Ranji Trophy: Shami and co. helping Bengal crush Delhi by nine wickets; Desai spins Gujarat to win the bonus point

Bengal started their Ranji Trophy campaign in Group C with a nine-wicket win over Delhi after bowling the visitors out for 277 in their second innings and chasing a target of 89 on the fourth and final day on Wednesday.Delhi resumed the day on 101 for three but were dismissed for 277 in 106.2 overs. Captain Ayush Badoni led the batting with 85 off 134 balls, hitting 10 fours, while wicketkeeper-batsman Anuj Rawat scored 39 off 76 deliveries.Bengal took the lead in the first innings after scoring 429 in reply to Delhi’s 240. They needed just 15.3 overs to complete the chase, reaching 89 for one and securing victory.Delhi were three wickets down for 59 before Badoni and Rawat joined forces to level the innings. Rawat was dismissed for 39 by Aamir Gani while Yash Dhull made 22 before falling to Sumanta Gupta.Badoni continued to hold the innings together but his dismissal for 85, caught by Abhimanyu Easwaran off Pradipta Pramanik, left Delhi at 213 for six. Dev Lakra (13) and Hrithik Shokeen (8) fell soon after while Divij Mehra scored 21 off 28 balls to help Delhi close in on the 277-run mark. Navdeep Saini remained unbeaten on 20.Pramanik was the leading wicket-taker for Bengal with three wickets, while Gani and Gupta took two each. Mohammed Shami, Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar took one wicket each.In the chase, Ankur Paul scored 38 off 41 balls, including two fours and a six, before losing his wicket. Captain Easwaran remained unbeaten on 34 off 40 balls while Sudip Gharami, who scored a first-innings hundred, finished on 16 not out from 12 as Bengal reached the target without further trouble.Desai’s fifer leads Gujarat to 10-wicket win over OdishaIn Ahmedabad, left-arm spinner Siddharth Desai took five wickets to help Gujarat beat Odisha by 10 wickets in a Group C match. The win also gave Gujarat a bonus point as they begin their campaign under coach Monty Desai in the new season.Odisha resumed the day at 119 for four but were bowled out for 161 in 46.1 overs with Siddharth Desai taking 5/36. Needing just 47 runs to win, Gujarat completed the chase without losing a wicket in 9.3 overs.Sandeep Pattnaik top-scored for Odisha with 65 while Ninad Rathva made 53. Odisha lost seven wickets in their second innings as Desai led the collapse to claim his 16th five-wicket haul in first-class cricket.Left-arm pacer Arzan Nagwaswalla also played a key role for Gujarat, finishing with six wickets in the match, including 3/33 in the second innings.The Group C match between Jharkhand and Kerala in Jamshedpur ended in a draw with the home team getting three points after taking a first innings lead. Jharkhand all-rounder Utkarsh Singh was named man of the match after scoring 71 runs and taking five wickets.In the next Group C match, Maharashtra beat Services by 127 runs in Delhi.