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Friday, Nov 25, 2005

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Ganguly helps Bengal recover

PUNE: After displaying his prowess with the ball, former India captain Sourav Ganguly showed his mettle with the bat by scoring an unbeaten 81 to steer Bengal's recovery.

At close, Bengal was 202 for five, in reply to Maharashtra first innings total of 350 on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group A tie at the Nehru Stadium here on Thursday.

Ganguly, who arrived when Bengal was reeling at 63 for four from 22.3 overs, played a sheet anchor role and, in the company of another southpaw Rohan Gavaskar (20 not out), added 55 runs for the unfinished sixth wicket.

Ganguly's knock, studded with nine boundaries, came in a stay of 214 minutes after facing 148 balls. Ganguly also added 84 runs for the fifth wicket with captain Deepdas Gupta (27). Earlier, host Maharashtra, resuming at 307 for nine, went on to add 43 more runs.

Punbab bounces back

Ishan Malhatra hit a gritty 63 before claiming four scalps to help Punjab bounce back into the game and reduce Services to 228 for eight in the second innings on the second day of the Elite Group B match at Mohali. Services was leading by 152 runs with two wickets still in hand when the day's play was called off due to bad light.

Malhatra virtually broke the backbone of Services by capturing four wickets for 61 runs, bringing his impressive tally of wickets to nine for 85 in the match. Earlier, Punjab resuming at 130 for 7, was dismissed for 223, taking a first-innings lead of 76 runs. This was made possible by I. Malhatra (63) and Amit Uniyal (68).

Washed out

The second day's play of the Elite Group A contest between Tamil Nadu and Gujarat at Tirunelveli was washed out without a ball being bowled.

The scores:

Elite Group matches `A': Gujarat 110 for four in 56 overs v TN, at Tirunelveli. No play due to rain.

Maharashtra 350 in 106 overs (A.A. Sanclecha 54, S. Ganguly five for 75) v Bengal 202 for five in 72 overs (S. Ganguly 81 batting), at Pune.

Mumbai 551 in 147.5 overs (Wasim Jaffer 267, Amol Muzumdar 95, N.S. Shetty 87, Nanda four for 108) v Delhi 40 for no loss in 16.1 overs, at Delhi.

Group `B': Services 147 & 228 for eight in 64.5 overs (M.P. Reddy 55, Yashpal Singh 49, I. Malhatra four for 61) v Punjab 223 in 54.2 overs (R.S. Sodhi 41, I. Malhatra 63, A. Uniyal 68), at Mohali.

Haryana 277 in 100.2 overs (Praveen Kumar five for 93) v UP 218 for three in 73 overs (S. Shukla 56, R. Shamshad 45 not out, G.K. Pandey 50 not out), at Kanpur.

Baroda 58 for four in 26 overs v Andhra, at Anantapur.

Plate matches: Assam 101 for four in 57 oves (V. Sarbanand 52 batting) v Kerala, at Guwahati.

Tripura 106 v Sourashtra 182 for five in 101 overs (S.D. Jogyani 64, R. Dhruve 40, Tushar Saha four for 60), at Agartala.

Madhya Pradesh 393 in 172.3 overs (N.A. Patwardhan 51, B. Tomar 72) v Rajasthan 10 for one in 5 overs, at Indore.

HP 163 v Vidarbha 93 in 31.2 overs (A. Thakur five for 42, V. Malik five for 30), at Nagpur

Goa 285 v Orissa 220 for four in 95 overs (Rashmi Parida 40, Pravajan Malik 51, Niranjan Behara 56), at Margao.

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