da imperador bet: A round-up for the second day’s play of the third-round matches of the Ranji Trophy Plate League
da bwin: Cricinfo staff18-Nov-2008
Scorecard
Bengal’s debutant opener, Rohan Banerjee, hit 176 and Laxmi Ratan Shukla helped himself to 101 as the home side dominated Services at Eden Gardens, under former India captain Sourav Ganguly’s watchful eye from the sidelines. By the close of day two, Bengal had progressed to 442 for 6 – a lead of 335 – with two days to go. Banerjee, who added 190 with fellow opener Anustup Majumdar (80), became the 16th Bengal player to hit a century on debut. Attempting a big hit against offspinner Yashpal Singh, the 19-year-old was dismissed for 176 in 486 minutes, with the help of 22 boundaries.Shukla, the veteran allrounder and former Bengal captain, added to Services’ woes – they bowled 19 wides and five wides – with his third first-class century after Manoj Tiwary (10) fell to left-arm medium-pacer Rakesh Kumar in the first over after lunch. Having taken three wickets on day one, Shukla hit a breezy 101 from 129 balls, with 12 fours and a couple sixes.Ganguly, who is set to play for his state side against Vidarbha from December 12, was at Eden Gardens to watch day two and stood to applause Banerjee’s century.
Scorecard
Himachal Pradesh put themselves in prime position to whip Jammu & Kashmir at the end of the second day in Dharamsala. Having reduced J&K to 22 for 4 by stumps on the first day, Himachal bowled them out for 120 before a stellar opening partnership extended their lead to an imposing 366. Sarandeep Singh, the former India offspinner, picked up 4 for 37 and Himachal’s openers, Sangram Singh and Bhavin Thakkar added 191 for no loss. Where Parvez Rassol’s 40 was the best J&K could manage, Sangram and Thakkar – who made 122 in the first innings – finished on 97 and 77 respectively.
Scorecard
Goa took a 177-run lead in a low-scoring affair in Margao, first dismissing Jharkhand for 147 and finishing the day on 134 for 4. The hosts remained in control for the second day running thanks t their bowlers, who took the last six Jharkhand wickets for only 43 runs. Saurabh Bandekar (3-45) and Robin D’Souza (3-41) were the main men for Goa. Kuldeep Sharma did early damage with the new ball when Goa batted a second time, getting rid of the openers inside 12 overs, and Sujit Roy chipped in with 2 for 20, but Advait Katkar’s maiden first-class fifty stemmed the rot until the close.
Scorecard
Vidarbha took what could ultimately turn out to be match-winning lead over Tripura in Agartala. Dismissed for 224 after making 188 for 6 on day one, Vidarbha dismissed their opponents for 150 and finished the day on 30 for 1. Tripura’s left-arm spinner Tushar Saha added a wicket to finish with 6 for 51 from 30.3 overs, a career-best effort, but his side’s batting didn’t come good. The openers, Biswajit Dey and Sourav Dubey, made ducks and Mumbai veteran Nishit Shetty (37) and young Abhijit Dey, in his fifth game, made it into the thirties. Madhusudan Acharya netted 4 for 23 to compliment medium-pacer Mohammad Hashim’s 3 for 42. Faiz Fazal fell for 13 shortly before stumps, but Vidarbha’s 101-run cushion would have given them confidence against a weak batting side.






