Kolkata: Right-arm quickie Ashok Dinda bowled one of the most memorable spells in his career as he ran through the Chattisgarh batting on the third day of the Ranji Trophy fixture against Bengal, scalping seven wickets for only 21 runs and restricting them to a mere 110 in their pursuit of a mammoth 529/8 in Raipur.
Chattisgarh were always under the pressure after Bengal piled on the runs with tons from Koushik Ghosh and Sudip Chatterjee and Dinda made full use of that as he single-handedly ripped apart the opposition, handing Bengal a crucial 419-run lead in the first innings.
While it was Dinda who did the job with the ball in the first innings, fellow paceman Mohammad Shami turned up the heat in the second one as he scalped four wickets in Chattisgarh’s 229/5. Bengal now just require five more wickets on the fourth day if they are to register an innings victory, while Chattisgarh would look forward to put up an improved show with the bat to help the team get to a comfortable position if they are to save the game.
Saurashtra and Vidarbha registered dominant victories on the fourth day against Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab respectively. Ravindra Jadeja, who had struck a brilliant 201 in Saurashtra’s mammoth total of 624/7, showcased his all-round talent as he returned with the ball to scalp seven crucial wickets in the match. Right-arm off-break bowler Bandit Jivrajani took six wickets in the second innings for just 79 runs to help Saurashtra complete their dominant win over Jammu and Kashmir in Rajkot.
Vidarbha on the other hand were assisted by Akshay Karnewar’s 6/47 and Akshay Wakhare’s 4/83 in their huge innings victory over Punjab in Mohali.
Brief scores-
Saurashtra- 624/7 beat Jammu and Kashmir 156 and 256 (Ram Dayal 56, Puneet Bisht 55; Vandit Jivrajani 6/79) by an innings and 212 runs.
Vidarbha- 505 beat Punjab 161 and 227 (Manan Vohra 51, Abhishek Sharma 49; Akshay Karnewar 6/47) by an innings and 117 runs.
Bengal 529/7 lead Chattisgarh 110 and 229/5 (F/O) (Abhimanyu Chauhan 115, Ashutosh Singh 71; Mohammad Shami 4/45) by 190 runs.
Other matches-
Delhi– Railways 136 and 157/6 (Nitin Bhille 54 n.o, Abhishek Kumar Yadav 20; Vikas Mishra 2/27) trail Delhi 447 by 154 runs.
Hyderabad– Hyderabad vs UP (No play on Day 3 due to wet outfield)
Mysore– Assam 145 and 169/6 (Gokul Sharma 62, Sibsankar Roy 44; Krishnappa Gowtham 3/39) trail Karnataka 469/7 by by 155 runs.
Jaipur– Jharkhand 265 and 102/1 (Nazim Siddiqui 71 n.o, Babul Kumar 25; Tajinder Singh 1/16) trail Rajasthan 423 by 56 runs.
Nadiad– Gujarat 307 and 22/1 (Priyank Panchal 13, Samit Gohel 9; Akshay Chandran 1/12) need 83 runs to win against Kerala 208 and 203.
Vadodara– Andhra Pradesh 505/9 (Hanuma Vihari 150, Ricky Bhui 145; Atit Sheth 5/77) lead Baroda 373 by 132 runs.
Indore– Mumbai 415/8 (Jay Gokul Bista 135, Suryakumar Yadav 91; Mihir Hirwani 2/95) lead Madhya Pradesh 409 by 6 runs.
Chennai– Tamil Nadu 357/4 (Washington Sundar 159, Baba Indrajith 89 n.o; Abhijit Sarkar 2/43) lead Tripura 258 by 99 runs.
Dharamsala– Goa 255 and 131/0 (Sumiran Amonkar 67 n.o, Swapnil Asnodkar 51; Ankit Kaushik 0/5) trail Himachal Pradesh 625/7 by 239 runs.