Ajinkya Rahane slams fifty, Mumbai bag three points

Mumbai skipper Ajinkya Rahane

Veteran India batsman Ajinkya Rahane struck his first fifty of the Ranji Trophy season, as his 56 not out helped Mumbai bag three points by virtue of their first innings lead over hosts Chhattisgarh in their Ranji Trophy Group ‘B' match here on Monday.

Resuming at their overnight score of 97-1 with an overall 98 run lead, Mumbai declared their second innings at 253-6 as both skippers, Rahane and Amandeep Khare, agreed for a draw before the tea break.

For the home side, left-arm spinner Ajay Mandal returned with 5-63, but that was not enough to bowl Mumbai out.

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The sidelined India batter's previous scores in this year Ranji Trophy has been 0, 0, 16, 8, 9 and 1. This was his first fifty in nine innings. The Mumbai skipper scored 78 against Tripura in the Vijay Hazare Trophy last December.

Kerala crush Bengal

In Thumba, Kerala, veteran all-rounder Jalaj Saxena grabbed a match haul of 13 wickets on a rank-turner as Kerala crushed Bengal by 109 runs to taste their first win of the Ranji Trophy season.

The win propelled Kerala (14) to third place in the Group ‘B' table behind leaders Mumbai (30) and Andhra (25). This was Bengal's second successive defeat of the season as the last edition's runners-up slipped to sixth spot and their knockout qualification hopes are as good as over. Bengal had endured an innings defeat to Mumbai at home in their previous outing.

Pandey scalps nine

In Surat, Railways left-arm spinner Akash Pandey achieved a rare feat as he took nine wickets for 71 runs in Goa's second innings in a stunning bowling show to single-handedly power his side to a 63-run win in Group ‘C'.

Pandey dismissed eight Goa batters on the final day, after taking the wicket of opener Amogh Desai on Sunday. He bowled 26.2 overs in total in Goa's second innings.

Only two players - Premangsu Chatterjee of Bengal and Pradeep Sunderam of Rajasthan - have picked all 10 wickets in one innings of a Ranji Trophy match. Chatterjee achieved the feat in a Ranji match against Assam in 1957, while Sunderam did the same in against Vidarbha in 1985.

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Chasing 306 for a win, Goa were all out for 242 in 65.2 overs. Railways walked away with six points while Goa got none.

Karnataka earn three points

With just one round of matches left in the group league, Karnataka, who got three points on the basis of first innings lead in the drawn match against Tamil Nadu in Chennai, are in top spot with 24 points in Group ‘C'.

Tamil Nadu are second with 22 points and Gujarat in third with 19.

Chasing a target of 355, TN could only manage 338 for 8 in 105 overs. Baba Indrajith was run out just two runs short of a century, while Pradosh Ranjan Paul and Vijay Shankar chipped in with 74 and 60 respectively. They lost three quick wickets towards the end to fall short of the target after beginning the day at 36 for 1.

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