Ranji Trophy 2015-16: Top 6 Performances of Round 7

Shreyas Iyer's purple patch continued in Round 7 as well.

With the seventh round of Ranji Trophy 2015-16 having ended on November 18, 2015, a few cricketers from amongst 24 teams stood out from the rest with the help of some distinguished performances. Among the batsmen— Shreyas Iyer, Natraj Behera and Sudip Chatterjee played exceedingly well. On the other hand, Sandeep Warrier and Umesh Yadav were the pick of the bowlers. Kerala’s cricketer Fabib Ahmed chipped in with both bat and ball. After the seventh round— Delhi, Mumbai and Saurashtra are at the top in Group A, B and C respectively. Bhaskar Narayan takes a look at the top six performances of round seven before Ranji Trophy resumes with round eight on November 23. LIVE CRICKET COVERAGE: RANJI TROPHY 2015-16

1. Shreyas Iyer’s purple patch continues:  Shreyas Iyer, who was instrumental in Mumbai’s success in the tournament, displayed his batting prowess in round seven as well. In the match against Railways at Wankhede Stadium, Shreyas contributed 57 and 91 runs in the two innings in his usual flamboyant fashion. His 91-run knock was special as it was made in the fourth innings of the match when the pitch had deteriorated. He struck five boundaries and two sixes en route his 91 at an impressive strike rate of 81.25. Mumbai won the match by six wickets. Shreyas now has 781 runs from six matches and leads the scoring charts. Mumbai is at the top spot in team standings of Group B.

2. Natraj Behera’s mammoth 255: Odisha batsman Natraj Behera slammed 255 in Odisha’s first innings against Haryana at Rohtak. He hit 19 shots to the fence and three huge sixes to help Odisha go past 500 in the first innings. Although the match ended in a draw, Odisha’s first innings lead fetched them three points. This was Behera’s highest First-Class score. He is now Odisha’s second highest run-getter in the tournament after Govinda Poddar. Odisha now climbs up to sixth position in Group A.

3. Sudip Chatterjee’s epic 147: Bengal batsman Sudip Chatterjee slammed his fourth century of the tournament against Maharashtra in Pune. He carted 19 fours in his knock. Sudip is now the fifth highest run-scorer in Ranji Trophy 2015-16. Riding on Sudip’s hundred, Bengal declared their first innings on 528 for eight. Maharashtra in reply got bundled out for 406. Bengal got six points for taking first innings lead. They are now at sixth position in Group A. ALSO READ: Shreyas Iyer: The next big thing in Indian cricket

4. Sandeep Warrier picks 9 for 75: Kerala’s right-arm medium-fast bowler Sandeep Warrier helped his team win against Goa by an innings and 83 runs at Porvorim in Goa. Kerala chose to bat in the match and posted a hefty  441. After the batting onslaught, Warrier decimated Goa by taking six wickets with which the hosts got bowled out for 191. Following-on, Goa again crumbled under pressure, this time on a paltry 167. Warrier picked three wickets in the second innings. Kerala is now at fourth spot in Group A.

5. Umesh Yadav takes a hat-trick: Vidarbha bowler Umesh Yadav took a hat-trick and thereby helped his team win against Rajasthan by eight wickets. He picked the last three wickets in consecutive deliveries in Rajasthan’s first innings. His victims were Kukna Ajay Singh, Aniket Choudhary and Nathu Singh. Choudhary and Nathu were bowled. Overall he took four wickets in the match, the fourth being top-order batsman Pranay Sharma.  With this victory Vidarbha jump three places to fifth spot just after Delhi in Group A.

6. Fabib Ahmed’s all-round show: Fabib Ahmed cracked a quickfire century to help Kerala register a brilliant 441 in the first innings against Goa at Porvorim. He made 106 off 122 odd balls with the help of eight boundaries and seven sixes. Hosts never recovered from there on and were bowled out for 191 and 167 in their first and second innings respectively. Fabib chipped in with two wickets each in the two innings. His overall figures were 4-78. He was also adjudged player of the match. Ranji Trophy 2015-16: Points Table and Team Standings after Round 7

(Bhaskar Narayan is a reporter at CricketCountry and Criclife. He passionately follows the game and is a big fan of Sachin Tendulkar. His Twitter handle is @Cricopathy)

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