Abhijit Kale's century in vain

A staunch hundred from Abhijit Kale could not prevent Maharashtra from crashing to a six-wicket loss against Baroda in their Ranji Trophy league match at Pune on Tuesday.

Overnight on 224/3, Maharashtra had given themselves a good chance of achieving at least a draw, if not an outright win. The last seven wickets, however, fell for 64 runs, giving Baroda the upper hand in the match.

KD Aphale was the first of the overnight pair to go, making 71 off 106 balls. Kale, his partner, stayed until he was the ninth wicket to fall, but he did not receive any support from the lower order. He made 115 off 204 balls, hitting six fours and one six in his knock. The main destroyer for Baroda was Zaheer Khan, who picked up five wickets.

Set a target of 230 for victory, Baroda made short work of it. A 99 from opener Connor Williams, to go with his first innings century, saw Baroda off to a good start. With SS Parab scoring 53, the first-wicket stand of 125 off 30.4 overs almost sealed the game for Baroda.

Jacob Martin made an unbeaten 32 and Atul Bedade hit a whirlwind 24 off six balls to take Baroda to their six-wicket win, achieveing their target for the loss of four wickets in 57 overs.

Mumbai-Saurashtra tie peters out to tame draw

The Ranji Trophy league match between Mumbai and Saurashtra fizzled out into a dull draw on the fourth day of the game at Mumbai on Tuesday.

Mumbai, overnight on 384/6, were bowled out finally for 410, with Amol Muzumdar missing out on his century by seven runs. He was the seventh wicket to fall, with the score on 392. Thereafter, none of the tailenders could contribute significantly, and the innings folded within nine overs of the start of play on the fourth day.

Saurashtra's second-innings batting effort was nowhere near as impressive as its first-innings one. Only Sitanshu Kotak chipped in with yet another dreary, slow knock, making an unbeaten 42 off a mammoth 257 balls. The rest of the batting subsided meekly, and the visitors were reeling at 152/9 at the close of play.

Bengal hold on to draw against Orissa

Orissa's mammoth two-and-a-half day batting effort ensured that their Ranji Trophy league match against Bengal wound down to the inevitable draw on Day Four at Baripada on Tuesday.

Overnight on 193/2, Bengal finished the day on 363/6. The spine of this batting effort was Deep Dasgupta's patient knock. Making 137 before becoming the sixth wicket to fall, Dasgupta saw that his side were not shocked into any batting collapses.

SG Das and S Sanyal, making 38 apiece further down the order, also contributed to Bengal's total. For Orissa, the use of nine bowlers could not gain them more than six wickets. Bipin Singh was the best bolwer on view, picking 2-48. Orissa thus became the East Zone champion on better run-rate.

Assam bats dominate Tripura

Assam's batsmen took their side past Tripura's first-innings total in their Ranji Trophy league match at Guwahati on Tuesday.

Tripura ended its first essay bowled out for 216, with GD Dutta picking up the final two wickets to fall. Assam then began their effort in fine style, putting on 74 for the first wicket before PK Das, making a brisk 57, was dismissed.

The next significant partnership was an unbeaten one of 125 between SR Das and Sukhvinder Singh. Das made 49 off 127 balls, while Sukhvinder was on 65 off 118 balls at the close of play. Assam ended the day on 235/5, with a lead of 19 runs and five wickets still to go in their innings.

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