Mumbai, Jan 30 Skipper Siddhesh Lad struck his record-equalling fifth century of the ongoing Ranji Trophy season to help Mumbai take a first-innings lead against Delhi on day two of their Elite Group D match at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy ground on Friday.
Lad remained unbeaten on 102 off 178 balls, hitting 12 boundaries and becoming the first Mumbai batter in over three decades to notch five hundreds in a single Ranji Trophy season. His efforts, supported by Musheer Khan (57) and Suved Parkar (53 not out), helped Mumbai reach 266/5 in 84 overs at stumps, with a lead of 45 runs.
Delhi’s pacers bowled with discipline to keep Mumbai in check and reduce them to 44/3. Musheer steadied the innings before falling to debutant Rahul Chaudhary, while Sarfaraz Khan’s brief counter-attack ended with an edge behind. Parkar then joined Lad to rotate strike and punish loose deliveries. Lad then brought up his century in the final session and received applause from his teammates and sparse spectators.
In Amtar, Shubham Pundir’s fluent 165 off 311 balls, along with fifties from skipper Paras Dogra (52), Abdul Samad (61) and Kanhaiya Wadhawan (56 not out) helped Jammu and Kashmir pile up 387/5 in 103 overs and swell their lead to 219 runs over Himachal Pradesh.
In Pondicherry, centuries from Neyan Shyam Kangayan (120 off 253 balls) and Aman Khan (118 off 87 balls) powered Puducherry to take a massive 181-run first-innings lead over Rajasthan. The duo’s efforts meant Puducherry posted 349 in 93.2 overs, before Karan Kannan took two wickets to reduce Rajasthan to 77/2 in 23.2 overs, as the visitors trail by 104 runs.
In Hyderabad, Kodimela Himateja (125 not out) and Abhirath Reddy (121) struck fine hundreds to take the hosts to 415/4 in 105 overs against Chhattisgarh and secure a lead of 132 runs.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor