Left-arm spinner Ninad Rathva came up with career-best match figures as Baroda crushed Meghalaya by an innings and 261 runs in under two days to earn a bonus point in their Ranji Trophy Group A match Thursday. If day one belonged to off-spinner Mahesh Pithiya, who grabbed 6/25 to dismiss the opponents for just 103 runs, Rathva wreaked havoc in the second innings, returning figures of 6/28 as the opponents were bundled out for 78 in just 17.5 overs. Rathva, 25, recorded match figures of 7/59, his best in the 14 first-class game he has played so far, while Mahesh added three more wickets to his first-innings haul of six to also finish with his career-best match haul of 9/71.
On a wicket that assisted turn, Baroda pressed the two spinners into service immediately after completing their innings at 442 early on day two. With a massive first-innings lead of 339 runs, Baroda went for the kill and, to their delight, saw the rival batters falling like ninepins.
A total of four Meghalaya batters went for duck, while five had single-digit figures with the injured last batter unable to take the field.
Former Baroda player Arpit Bhatewara, who now plays for Meghalaya, fought a lonely battle before he was finally dismissed by Rathva for 46 off 48 balls.
Earlier, Baroda, commencing at their overnight score of 308 for 6, flayed the feeble Meghalaya attack before being dismissed for 442 in 71.3 overs.
Overnight batter Shashwat Rawat, who was batting on 90, completed his century before he was dismissed for 121 off just 128 balls as Baroda crossed the 400-run mark. Rathva played an unbeaten cameo of 33 (19 balls) as the hosts made a mockery of the Meghalaya attack.
Kumar Kushagra’s brisk ton takes Jharkhand to 356/9 vs Delhi
Promising wicketkeeper-batter Kumar Kushagra struck a breezy unbeaten 133 to steer Jharkhand to 356 for 9 on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Group D match against Delhi here on Thursday.
The 20-year-old Kushagra, who was bought by Delhi Capitals for Rs 7.2 crores but released early this month after playing just four matches in 2024 IPL, hit 14 boundaries and five sixes during his strokeful 166-ball unbeaten innings.
Courtesy Kushagra’s aggressive ton, Jharkhand added 220 runs for the loss of six wickets from 70 overs played on Day 2 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. The visitors had begun the day at 136 for 3.
Sharandeep Singh added just two runs to his overnight 64 to be the first Jharkhand batter to get out.
Coming out to bat at the fall of Sharandeep, Kushagra stitched 93 runs for the fifth wicket with captain Virat Singh (56 off 125 balls) to swell the visiting side’s total. He then shared another 59 runs with Manishi (14) for the eighth wicket to eventually take Jharkhand past the 350-run mark.
With just two days left in the match, Jharkhand have placed themselves in a strong position in the match.
For Delhi, Simarjeet Singh, Money Grewal and Sumit Mathur have so far taken two wickets apiece, while Siddhant Sharma and Ayush Badoni got a wicket each.
On Day 1 on Wednesday, Sharandeep scored a dogged half-century as Jharkhand batters were painstakingly slow in their approach.
They improved their run rate a bit on Thursday — above three per over.
Having lost to Chattisgarh in the last game, Delhi, in their final home game of the season, made wholesale changes under new skipper Ayush Badoni.
Brief Scores:
In Vadodara: Meghalaya 103 and 78 in 17.5 overs (Arpit Bhatewara 46; Mahesh Pithiya 3/46, Ninad Rathva 6/28) lost to Baroda 442 in 71.3 overs (Jyotsnil Singh 121, Shivalik Sharma 42, Mitesh Patel 51, Shashwat Rawat 121; Bijon Dey 3/123, Dippu Sangma 3/53) by an innings and 261 runs.
In Delhi: Jharkhand 1st Innings 356 for 9 in 125 overs (Sharandeep Singh 64, Kumar Kushagra 133 not out; Simarjeet Singh 2/43, Money Grewal 2/65, Sumit Mathur 2/52) vs Delhi.
In Cuttack: Maharashtra 162 and 78 for 3 in 27 overs (Sachin Dhas 38) vs Odisha 200 in 82.2 overs overs (Swastik Samal 116; Sandeep Pattnaik 41; Rajneesh Gurbani 3/38, Ramakrishna Ghosh 3/50). Maharashtra lead by 40 runs.
In Jammu: Tripura 165 and 170 for 7 in 46 overs (Jiwanjot Singh 45,Srinivas Sharath batting 39; Auqib Nabi 3/35) vs Jammu & Kashmir 175 in 57.4 overs (Shubham Khajuria 57; Manisankar Murasingh 5/68, Abhijit Sarkar 3/42). Tripura lead by 160 runs.
In Delhi: Services 240 in 81 overs (Mohit Ahlawat 76, Shubham Rohilla 56; Shardul Thakur 4/46, Mohit Avasthi 2/44) vs Mumbai 253 for 8 in 63 overs (Ayush Mhatre 116, Shreyas Iyer 47; Pulkit Narang 3/47). Muymbai lead by 13 runs.
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