Ranji Trophy: Pujara slams unbeaten double ton (Round up)

New Delhi, Nov 18: Cheteshwar Pujara smashed an unbeaten double century as Saurashtra piled up a massive 544 for three in their first innings against Maharashtra on the second day in the Ranji Trophy Super League at Rajkot Wednesday.

At stumps, Maharashtra were 53 for 1 after Saurashtra, resuming at 236 for two, declared their innings after playing 70 overs in the day.

Pujara (204 not out), who had smacked three triple centuries in the last season, shared an unbroken 272-run stand with Ravindra Jadeja, who came up with 122.

The 21-year-old, who underwent surgery for a torn ligament on his left knee earlier this year, cracked 22 fours and a six during his 443-minute innings while Jadeja hit seven fours and three sixes.

Opener Sitanshu Kotak, who was unbeaten on 85 Tuesday, also completed his century  hitting 103 off 276 balls.

At  Mumbai,  Himachal Pradesh managed to take a first innings lead against defending champions Mumbai. Himachal had bowled out Mumbai for 162 in their first innings but were packed off for 246 Wednesday. The visitors were reduced to 100 for three before Opener Bhavin Thakkar struck 88, adding 40 more  to his overnight 48 to ensure a first innings lead.  Harmeet Singh (4-89) and Iqbal Abdullah (4-48) took four wickets each.

Before stumps Wednesday,  Mumbai erased 76 of the 84-run lead without losing a wicket. Openers Sahil Kukreja (35) and Ajinkya Rahane (38) were at the crease.

Brief scores:

At Rajkot, Saurashtra vs. Maharashtra: Saurashtra 544/3 declared (Cheteshwar Pujara 204 not out, Ravindra Jadeja 122 not out, Shitanshu Kotak 103; Samad Fallah 2-112);  Maharashtra 53 for one (Rohan Bhosale 25 batting)

At Hyderabad, Hyderabad vs. Gujarat: Hyderabad 209 for seven (Ambati Rayudu 60, Anirudh Singh 61, S. Quadri 52; Siddharth Trivedi 4-35)

At Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh vs. Baroda: Baroda 234 all out (Rakesh Solanki 58, Irfan Pathan 59; Piyush Chawla 4-47, Bhuvneswar Kumar 2-52); Uttar Pradesh 36/0 (Tanmay Srivastava 14 batting, Shivakant Shukla 22 batting)

At Amritsar, Punjab vs. Tamil Nadu: Punjab 228 all out (Pankaj Dharmani 83, Chandan Madan 36; Lakshmipathy Balaji 3-32; Yo Mahesh 2-62; Tamil Nadu 340/6 (Murli Vijay 148, Arun Karthik 73, Abhinav Mukund 61; Sarabjit Ladda 3-90)

At Bhubaneswar, Orissa vs. Railways: Railways 297/8 (V. Cheluvaraj 88, Krishnakant Upadhyay 45 batting; Debasis Mohanty 3-40, Basanth Mohanty 2-58. A.K. Sahoo 2-88)

At Mumbai, Mumbai vs. Himachal Pradesh: Mumbai 162 and 76/0 (Ajinkya Rahane 38 batting, Sahil Kukreja 35 batting); Himachal Pradesh 246 all out (Bhavin Thakkar 88; Harmeet Singh 4-89, Iqbal Abdulla 4-48).