Ranji Trophy, Rinku Singh’s career best first-class knock saves UP:Nalkande’s 5-fer leads Vidarbha to victory; Andhra and Odisha also win

Indian all-rounder Rinku Singh played his career-best knock of 176 runs in the Ranji Trophy on Wednesday. With this high-scoring innings from Rinku, Uttar Pradesh secured a lead based on the first innings against Tamil Nadu in the Group A match and earned three points, while Tamil Nadu got one point. Meanwhile, in Nagpur, former champions Vidarbha defeated Baroda by 144 runs, powered by fast bowler Darshan Nalkande. With this win, Vidarbha got six points. With these points, Vidarbha has further strengthened its position at the top of the Group A points table. In other matches, Jharkhand and Odisha won their respective encounters. Rinku’s innings gives a 5-run lead to Uttar Pradesh In Coimbatore, in response to Tamil Nadu’s first innings total of 455 runs, Uttar Pradesh scored 460 runs, taking a 5-run lead. Rinku played a crucial role in giving Uttar Pradesh the lead. He hit 17 fours and 6 sixes in his 247-ball innings. In the lower order, Shivam Mavi also played a useful knock of 54 runs. While India’s national team is struggling to face spinners in Test matches at home, Rinku has presented a strong claim for a place in the team with this innings. Nalkande takes 5 wickets, Vidarbha wins by 144 runs In Nagpur, former champions Vidarbha defeated Baroda by 144 runs, thanks to fast bowler Darshan Nalkande’s career-best bowling (five wickets for 15 runs). While chasing Vidarbha’s target of 276 runs, Baroda had lost 5 wickets for 73 runs on Tuesday. Eventually, the team was bowled out for 131 runs in 50.4 overs. In response to Vidarbha’s first innings total of 169 runs, Baroda had scored 166 runs. Nalkande played a crucial role in Vidarbha’s victory, taking five wickets in an innings for the first time, seven years after his first-class debut. For Baroda, Sukirt Pandey was the top scorer in the second innings with 37 runs. Andhra Pradesh defeated Jharkhand by an innings and 81 runs In Jamshedpur, Andhra Pradesh defeated Jharkhand by an innings and 81 runs. In response to Jharkhand’s 328 runs, Andhra declared their first innings at 567 runs for six wickets. Jharkhand’s team was bowled out for 158 runs in the second innings. Jharkhand faced a defeat by an innings margin. For Andhra, Saurabh Kumar took five wickets for 47 runs, while Tripurana Vijay took three wickets for 39 runs. Andhra received seven points, including a bonus point, from this win. Odisha beats Nagaland in Bhubaneswar Odisha defeated Nagaland by 299 runs in Bhubaneswar. Chasing a target of 465 runs set by Odisha, the Nagaland team was bowled out for 165 runs in the face of sharp bowling by Govinda Poddar (five wickets for 69 runs). Dega Nischal scored the highest 52 runs for Nagaland. Meanwhile, Odisha got six points for registering the win.