File photo – Pankaj Singh and Aniket Choudhary delivered Rajasthan their first win of the season © PTI
Rajasthan claimed their first win of the season after thrashing Assam by an innings and eight runs on a 17-wicket third day in Visakhapatnam. Fast bowlers Pankaj Singh and Aniket Choudhary shared nine wickets between them to help Rajasthan bowl Assam out for 69 in a little over 20 overs. This was Choudhary’s fifth five-wicket haul in 34 first-class matches.
That Assam faced a deficit of just 77 was due to seamers Arup Das and Krishna Das, who combined to spark a middle-order collapse that resulted in Rajasthan stumbling from their overnight 204 for 3 to 272 all out. Mahipal Lomror added five to his overnight score of 84 before Abu Nechim trapped him in front. Arup finished with figures of 4 for 53, while Krishna claimed the last three wickets to fall.
Rishabh Pant‘s boundary-laden 165-ball 155 gave Delhi hope of earning a first-innings lead in the face of Maharashtra‘s massive total of 635 for 2 dec, which included the second highest partnership in first-class cricket. Delhi were reduced to 135 for 3, before Pant and Dhruv Shorey added 124 in 171 balls.
After Shorey was caught behind for 71, Pant found an able ally in Milind Kumar. The pair carried Delhi to 376 before Milind was dismissed off the final ball of the day for 45. Pant’s unbeaten 155 included 21 fours and six sixes. Delhi are still 259 runs behind Maharashtra’s first-innings score. They’ve got five wickets in hand.
After a 13-wicket, topsy-turvy third day, Saurashtra were left needing 116 runs with five wickets in hand against Odisha in Hyderabad. With Odisha resuming on 62 for 2, ahead by 104, Saurashtra clawed their way back with Deepak Punia’s 5 for 39. Odisha were bowled out for 169, with Subhranshu Senapati top-scoring with 57.
Saurashtra, needing 212 for their first win of the season, lost two wickets in three balls in the fifth over. However, an 84-run, third-wicket stand between Sagar Jogiyani and Sheldon Jackson pulled the momentum back in Saurashtra’s favour. In the closing stages of the day, Odisha took three wickets in 31 balls for one run to leave the contest evenly poised.
Ishan Kishan, India’s captain at the U-19 World Cup in Bangladesh earlier this year, struck his second first-class century to stall Karnataka‘s surge in Greater Noida. Jharkhand lost opener Shiv Gautham in the first over of the day, before Virat Singh fell for 10 with the score at 34 for 2. Saurabh Tiwary and Anand Singh then resurrected Jharkhand’s innings with a 66-run stand.
Karnataka’s bowlers chipped away, leaving Jharkhand precariously placed at 136 for 4. Kishan and Tiwary then shared a 72-run partnership, before the latter was run-out for 91. Kishan counter-attacked with an unbeaten 118 off 148 balls, an innings that featured 13 fours and five sixes, to help Jharkhand finish the day at 309 for 6, a further 268 runs adrift of Karnataka’s first-innings score.
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo