Jammu and Kashmir were tottering at 59 for five in their seconds innings after Jharkhand gained a handsome 166-run first innings lead on the second day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Plate division Group A match at Jamshedpur on Friday.
Resuming at 133 for four, Jharkhand, backed by a brilliantly made 87 by middle-order Sunil Kumar, consolidated their position.
After the departure of Rajiv who added only two runs to his overnight score of 31, the hosts kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
Jharkhand's first innings folded up just before tea at 245 in reply to the visitor's 79. Abid Nabi (4/91) emerged the successful bowler for the visitors, followed by skipper Dhruv Mahajan (3/16).
Trailing by 166 runs, the visitors got off to a disastrous start in their second knock losing five wickets for 59 runs off just 28.2 overs.
Opener Asif Jeelani was the first to go when seamer Mihir Diwakar, who had four wickets in the first innings, had him caught behind by wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Sheikh Sajjad (21) and Mahajan (20 not out) were the only batsmen who managed to reach double figures.
For Jharkhand, Diwakar (2/19) and S S Rao (2/8) took two wickets each.
At close, skipper Dhruv Mahajan was unbeaten on 20 in the company of Arshad Bhat, who was yet to open his account.
Brief scores:
Jammu and Kashmir 1st Innings: 79 all out, 2nd Inn: 59/5 (Sajjad 21, Mahajan not out 20).
Jharkhand 1st Innings: 245 (Sunil Kumar 87, M S Dhoni 48; Abid Nabi 4/91).
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Services sitting pretty against Rajasthan
Services were poised for a huge first innings lead after they reached a comfortable 236 for three against Rajasthan on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Plate 'B' cricket league match at New Delhi on Friday.
Resuming at 12 for no loss, Services had a smooth sailing with Narender Singh (86) and Jasbir Singh (84) sharing a 142-run second wicket partnership that lasted nearly four hours.
The huge stand between the two helped the hosts overcome the loss of opening batsman P M S Reddy for 19.
Services need 55 more runs to overhaul Rajasthan's total of 290.
Brief scores:
Rajasthan 1st innings: 290 all out.
Services 1st innings: 236 for 3 in 94 overs (Narender Singh 86, Jasbir Singh 84, Yashpal Singh not out 23, Sarabjit Singh not out 1; Rahul Kanwat 3-66).
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Goa tottering at 130 for six
Goa suffered a batting collapse to struggle at 130 for six in their first innings against Haryana on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Plate division match at Gurgaon on Friday.
Goa, in reply to the hosts' 293, were cruising well at 61 for no loss before they lost wickets in a heap.
Openers Vivek Kolambkar (34) and Swapnil Asnodkar (19) gave the side a good start before falling with the total on 61.
Amit Mishra dismissed Asnodkar, while Gaurav Vashisht accounted for Kolambkar's wicket. Four more wickets in quick succession saw the visitors slump to 125 for six.
Joginder Sharma was the most successful bowler for Haryana returning with figures of three for 20 in 15 overs.
Earlier, resuming at 237 for six, Haryana added 65 runs this morning with overnight batsman Joginder Sharma (overnight 68 not out) carrying on to complete a fine unbeaten 105.
Sharma's knock came off 171 balls and included 12 fours.
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Orissa in strong position
Replying to Kerala first innings score of 324, Orissa were 142 for no loss at close of play on the second day in their Plate 'A' Ranji Trophy match at Palakkad on Friday.
At stumps, former test opener Shiv Sundar Das was unbeaten on 72 (10x4, 148b) with Subrat Behera on 59 (6x4, 160b).
Earlier, Kerala resuming at their overnight score of 212 for 5, were all out for 324.
The highlight of Kerala's innings was a fighting 59 run seventh-wicket partnership between Ajay Kuduva 56 (7x4, 162b) and K Chandrasekhara 56 (8x4, 93b) that helped the hosts cross the 300 mark.
For Orissa, Niranjan Behera captured 3/19, while former India medium pacer Debashis Mohanty took 4/40.
Brief scores:
Kerala first innings: 324 (A V Jagadeesh 70, Sreekumar Nair 87, Ajay Kuduva 56, K Chandrasekhara 56, D Mohanty 4/40, N Behera 3/19)
Orissa first innings: 142 for no loss ( S S Das 72 not out, Subrat Behera 59 not out).
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Vidarbha in command in Ranji match
After gaining a vital 63-run first innings lead, Vidarbha restricted Tripura to 158 for eight in their second innings at close on the second day of the Plate 'B' group Ranji Trophy match at the VCA stadium at Nagpur on Friday.
Resuming at their overnight score of 109 for four, the hosts failed to consolidate their lead and succumbed to 154 all out from 53.5 overs.
Ulhas Gandhe continued his overnight innings to remain undefeated on 42 as the pace bowling duo of Manoj Singh (4 for 37) and Sunil Shukla (4 for 64) brought about the home team's early dismissal.
Tripura in their second essay once again capitulated in the face of some accurate seam bowling by Vidarbha's medium pacer Sandeep Singh (3 for 38) and Alind Naidu (3 for 22).
C Shadeva (36) emerged the top scorer with openers Tiroto Roy (21) and Sadashiv Iyer (24) making useful contributions.
Ahead by 95 runs with two second innings wickets in hand, Tripura will have to battle hard if they fancy any chance of avoiding a possible defeat.
Brief Scores:
Tripura 1st Innings: 91 all out.
Vidarbha 1st Innings: 154 all out (Ulhas Gandhe 42, Harshal Shitoot 23, Sunil Shukla 4 for 64, Manoj Singh 4 for 37).
Tripura 2nd Innings: 154 for 8 off 68.4 overs (C Shadeva 36, Sadashiv Iyer 24, Tiroto Roy 21, M Singh 21 not out, Sandeep Singh 3 for 38, Alind Naidu 3 for 22).
