The results from the seventh day of the Ranji Trophy one-day tournament 2008-09

Cricinfo staff21-Feb-2009
Virat Kohli hit his third century in four games © Cricinfo Ltd
South ZoneA stunning seven-wicket haul from medium-pacer Shoaib Ahmed helped Hyderabad pip Karnataka to qualify for the knockout stage in second place behind Tamil Nadu. Shoaib’s 7 for 15 floored Andhra in Visakhapatnam. They were bowled out for 130 in 41.1 overs, and Hyderabad chased down the target in 32.1 overs, thus earning a bonus point. Shoaib, playing his maiden List A tournament, took his tally to a phenomenal 21 wickets at 9.23 apiece from five games. Opener Hemal Watekar top scored for Andhra with 49, and it was the vital 30s from M Suresh and D Shivkumar that took them past 100. There were four ducks in the innings. Opener DB Ravi Teja guided Hyderabad to victory with an unbeaten 67.At Ukku Stadium, Karnataka crashed to 124-run defeat against Tamil Nadu. With a minus 1 from this game, Karnataka fell one point behind Hyderabad, but even if they had been equal, Hyderabad would have made it through, despite an inferior net run-rate, by virtue of having earned more bonus points. TN, batting first, made 298 with half-centuries for openers S Anirudha and M Vijay, and S Badrinath. S Vidyut also chipped in with 44, but TN struggled after the 35th over, losing seven wickets for 64 runs. Left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi removed the top three in his 3 for 51 off ten, while three run-outs and three strikes from left-arm medium-pacer Sreesanth Aravind kept TN’s total below 300. The total, though, proved too much for Karnataka. Captain Robin Uthappa made a brisk 54, but his team slumped to 174 all out in 37 overs. Vijay, leading TN in Dinesh Karthik’s absence, took three lower-order wickets in his three overs.In the other game at Port Trust Golden Jubilee Stadium, Goa edged out Kerala by 19 runs to complete their first win – this is their final game – of the tournament. Batting first, Goa were all out for 230 in 49.4 overs, with Ajay Ratra making 57, and Madhu Kamat chipping in with 47. Kerala were reduced to 69 for 4 in their chase, and despite captain Preambhastn Prem’s 52 and some lower-order contributions, they could manage only 211, all out in 48.2 overs.West ZoneBaroda secured a bonus point in Rajkot – only just – against Maharashtra to seal their place in the knockout stage along with Mumbai. Maharashtra, who began with a chance of qualifying as well, failed to rally around a 140-ball 140 from List A debutant Rohan Bhosale. They managed only 250, which Baroda chased down in 39.2 overs. Kedar Devdhar (43) and Azharuddin Bilakhia (55) set the platform, while Pinal Shah (66 off 47), Swapnil Singh (34 off 25) and K Panchal (17 off 12) ensured they gained the full five points.At the Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground, Saurashtra’s one-wicket win over Gujarat in Rajkot was not enough for them to qualify, and also ended the opposition’s hopes: both teams finished with eight points from four games; Mumbai and Baroda had nine. Put in, Gujarat made 267, with opener Pratharesh Parmar scoring 82. Parthiv Patel made 43, while Rujul Bhatt chipped in with a quick 58 towards the end. Bhatt struck twice in the reply, and Viswajit Solanki took three, but Saurashtra managed to complete the win with 1.2 overs remaining. Chirag Pathak, Cheteshwar Pujara and Pratik Mehta ensured steady progress, but it was captain Rakesh Dhurv’s 32 that helped them edge towards the target – he fell four runs short of the win.Central ZoneUttar Pradesh bounced back from their shock defeat to Vidarbha the day before with an emphatic eight-wicket win against Rajasthan in Indore to seal a place in the knockout rounds. Fielding first, UP’s new-ball bowlers – RP Singh and Bhuvneshwar Kumar – removed Rajasthan’s top four for 45. However, half-centuries from Rajesh Bishnoi and Ashok Meenaria, and a quick 30 from Pankaj Singh boosted Rajasthan to 206 all out in 48 overs. UP then eased to their target in 32.3 overs. Tanmay Srivastava blitzed an unbeaten 124 off 90 deliveries, which included 16 fours and five sixes. He put on 145 for the opening stand with Shivakant Shukla, who scored 52.Madhya Pradesh would count themselves hard done by the rules. They beat Railways in Indore with a bonus point to finish tied in second place with eight, and ended with a better net run-rate, but Railways still make it through having earned two bonus points to MP’s one. Opener Jalaj Saxena’s run-a-ball 114 not out, backed by useful scores from the middle order, steered MP to their target of 250 in 39.2 overs with four wickets in hand. Saxena had earlier taken three wickets in Railways’ 249. Former international Sanjay Bangar scored 101, and Railways added 81 runs in 62 balls after he fell with the score on 168.North ZoneA strong top-order performance powered Delhi’s 139-run win over Haryana in Dharamsala. Virat Kohli’s third century in four games was backed up half-centuries from openers Aakash Chopra and Shikhar Dhawan as Delhi, put in, scored 364 for 6 in their 50 overs. Haryana’s openers started briskly, with a stand of 76 in 12.2 overs. Amaradeep Sonkar top scored with 61, and Rahul Dewan chipped in with 36, but they lost their way against spinners Dharshan Kanjania and Yogesh Nagar. Despite Nitin Saini’s 43 at No. 8, Haryana were dismissed for 225 in 43.2 overs.In Una, a 147-run stand between Ravi Inder Singh and Ankur Kakkar set up Punjab’s 72 run-win over Services. Both Ravi Inder (126) and Kakkar (74) got career-best List A scores as Punjab, asked to bat, made 240. Services’ challenge was all but over when their first four wickets fell for 23 runs in 11.4 overs. Yashpal Singh made 53 as they batted out 49.5 overs for their 168. Opening bowler Gagandeep Singh took 2 for 15 off his seven overs, while medium-pacer Taruwar Kohli finished with 3 for 26 off seven.Half-centuries from Sangram Singh, Paras Dogra and Vinit Indulkar, backed up by four-wicket hauls from Ashok Thakur and Mukesh Sharma, helped Himachal Pradesh bag their fourth straight win, over Jammu & Kashmir in Una. Chasing 285, J&K’s openers put on 111 in 24.1 overs. Ian Dev Singh fell for 53, but Imraj Thakur, playing his second List A game, went on to 117. However, the other batsmen failed to step up, and HP lost nine wickets for 82 runs to be dismissed for 250 in 48.2 overs.East ZoneIshank Jaggi’s unbeaten 159, with 15 fours and four sixes, led Jharkhand to their first win in the tournament, against Assam in Kolkata. Put in, Jharkhand made 304 for 3, with Saurabh Tiwary scoring a run-a-ball 64 and Shiv Gautham contributing a quickfire 28. Rashmi Parida, the Assam captain, made a quick half-century, but the rest of the top five failed to provide support. There were two more fifties down the order, from Deepak Sharma and Dhiraj Goswami, but Assam could only manage 266 before the overs ran out. Medium-pacer Kuldeep Sharma took 4 for 60 off his nine overs.At Eden Gardens, Bengal assured themselves of the top spot with a six-wicket win over Orissa. Put in, Orissa lost half their side for 79, but Halhadar Das (76) and Rakesh Mohanty (56 not out) helped them to 211. Ranadeb Bose took 3 for 40 for the hosts. Opener Shreevats Goswami anchored Bengal’s chase with his 71, and the others made useful scores as the target was reached with 19 balls to spare.