Ranji Trophy 2019-20: Ricky Bhui holds fort as Andhra take lead vs Delhi

New Delhi, Dec 18:  Andhra Pradesh added 233 runs for the loss of four wickets to their overnight score of 16/2 as they ended the second day at 249/6 against Delhi in a second round Ranji Trophy contest at Ongole on Wednesday.

With the openers falling cheaply, it was Andhra's middle-order who rose to the occasion as Ricky Bhui (70 batting), Manish Golamaru (42) and Karan Shinde (48) repaired the early damage to help their side take a 34-run lead against the visitors, who were bowled out for 215 runs in their first innings.

Bengal bundled out Kerala for 239 runs as the hosts could only manage to add two runs to their overnight score at Thiruvananthapuram. While Ishan Porel returned with figures of 3/56, Mukesh Kumar, Shahbaz Ahmed and Arnab Nandi picked up a couple of wickets each.

In return, opener Abhishek Raman's 110 followed by Manoj Tiwary's 51 took Bengal to 236/6 at the close of play as the visitors now trail by three runs.

In Patiala, Hyderabad, who were bowled out for 242 runs on Tuesday, reduced hosts Punjab to 23/3 at one stage before skipper Mandeep Singh (65 batting) and Anmolpreet Singh (54) shared a 82-run partnership for the fourth wicket to put things back under control. Punjab still trail by 75 runs as they were 167/4 at stumps on Day 2.

A brilliant batting display by Faiz Fazal (136), Mohit Kale (138) and Akshay Wadkar (111) powered defending champions Vidarbha to 510/8(d) against Rajasthan in Nagpur. Tanveer Ul-Haq scalped four Vidarbha wickets conceding 87 runs for the visitors, who ended the second day at 45/1, trailing by 465 runs.

Abhimanyu Mithun's (6/60) impressive bowling figures saw the entire Uttar Pradesh team back in the hut after putting 281 runs on board. In return, Karnataka ended the day at 168/4 with opener Devdutt Padikkal contributing 74 runs.

Avesh Khan and Mihir Hirwani's four-fer helped Madhya Pradesh bundle out Baroda for 222 runs in Indore. After putting a paltry 125 runs on board in their first essay, the hosts were 118/3 at stumps, taking a small 21-run lead.

After bowling out the Railways for 248 runs, Saurashtra witnessed a satisfying batting effort as they were 211/3 when stumps were drawn for the second day. Cheteshwar Pujara and Arpit Vasavada were batting on 69 and 11 runs respectively when the day ended in Visakhapatnam.

Despite bowling out Himachal Pradesh for just 158 runs on Tuesday, the Tamil Nadu batsmen also fell in similar fashion as they were all back in the pavilion, putting a total of 96 runs on board. In their second innings, the visitors were 133/7 in Dindigul and now have a 195-run lead with two days of play left against Tamil Nadu.

Umar Nazir Mir's (5/30) five-fer helped Jammu and Kashmir bowl out hosts Maharashtra for 109 runs as the visitors took a 100-run lead based on their first innings total of 209 runs in Pune. In their second essay, opener Suryansh Raina's unbeaten 79 followed by Fazil Rashid's 43 took the visitors to 155/4 when stumps were drawn.

In reply to Services' 271, hosts Odisha were 280/6 at stumps in Cuttack, thanks to Debasish Samantray's unbeaten 96 and Biplab Samantray's 73. For the Services, Diwesh Pathania, Shadab Nazar and Sachidanand Pandey picked up two wickets each.

Jharkhand were in a strong position against Assam, who were wrapped up for 162 runs, courtesy a complete bowling effort. In return, Jharkhand rode opener Nazim Siddiqui's 172 and Utkarsh Singh's 58 to reach 397/8, taking a healthy 235-run lead in Ranchi.

An all-round batting display by Chandigarh batsmen Ankit Kaushik (117), Gurinder Singh (67), Bipul Sharma (65) and Arslan Khan (51) saw the hosts putting on 420 runs in their first innings against Bihar, who were 6/1 at stumps on Day 2.

Hosts Puducherry declared their first innings at 446/8 in reply to Sikkim's 65 runs. Arun Karthik (112) and Paras Dogra (117) slammed respective centuries for Puducherry to put their side in a commanding position against the visitors, who were 112/9 in their second essay and on the verge of an innings defeat. For the hosts, Sagar Trivedi and Sagar Udeshi scalped three wickets each.

A couple of tons by Sumiran Amonkar (129) and Snehal Suhas Kauthankar (105 batting) powered Goa to 314/5 against Meghalaya in Porvorim. Hosts Goa now have a 111-run lead as they had skittled out the visitors for 203 runs in their first innings.

Manipur were 84/3 in their second innings and trail by 200 runs against Nagaland in Kolkata. In reply to Manipur's 116, Nagaland rode Shrikant Mundhe's 148 and Rongsen Jonathan's 79 to put up a healthy 400 in their first innings.

Taruwar Kohli's unbeaten 158 and opener Lalhruaizela's 124 lifted Mizoram to 368/2 against Arunachal Pradesh. Alongwith Kohli, KB Pawan was batting on 68 runs when stumps were drawn for the day in Puducherry.