1W each for Abhimanyu Mithun and Ronit More. Jay Bista 69*. #KARvMUM #RanjiTrophy

— Karnataka Ranji Team/ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ರಣಜಿ ತಂಡ (@RanjiKarnataka) November 21, 2018