The second round of the 2023/24 Ranji Trophy finished today (January 15). Here’s a wrap of the performances of India hopefuls from India’s premier first-class tournament.
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How India candidates fared
Riyan Parag: Riyan continued his stellar form and scored another rapid century (116 off 125 balls) in the first innings. In the second innings while following on, he remained unbeaten on 12.
Cheteshwar Pujara: Pujara followed up a first-round double hundred with two scores in the 40s against Haryana – 49 and 43.
Jaydev Unadkat: The Saurashtra captain had a poor game by his standards, picking just one wicket across both innings against Haryana. With the bat, he scored a golden duck in the first innings and a 30-ball 23 in the second.
Jayant Yadav: Yadav took a five-for (5-42) in the first innings against Saurashtra and followed it up with a tidy performance of 1-69 in the second.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar: Bhuvneshwar marked his return to first-class cricket with a career-best 8-41, single-handedly running through the Bengal lineup.
.@BhuviOfficial on fire 🔥
A five-wicket haul and he’s taken all 5⃣ Bengal wickets to fall so far. What a splendid spell 👌👌@IDFCFIRSTBank | #RanjiTrophy | #UPvBEN
Follow the match ▶️ https://t.co/yRqgNJxmLY pic.twitter.com/Dqu0OgJMk0
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) January 12, 2024
Ajinkya Rahane: Rahane’s return to domestic cricket was a poor one. After missing the first match, Rahane was dismissed for a golden duck in the only innings where he batted in the second.
Shreyas Iyer: Iyer played his first Ranji Trophy game in a long while and looked impressive for his run-a-ball 48 in the first innings against Andhra.
Hanuma Vihari: The discarded India middle order batter scored six in the first innings before putting up a much better show while following on, when he scored 46 off 101 balls.
Prasidh Krishna: Krishna had a terrible game, going at more than four runs per over against Gujarat in the first innings. To make matters worse, he injured himself and had to leave the field hobbling.
Mayank Agarwal: The Karnataka captain scored a hundred in the first innings and a quick one at that (109 off 124). He got his team off to a good start in the second as well (19 off 29), but his wicket started a dramatic collapse that saw Karnataka fail to chase 110.
Umran Malik: Only 42 overs of play was possible in the Delhi vs J&K clash in Jammu. Malik bowled 11 of them for figures of 1-35.