Mumbai/Ahmedabad: Tuesday turned out to be the day of left-arm spinners in the Ranji Trophy.
In Mumbai, the Punjab-Mumbai match was dramatic enough to see a result, after left-arm spinner Ankit Chavan wrecked the Punjab batting line-up in the second innings with his career-best figures of nine for 23.
But Punjab, who were dismissed for just 59 in their second innings, still escaped with a draw. Not only that, they claimed three points from the tie, by virtue of their 95-run first innings lead. The match ended in a draw, but not without some drama on the final day that saw close to 20 wickets collapsing.
In Ahmedabad, another left-arm spinner Rakesh Dhruv picked up his first ten-wicket haul in first-class cricket as Gujarat posted an impressive eight-wicket win over defending champions Rajasthan.
Dhruv finished with match figures of 14 for 96, eight of them coming in the second innings at the Motera. Chasing a target of 102 runs, Gujarat needed a little over 25 overs and lost two wickets in the process to post their first win of the season.
SUMMARISED SCORES
Group A
m In Ahmedabad: Rajasthan 294 and 119 (Rakesh Dhruv 8/31). Gujarat 312 and 105/2 (Smit Patel 47). Gujarat won by 8 wickets
m In Bhubaneswar: Madhya Pradesh 377. Railways 214 and 251/8 (Mahesh Rawat 106; Amarjeet Singh 3/15, Anand
Rajan 3/52). Match drawn
m In Mumbai: Punjab 580 and 59 (Ankit Chavan 9/23). Mumbai 485 and 61/2 (Rohit Sharma 28). Match drawn
Group B
m In Bangalore: Karnataka 192 and 475/9 decl. Delhi 258 and 250 (Mithun Manhas 80; HS Sharath 3/40). Karnataka won by 159 runs
m In Nagpur: Uttar Pradesh 548/8 decl. and 175/3 (Suresh Raina 105n..). Vidarbha 308 (H. Badani 76). Match drawn
m In Pune: Haryana 257 and 255/7 (Sunny Singh 54; Samad Fallah 3/59). Maharashtra 540/8 decl. Match drawn
Group C
m In Guwahati: Assam 354. Himachal Pradesh 316/5 (Dhawan 114n..). Match drawn
m In Porvorim: Services 473 and 99/2 (Anshul Gupta 62n..). Goa 381. Match drawn
(AgeNcies)
