Jharkhand well-placed
Debutant opener M P Vardhan's ton and his 159-run opening wicket stand with Ratan Singh (60 not out) put Jharkhand in a strong position against hosts Saurashtra on the second day of the Ranji Trophy cricket Plate Group A match in Rajkot on Wednesday.
At stumps, nightwatchman Sahid Khan (4) was giving Ratan company as the visitors closed 98 runs behind Saurashtra's first innings on 176 for two.
Replying to Saurashtra's 274, the opening pair started cautiously but soon prospered with Vardhan being more aggressive. His strokeful century came in 203 balls with 20 fours before he was needlessly runout towards the fag end of the day. Ratan Singh returned unconqured after hitting four fours in 180-ball stay.
For Saurashtra, Sitanshu Kotak got one wicket.
Earlier, Saurashtra resumed at their overnight score of 230 for six and added 44 runs before being all out in 109 overs. For Jharkhand, S Panda and S Rao bagged three wickets each.
Brief scores:
Saurashtra (1st innings): 274 all out.
Jharkhand (1st innings): 176 for 2 (M P Vardhan 106, R Singh 60 batting).
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Sreeshant claims a hat-trick
Veteran leg spinner Ananthapadmanaban picked his 300th scalp and seamer S Sreeshant claimed a hat-trick but Kerala were in trouble, tottering at 165 for seven in their first innings against Himachal Pradesh on the second day of the Ranji Trophy 'Plate' cricket match in Palakkad on Wednesday.
Resuming at 321 for 2, Himachal Pradesh were dismissed for 465 with Sangram Singh scoring an unbeaten 206, which included 24 hits to the fence and a six.
Manvinder Bisla, who was unbeaten on 133 overnight, added one more run this morning before edging to wicket-keeper Deepak off medium pacer Sreeshant.
Sreeshant completed a hat-trick by claiming Ajay Manu and Paras Dogra in his next two deliveries.
Sreeshant was the most successful bowler for the hosts, picking five wickets for 103 runs.
Ananthapadmanabhan bagged his 300th wicket in Ranji Trophy when he dismissed Virender Sharma (34).
Kerala lost opener C M Deepak (0) and debutant Jagadesh (1) with the total at 4/2. Though Sreekumaran Nair (25) and another debutant opening batsman Abishek Hegde (22) and Ajay
Kuduva (31) scored some runs, Kerala lost wickets regularly.
At stumps, K Chandrasekhara was batting on 34 and Sureshkumar on 17.
Brief scores:
Himachal Pradesh (1st innings): 465 all out (Sangram Singh 206 not out, Manvinder Bisla 134, Virender Sharma 34, Sreeshant 5/103, Sureshkumar 3/45).
Kerala (1st innings): 165 for seven (A Hegde 22, Sreekumar 25, A Kudua 31, V Bhatia 3/67, A Thakkur 2/15).