By IANS,
New Delhi: A seven-wicket haul by medium-pacer Rituraj Singh brought defending champions Rajasthan right back into their Ranji Trophy semi-final against Haryana at the Bansi Lal Stadium at Lahli, near Rohtak, Wednesday. The visitors, who were dismissed for 192 in the second knock to set an 185-run target, hit back to claim two Haryana wickets for 15 runs by stumps.
In the second semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai were in a precarious position at 121 for 6 at close of the second day’s play in reply to Tamil Nadu’s 359 .
Resuming at the overnight 82 for eight on the second day, Haryana needed eight more runs to overhaul Rajasthan’s first-innings score of 89 and they managed to overtake it, but could add only 15 runs before their innings folded up.
The visitors fared a lot better in their second innings to reach 192 and then struck to remove two Haryana batsmen quickly, leaving the hosts to get 170 to make the final.
On a day when 14 wickets fell on a seaming track, Haryana medium-pacer Sachin Rana accounted for four in Rajasthan’s second knock. Harshal Patel, who took his second eight-wicket haul in an innings for the second match running dismissed captain Hrishikesk Kanitkar(7) and the in-form Robin Bist(44) in the second innings for a 10-wicket bag in the match.
Chasing 185 to win, Haryana lost Rahul Dewan(0) and Sunny Singh(1) before the end of play.
In Mumbai, Tamil Nadu reached a respectable 359 largely thanks to a 152-run partnership between Ramaswammy Prasanna(104) and Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh(67). With the score on 139/6, the visitors were in deep trouble before the two revived their fortunes. Balwinder Sandhu, playing his third first-class match, recorded his second five-wicket haul.
In reply, Mumbai had the worst possible start losing the top three batsmen with just 14 runs on the board. Suryakumar Yadav’s saved the hosts some blushes with a gritty 52. Skipper Laxmipathy Balaji, who has 288 first-class scalps to his name, was the pick of the Tamil Nadu bowlers, taking three wickets. Mumbai were teetering at 121/6 at stumps.
Brief Scores:
At Rohtak: Rajasthan 89 all out in 36.1 overs and 192 all out in 68.5 overs (Vineet Saxena 58, Robin Bist 44; Sachin Rana 4-26, Harshal Patel 2-45) vs. Haryana 97 all out in 47.5 overs (Jayant Yadav 23, Mohit Sharma 22; Rituraj Singh 7-45, Pankaj Singh 2-27) and 15/2 in 7 overs
At Mumbai: Tamil Nadu 359 all out in 136.1 overs (Ramaswamy Prasanna 104, Vijakumar Yo Mahesh 67; Balwinder Sandhu 5-88, Dhawal Kulkarni 2-91) vs. Mumbai 121/6 in 38 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 52, Hiken Shah not out 21; Laxmipathy Balaji 3-16)