Ranji Trophy 2021-22 – Sarfaraz Khan century puts Mumbai in quarter-final, Tamil Nadu knocked out

Mumbai have qualified for the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals for the first time since 2017-18, beating Odisha in the Elite Group D match by an innings and 108 runs in Ahmedabad. The win was set up by Sarfaraz Khan, who scored 165, Armaan Jaffer, who made 125 and Shams Mulani. Mulani finished with a match haul of 7 for 117, including a five-for during Jharkhand’s second innings, which put him on top of the wicket-takers list this season. Odisha posted 284 on the back of Shantanu Mishra’s 89 after opting to bat.

In reply, Mumbai got off to a strong start thanks to Prithvi Shaw’s fifty, but Rajesh Mohanty struck to reduce them to 76 for 3, as they lost three wickets in 12 balls. The strikes also included the wicket of Ajinkya Rahane, who departed for a first-ball duck. But a 277-run partnership between Sarfaraz and Jaffer ensued before Prasanta Rana broke the stand with the latter’s wicket. Sarfaraz continued to pile on the runs, with Aditya Tare and Mulani pitching in with scores of 72 and 70 respectively and Mumbai declared on 532 for 9. Sarfaraz now has 551 runs in three matches this season, at a staggering average of 137.75, with two centuries and one fifty. In the second innings, Odisha were off to a poor start, with Mulani and Raut running through the top order and reducing them to 66 for 5. Abhishek Raut fought back with a half-century but did not get much help from the other end as Mulani and Tanush Kotian wrapped them up for 140.

Tamil Nadu have been knocked out of the tournament following a two-wicket loss to Jharkhand in the Elite Group H match in Guwahati. With Chattisgarh drawing the match against Delhi, Jharkhand have qualified for the quarter-finals having topped the group with 12 points. Jharkhand captain Saurabh Tiwary followed up his first-innings half-century with a 93 in the second, while medium-pacer Rahul Shukla finished with eight wickets in the match, including a 5 for 29 in the second innings. Tamil Nadu’s first innings total of 285 was set up by Baba Indrajith‘s 100, his third century of the season. Jharkhand failed to erase the deficit in reply, making just 226, as M Siddharth and M Shah Rukh Khan picked up seven wickets between them. But Shukla didn’t let Tamil Nadu put up a big score on the board, restricting them to 152. Indrajith was the only batter to put up a resistance with a half-century, as he finished the season with 396 runs in three matches at a 99 average. Jharkhand lost eight wickets in the 212 chase, but Tiwary helped them get close to the target in the end.

Karnataka beat Puducherry by an innings and 20 runs in the Elite Group C match in Chennai. Devdutt Padikkal‘s 178 and captain Manish Pandey‘s 107 helped Karnataka amass 453 for 8 after they were put in. Puducherry replied with 241 thanks to captain Rohit D’s ton as K Gowtham ran through the line-up to pick up a five-for. After being asked to follow on, they were bundled out for 192 despite Pavan Deshpande’s efforts to erase the deficit as Shreyas Gopal finished with a five-for.

Rajneesh Gurbani‘s match haul of nine wickets gave Vidarbha a ticket to the quarterf-inals as they beat Assam by five wickets. Gurbani and Lalit Yadav had restricted Assam to 110 in the second innings after Vidarbha had failed to erase the first innings deficit. But Vidarbha chased down the 156 target on the final day even as Hridip Deka troubled the top order, as captain Faiz Fazal followed up his first-innings 86 with a 48-ball 41. For Assam, Swarupam Purkayastha had scored a 113 in the first innings to take them to 316.

Uttarakhand progressed to the knockouts despite a loss to Andhra in the Elite Group E match in Thumba. In reply to Uttarakhand’s 194, Andhra scored 226 as Shaik Rasheed scored a half-century. In the second innings, Uttarakhand crumbled to 101 as Cheepurapalli Stephen and S Ashish ran through the line-up, bagging five and four wickets respectively. Andhra chased down the target of 70 with relative ease, in 18.1 overs, with CR Gnaneshwar staying unbeaten on 42.

Nagaland have made it to the pre-quarter-final, after topping the Plate Group having beaten Mizoram at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Nagaland made 509 in the first innings after being asked to bat, on the back of Shrikant Mundhe and Chetan Bist‘s centuries. Mizoram, meanwhile, were bowled out for just 95 as quick Raja Swarnkar bagged 5 for 17. Nagaland, however, did not enforce follow-on and went on to score 295 for 5 in the second innings, setting a target of 701 runs. Mizoram could make just 261 in the second innings, as the line-up crumbled around captain Taruwar Kohli, who scored an unbeaten 151. They will be facing the Elite-group topper with the fewest points in the pre-quarter-final, which will be played just after the league phase.

Elite Group B: Ravi Teja’s all-round show helped Hyderabad seal a win in three days against Baroda by 43 runs in Cuttack. He picked up 4 for 50 and then scored 4 for 70, and also contributed 56 with the bat in the second innings.

Elite Group C: Railways were knocked out despite a big win against J&K in Chennai. Yuvraj Singh was named player of the match for his century in the first innings and two wickets in the match.

Elite Group D: Defending champions Saurashtra ended their campaign with a huge win against Goa in Ahmedabad. Chirag Jani scored a century for Saurashtra, while Chetan Sakariya finished with a match haul of 9 for 93.

Elite Group E: Services beat Rajasthan by 10 wickets in Thiruvananthapuram. After bowling Rajasthan out for 91, they went on to make 301, following which Rajasthan were able to erase the deficit only by two runs.

Elite Group F: Punjab wrapped up a win against Tripura within three days in Delhi. Mandeep Singh scored an unbeaten 97 in the second innings to help them reach the 240 target.

Elite Group H: Chhattisgarh missed a spot in the quarter-finals as they failed to beat Delhi outright on the final day as the encounter ended in a draw in Guwahati. Amandeep Khare’s scored 482 for 9 dec in the first innings and then bowled Delhi out for 295. Following on, Yash Dhull continued his fine form in the tournament by scoring a 200, while Dhruv Shorey scored a 100.