Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed, who used to play for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the IPL, returned with impressive figures of 6 for 34 to help Bengal bundle out Gujarat for 167 and then post 170 for 6 in their second innings on the third and penultimate day of their Ranji Trophy Group C match here on Monday. Resuming at the score of 107 for 7 in reply to Bengal’s 279 all out, Gujarat were bowled out in 76.3 overs with Ahmed ruling the roost, while Mohammed Shami (3/44) scalped three wickets.

Skipper Manan Hingrajia (80 off 252 balls) top-scored for Gujarat with a patient knock but didn’t get any company from the other end.

Sudip Kumar Gharami (54) and skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran (25) shared 55 runs in 14.5 overs for the opening stand in Bengal’s second innings.

Besides Anustup Majumdar was batting on 44, while Ahmed made 20 as Bengal lead by 282 runs with a day’s play remaining.

Left-arm orthodox bowler Siddharth Desai shone with the ball for Gujarat in the second innings with figures of 4 for 48, while left-arm medium pacer Arzan Nagwaswalla (2/58) scalped two wickets.

Dhull, Doseja shine for Delhi

Yash Dhull smashed an attractive 70 off only 59 balls while Ayush Doseja continued his good form with an unbeaten 62 as Delhi extended their overall lead to 329 runs against Himachal Pradesh on the third day of their Ranji Trophy group D match here.

Play was called off early due to bad light as Delhi raced to 196 for 4 in just 32 overs courtesy Dhull and Doseja’s rollicking stand that yielded 125 runs in 19.3 overs.

This was after Delhi dismissed Himachal Pradesh for 297 in their first innings to ensure a first-innings lead of 133.

Veteran pacer Navdeep Saini took 3 for 52 while young Money Grewal had 2 for 47 to show for his efforts.

Delhi are gunning for six points and one might see them declaring at the overnight score in order to get maximum overs on the final day to register an outright win.

Coming to bat in the second session, Delhi, in their bid to score quickly, were reduced to 53 for 3 when Dhull was joined by southpaw Doseja.

For around four overs they weren’t getting the big shots going but then Dhull started attacking with some crispy shots square off the wicket.

The cheeky Doseja also followed suit with some deft shots off slow bowlers as the scorecard suddenly gained momentum.

Since the light deteriorated in the afternoon, the Dhull-Doseja pair knew that they have to up the ante.

At one point, HP skipper Ankush Bains spread his field to stop the steady flow of boundaries. Yet Dhull bisected the fielders stationed at deep point and deep extra cover boundary off pacer Vaibhav Arora.

The shot of the day was a bent knee slog sweep that sailed deep into the extra cover stand of off-spinner Mukul Negi’s bowling.

Dhull’s innings had eight fours and two sixes while Doseja hit eight boundaries.

Once the former India U19 captain was holed out, Doseja tried maintaining the momentum with Anuj Rawat for company. But it became so dark that umpires had to stop the proceedings.

Uttarakhand trail Railways by 23 runs

In another Group C match in Ramnagar, Uttarakhand were 310 for 5 in reply to Railways’ 333 all out on the third day.

Yuvraj Chaudhary made 92, Bhupen Lalwani scored 78 and skipper Kunal Chandela 50.

For Railways, right-arm fast bowler Kunal Yadav picked up 3 wickets giving away 64 runs.

Uttarakhand now trail Railways by 23 runs with a day’s play remaining.

Brief Scores:

Bengal 279 and 170 for 6 in 48 overs (Sudip Kumar Gharami 54; Siddharth Desai 4/48) vs Gujarat 167 all out in 76.3 overs (Manan Hingrajia 80 not out; Shahbaz Ahmed 6/34).

Railways 333 (Mohammad Saif 131, Bhargav Merai 89 not out; Mayank Mishra 6/84) vs Uttarakhand 310 for 5 in 122 overs (Yuvraj Chaudhary 92, Bhupen Lalwani 78; Kunal Yadav 3/64).

Delhi 430 and 196/4 (Yash Dhull 70, Ayush Doseja 62 batting). HP 297 (Sidhant Purohit 70, Navdeep Saini 3/52).

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by News staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)