Ranji Trophy: Padikkal piles misery on Punjab; Pujara makes star turn with 157
Hubballi (Karnataka), Jan 6
Devdutt Padikkal and Manish Pandey cracked hundreds to power Karnataka to a commanding 461/6 against Punjab on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match here today.
Padikkal (193) and Pandey (118) ensured that Karnataka led by a massive 309 runs in the first innings at close of play, after bundling out their rivals for a lowly 152 on the first day. Padikkal, overnight 80, and Pandey, starting from 13, milked 234 runs for the third wicket as the hosts motored on. Wicketkeeper batter Sharath Srinivas made an unbeaten 55 to add to the total.
Ton-up Pujara
Rajkot: Batting stalwart Cheteshwar Pujara, ignored for the two-Test series against South Africa, cracked an unbeaten century as defending champions Saurashtra made a mockery of the Jharkhand bowling attack to score 406/4 on Day 2 of their Group A match.
Pujara was 157 not out at stumps, and giving him company at 23 was Prerak Mankad.
Rinku shines in whites
Alappuzha: Rinku Singh displayed his brilliance in red-ball cricket, scoring 92 runs as Uttar Pradesh finished on 302 in their first innings against Kerala in their Elite Group B match.
Resuming the day on 244/5, Rinku added 21 runs before falling to Nidheesh, who took three wickets for Kerala.
Brief scores: Punjab: 152 all out vs Karnataka: 461/6 in 123 overs (Padikkal 193, Pandey 118, Sharath 55; Arshdeep 2/71); Jharkhand: 142 in 49 overs vs Saurashtra: 406/4 in 119 overs (Pujara 157*, Desai 85, Sheldon 54); Chandigarh: 96 all out vs Railways: 313/4 in 83 overs (Vivek 114, Saif 58*); Kerala: 220/6 (Vishnu 74; Kuldeep 3/66) vs UP: 302 (Rinku 92, Jurel 63; Nidheesh 3/68).
