Kolkata: The quarter-final stage of the Ranji Trophy 2021-22 has come to a conclusion and the cricketing fraternity witnessed some brilliant knocks, matches and records being broken or set in the last-8 stage of the tournament.
Bengal vs Jharkhand, 1st quarter-final
The 1st quarter-final saw a first-class record being made after Bengal’s top nine batters made at least 50 runs each, en route to a mammoth first innings total of 773/7d with Sudeep Kumar Gharami (186) and Anustup Majumdar (117) posting centuries. Bengal proceeded to the last 4 on grounds of first innings lead after they bowled out Jharkhand for 298.
Brief Scores: Bengal 773/7d & 318/7d (Manoj Tiwary 136, Shahbaz Ahmed 46, Shahbaz Nadeem 5-59) drew against Jharkhand 298 all out (Virat Singh 113*, Nazim Siddiqui 53, Shahbaz Ahmed 4-51, Sayan Mondal 4-71)
Mumbai vs Uttarakhand, 2nd quarter-final
Mumbai, on the other hand, broke a 92-year-old record after they thumped Uttarakhand to a gigantic 725-run victory (biggest victory in terms of runs in Ranji Trophy history). Debutant Suved Parkar made a show-stopping 252 while Sarfaraz Khan made 153 to help Mumbai post 647/8d. A terrific bowling show in the second and fourth innings from Shams Mulani (5-39) and Dhawal Kulkarni (3-11) propelled Mumbai to the last 4.
Brief Scores: Mumbai 647/8 dec in 166.4 overs (Suved Parkar 252, Sarfaraz Khan 153, D Dhapola 3-89) and 261/3 dec in 58 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 103, Prithvi Shaw 72, Dikshanshu Negi 1-31) beat Uttarakhand 114/10 in 41.1 overs ( Kamal Singh 40, Shams Mulani 5-39) and 69/10 (Shivam Khurana 25*, Tanush Kotian 3-13)
Karnataka vs Uttar Pradesh, 3rd quarter-final
Uttar Pradesh chased down 213 in the fourth innings, courtesy an unbeaten 93 and Priyam Garg’s 52. Ravikumar Samarth (57) and Shreyas Gopal (56*) made half-centuries to help Karnataka post 253 in the first innings. Ronit More’s 3-47 helped Karnataka bowl out Uttar Pradesh for 155. Uttar Pradesh then bowled out Karnataka for 114 to help set-up the target. This is the first time in Ranji history that UP has defeated Karnataka.
Brief Scores: Karnataka 253/10 in 84 overs (R Samarth 57, Shreyas Gopal 56*, Saurabh Kumar 4-73) and 114/10 in 39 overs (Srinivas Sharath 23*, Mayank Agarwal 22, Saurabh Kumar 3-36) lost to Uttar Pradesh 155/10 in 37.3 overs (Priyam Garg 39, Rinku Singh 33, Ronit More 3-47) and 213/5 in 65.2 overs (Karan Sharma 93*, Priyam Garg 52, Vijaykumar Vyshak 3-47)
Punjab vs Madhya Pradesh, 4th quarter-final
Anubhav Agarwal (3-36) and Puneet Datey (3-48) picked up three-wicket hauls as Madhya Pradesh bowled out Punjab for 219. Shubham Sharma (2012) and Himanshu Mantri (89) helped Madhya Pradesh post 397 in their first innings. Kumar Kartikeya’s 6-50 bowled out Punjab for 203 in the next innings after which Madhya Pradesh chased down the 26-run target with 10 wickets to spare.
Brief Scores: Punjab 219 in 71.3 overs (Abhishek Sharma 47, Anmolpreet Singh 47, Puneet Datey 3-48, Anubhav Agarwal 3-36) and 203 in 68.4 overs (Anmol Malhotra 34, Kumar Kartikeya 6-50) lost to Madhya Pradesh 397/10 in 154.5 overs (Shubham Sharma 102, Himanshu Mantri 89, Vinay Choudhary 5-83) and 26/0 in 5.1 overs (Yash Dubey 17*)
