New Delhi:
From 35/3 to 35 all out. Losing six wickets with one batsman absent was the ultimate catastrophe for Madhya Pradesh as they lost their final Ranji Trophy game against Andhra Pradesh by a massive margin of 307 runs to bow out of contention for the 2019 Ranji Trophy play-offs on Wednesday. It was a miserable game for Madhya Pradesh, who could not get past 100 in both innings on a Holkar pitch that aided the bowlers a lot more. Andhra Pradesh had been bowled for 132 with Ishwar Pandey picking up 4/43 and he was well supported by Gaurav Yadav and Kumar Kartikeya with three wickets apiece.
That was when the real disaster began for Madhya Pradesh. The hosts were bundled out for 91 with Naman Ojha the only player to play a knock of substance with 30. Girinath Reddy was the star with 6/29 and Andhra Pradesh put up a solid show in the second innings. Armed with a lead of 41 runs, Andhra blasted 301 in the second innings with Karan Shinde blasting an unbeaten 103. Chasing a target of 342, Madhya Pradesh stumbled to 35/3 before disaster struck.
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Aryaman Birla (12) was the first to go and a collapse ensued where none of the batsmen got going. Shubham Sharma (0), Venkatesh Iyer (0), Kumar Kartikeya (0), Ishwar Pandey (0) and Yash Dubey (0) all fell in the space of three overs as Madhya Pradesh suffered a massive loss to be eliminated from the race to the quarterfinal spot.
Low scores galore
It was a day of low scores in the Ranji Trophy with Services being dealt a body blow by Haryana. After being bowled out for 170, Services managed to take a slender but crucial 21-run lead but they were bundled out for 79 in the second innings, with Tinu Kunda and Amit Rana taking five and four wickets respectively. Haryana won the game by six wickets thanks to Ankit Kumar’s attacking 72 off 76 balls.
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In the game between Tripura and Rajasthan, Tripura were bundled out for a woeful 35 with the top scorer being Neelambuj Vats’ 11*. Rajasthan managed to make 218 runs to take a 183-run lead but Tripura were blown away by Deepak Chahar’s 5/17 to bowl Tripura out for 106 and register victory by an innings and 77 runs. In the game between Railways and Maharashtra at the Karnail Singh stadium in Paharganj, Delhi, Maharashtra were bowled out for 70 and the hosts got a 189-run lead thanks to Mahesh Rawat’s brilliant 89. Maharashtra were again bowled out for 131 thanks to Avinash Yadav’s 5/71 as they won by an innings and 58 runs.
