The sixth round of the 2023/24 Ranji Trophy finished today (February 12). Here is how the India hopefuls fared in the latest round of fixtures.
Cheteshwar Pujara continued his run-scoring spree. Against Rajasthan, he scored his second hundred of the season, scoring 110 in the first innings before following it up with 25 in the second. He currently sits fourth on the list of highest run-scorers in the tournament this season with 673 runs at 74.77.
Hanuma Vihari had a middling game against Uttar Pradesh. He failed to make an impact in the first innings, scoring 11, before getting out just short of a half-century in the second (48). He’s had a decent season so far, scoring 424 runs at 47.11, but those numbers might not be enough to break into the Test team.
Ajinkya Rahane broke his recent run of low scores this season, having only reach double figures once in his first six innings of the competition. Rahane scored his first half-century of the season in this round, making an unbeaten 56 in the second dig. From seven innings this season, he has mustered only 90 runs.
Rinku Singh scored 26 in the only innings where Uttar Pradesh batted against Andhra.
Prithvi Shaw announced his comeback in style, scoring a rapid century on the first day against Chhattisgarh. In fact, he reached his hundred before lunch on day one, scoring 159 off 185 balls in a knock that included 18 fours and three sixes. Shaw then followed it up with another decent outing, scoring 45 off 58 balls in the second innings.
Shardul Thakur did not have the best of games. With the bat, he scored 11 in the first innings before making 31 off 59 in the second. The only time Mumbai bowled, Shardul was ineffective, conceding 77 runs in 19 overs at over 4 runs per over without taking a wicket.
Saurabh Kumar, who is part of the India Test squad for the England series, took 2-65 in the first innings against Andhra before bowling a marathon spell of 48 overs in the second innings and finishing with figures of 5-116. In case he is called upon to make his Test debut in the series against England, he has good recent form to fall back upon.
Mayank Agarwal had a disappointing game against Tamil Nadu, registering scores of 20 and 11 in the first and second innings respectively.
Akash Deep, the Bengal seamer who has received his maiden call-up to the Indian Test side for the last three Tests against England, took one wicket for 65 runs in the only innings he bowled against Kerala.
Umran Malik, the discarded quick from Jammu and Kashmir, had a strange game, bowling just three overs in the first innings against Puducherry for figures of 0-15. In the second innings, he came out to open the batting for J&K, before not taking the ball at all in the fourth innings of the match.
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