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Cricket 

Sarfaraz Khan slams 275 for Mumbai in Ranji Trophy match against Saurashtra

Team MVR

Sarfaraz Khan hit a stroke-filled 275 to propel Mumbai to a mammoth 544/7 and put 41-time champions in a commanding position on the second day of their Elite Group D Ranji Trophy game against defending champions Saurashtra on Friday.

Sarfaraz, who continued from his overnight score on 121, took the Saurashtra attack to the cleaners and hammered 30 fours and seven sixes in his 401-ball innings.

The 24-year-old was at his best at the Narendra Modi stadium as he spared no bowler. His senior pro Ajinkya Rahane fell for a patient 129 off 290 balls, but more importantly kept himself in contention for a place in the national team.

Sarfaraz and Rahane, a Test specialist, conjured 252-runs for the fourth wicket and pulled the domestic heavyweights out of trouble after they were 44/3 at one stage.

The day clearly belonged to Sarfaraz, who has been piling runs in first-class cricket for a considerable amount of time.

Saurashtra in reply were 18/0 with both the openers Harvik Desai (6) and Snell Patel (11) holding fort.

Railways fight back

Arindam Ghosh hit an unbeaten half-century to lead Railways’ strong response to Karnataka’s huge first innings score of 481 on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match.

Railways finished the second day at 213 for 3. The team’s cause was helped by Ghosh’s knock of 78 (108 balls, 12 fours, 1 six) and fifties by Mrunal Devdhar and Vivek Singh after Karnataka had rode on tons by skipper Manish Pandey’s 156, (121 balls, 12 fours, 10 sixes) and KV Siddharth’s unbeaten 146 (250 balls, 18X4, 2X6) to post a huge total.

In the other match, Jammu and Kashmir ended day 2 at 260 for 3 after dismissing Pondicherry for 343 thanks to a battling, unbeaten 96 by opener Qamran Iqbal and half-century by debutant Jatin Wadhawan (69).

Pavan shines

Debutant Pavan Shah slammed his first double hundred to take Mahrashtra to an imposing 415 and put them in a commanding position against Assam on the second day of their Elite Group G match.

The 22-year-old Shah, a right-handed batter, who hails from Chinchwad near Pune, took the pedestrian Assam attack to cleaners as he hammered 20 boundaries and two maximums enroute his 219 off 401 balls.

In reply, Assam lost opener Rishav Das (14) cheaply, who became Mukesh Choudhary’s first victim. Even one-down batter Gokul Sharma (5) perished early as they were reeling at 32/2.

But opener Subham Mandal (34 not out) and the talented all-rounder Riyan Parag (26 not out ) then steadied the ship with their 49-run unbroken stand for the third wicket and held fort till stumps were drawn. At stumps, Assam was poised at 81/2, still adrift by 334 runs.

Brief scores

Mumbai 544/7 declared (Sarfaraz Khan 275, Ajinkya Rahane 129; Chirag Jani 2/83, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 2/191) vs Saurashtra 18/0. Saurashtra trail by 526 runs.

Goa 181 and 87/2 (Amogh Desai 42, Abhishek Raut 1/10) vs Odisha 189 (Rajesh Dhuper 71, Abhishek Raut 29; Shubham Ranjane 5/49). Goa lead by 79 runs.

Maharashtra 415 all out (Pawan Shah 219; Satyajeet Bachhav 52; Mukhtar Hussain 5/88, Arup Das 2/86) vs Assam 81/2 (Subham Mandal 34 not out, Riyan Parag 26 not out; Manoj Ingle 1/5). Assam trail by 334 runs.

At Sultanpur: Uttar Pradesh 301 all out (Akshdeep Nath 91, Rinku Singh 65; Dhruv Jurel 64; Aditya Sarwate 5/86, Aditya Thakare 2/43, Umesh Yadav 2/58) vs Vidarbha 256/2 (Faiz Fazal 142 not out, Sanjay Ramaswamy 96; Ankit Rajpoot 1/50, Saurabh Kumar 1/84). Vidarbha trail by 45 runs.

Karnataka 481 all out in 109.3 overs (K V Siddharth 146, Manish Pandey 156, K Gowtham 52, R Samarth 47, Yuvraj 5 for 93) vs Railways 213 for 3 in 65 overs (Arindam Ghosh 78 batting, Vivek Singh 59, Mrunal Devdhar 56, Gowtham 3 for 71).

Pondicherry 343 all out in 104.3 overs (Paras Dogra 108, S Karthik 63, Fabid Ahmed 37, Parvez Rasool 4 for 56, Umran Malik 3 for 89) vs Jammu & Kashmir 260 for three in 73 overs (Qamran Iqbal 96 no, Jatin Wadhawan 69, Shubham Singh Pundir 51, Abdul Samad 42 batting, Sagar Trivedi two for 45).