Ranji Trophy 2022: Records broken, and other talking points from quarter-finals – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

The Ranji Trophy 2022 has now entered the last-four stage with Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh being the four teams to fight for a place in the final. India’s premier domestic competition was held in two phases this year due to COVID-19 and the Indian Premier League. The league stage was completed before the IPL got underway while the quarters were scheduled from June 9 onwards.

Eight quarter-finalists put up a fighting display with both bat and ball in the last few days and here we look at some major talking points from the four clashes:

Mumbai thump Uttarakhand

The domestic giants Mumbai were on a roll against Uttarakhand after they clinched a thumping 725-run win in Alur.

Batting first, Mumbai posted a mammoth 647/8 after debutant Suved Parkar and Safaraz Khan thoroughly dominated the bowling unit.

Parkar went on to score a double ton while Sarfaraz continued his dream run and notched up another century. Later, Shams Mulani rattled the Uttarakhand batting line up as he returned with a fifer. Uttarakhand were bundled out for 114 to hand Mumbai a huge lead.

The Prithvi Shaw-led side then piled up 261/3 (D) after the captain scored 72 and his opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal struck a hundred in the second innings. Aditya Tare also scored a fifty.

Nothing really changed for Uttarakhand in the second innings as well as they were bowled out for 69 this time to suffer a heavy defeat. Dhawal Kulkarni, Mulani and Tanush Kotian scalped three wickets each in the second innings.

With this win, Mumbai surpassed New South Wales’ 92-year-old Sheffield Shield record when they defeated Queensland by 685 runs. Mumbai also broke Bengal’s record in Ranji Trophy. Bengal held the record for highest margin for the win. They defeated Odisha by 540 runs in 1953-54.

Suved Parkar steals show on debut

Mumbai’s Suved Parkar played a very important role in the side’s dominating win against Uttarakhand in the quarter-final clash. Parkar stamped authority with the bat in his debut Ranji game for Mumbai as he struck 252 in the first innings.

With this knock, Parkar became only the second Mumbai batter to score a double ton on debut after Amol Mazumdar. Bihar’s Sakibul Gani holds the record for the highest first-class score on debut. He scored 341 runs against Mizoram earlier this year.

Jharkhand get dose of own medicine

Jharkhand were thoroughly frustrated by the Bengal batters in their quarter-final game in Bengaluru. Batting first, the Bengal side posted 773/7 (D) in the first innings. Bengal etched their name in record books after their top nine batters scored more than fifty runs.

Sudip Gharami and Majumdar notched up individual hundreds. Later, Sayan Mondal and Shahbaz Ahmed picked up 8 wickets between themselves and bowled out Jharkhand for 298. Bengal batters continued with their form in the second innings as well as they rode on Manoj Tiwary’s 136 to compile 318/7 (D). The game eventually in a draw but Bengal marched ahead on the basis of the first innings lead.

Earlier in the competition, Jharkhand had frustrated the Nagaland team in the pre-quarter final. The side posted 880 in the first innings and then bowled out Nagaland for 289 but didn’t en-force a follow-on and came out to bat in the second innings. They eventually put 417/6 (D) in the second innings as the match ended in a draw and Jharkhand qualified further on the basis of first innings lead.

UP put a fight

Uttar Pradesh captain Karan Sharma led from the front and handed his side a win against domestic giants Karnataka and also a place in the semis. Karnataka had taken a first innings lead after bowling out UP for 155 in reply to 253.

But the UP bowlers got into the act in the second innings and didn’t let the Karnataka side capitalise as they were all out for 114 handing UP a target of 213 runs.

The Karan Sharma-led side lost wickets at regular intervals and were reduced to 114/5 when the captain along with Prince Yadav came in for the rescue. The two batters put on an unbeaten stand of 99 runs for the sixth wicket and took the side over the line. Sharma showed a lot of patience and remained unbeaten on 93 off 163 deliveries.

Punjab’s collapse

Punjab met Madhya Pradesh in the quarter-final in Alur. Batting first, the Punjab team were off to a decent start despite Shubman Gill’s early departure for 9 after captain Abhishek Sharma and Anmolpreet Singh, who had come in at number three, put up a partnership of 81 runs for the second wicket. But the unit then lost the way as they began to lose wickets at regular intervals and were eventually bundled out for 219.

In reply, MP posted a good total of 397, courtesy a century from Shubham Sharma and half-centuries from Himanshu Mantri, Rajat Patidar and Akshat Raghuwanshi.

Later, Punjab’s batting struggle continued in the second innings as well as Kumar Kartikeya trapped them in spin web and bagged a six-wicket haul. Saransh Jain picked up the other four wickets as Punjab could only manage to put 203 on the board and take a 25-run lead.

MP eventually chased down a target of 26 runs by 10 wickets to move forward.

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