Andhra, Saurashtra and Punjab Secure Three Points After Ranji Trophy Draws

Andhra, Saurashtra and Punjab secured three points each after gaining first-innings leads in their drawn Ranji Trophy Elite Group B matches on Wednesday. Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Assam collected one point each.

Hosts Andhra dominated their match against last season’s runners-up Karnataka, taking a 144-run first-innings lead after scoring 418 in reply to Karnataka’s 274. Karnataka resumed their second innings at 176/4 and eventually declared at 337/9 in 103 overs, with Karun Nair unbeaten on 155, including 16 fours and two sixes.

Chasing a target of 194, Andhra slipped to 43/4 but recovered through SV Rahul (35 not out) and Revanth Reddy (20 not out). The hosts finished at 104/4 in 44 overs when the match was drawn. India batter KL Rahul had a disappointing outing, scoring one and four across the two innings. Lalith Mohan took five wickets for 118 runs for Andhra.

In Rajkot, Saurashtra secured three points after taking an 80-run first-innings lead against Chhattisgarh. India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja scored 102 off 209 balls, including seven fours, as Saurashtra posted 392. Chhattisgarh were dismissed for 312 in 121.5 overs.

Saurashtra strengthened their position in the second innings, reaching 229/1 in 67 overs with an overall lead of 309 runs. Harvik Desai contributed 68, while Chirag Jani remained unbeaten on 127.

In Mullanpur, Punjab earned three points after declaring at 478/6 in response to Assam’s first-innings total of 373. Assam reached 157/6 in 61 overs in their second innings when the match ended in a draw. Denish Das top-scored with 45, while Umesh Yadav and Harpreet Brar claimed two wickets each for Punjab.

Meanwhile, Hyderabad registered an innings-and-40-run victory over Tripura on the third day of the opening round, moving to the top of the Group B points table.

The results kept the competition closely contested, with first-innings leads proving decisive in all three drawn matches.