Rohera ton puts Puducherry in command vs Delhi

New Delhi, Nov 2 (PTI) Opener Ajay Rohera mixed caution with aggression en route his unbeaten 107 to put Puducherry on course for a first innings lead against a bungling Delhi in a group D encounter of the Ranji Trophy here on Sunday. At stumps on the second day, Puducherry reached 240 for 4, riding on Rohera's 139-ball unbeaten knock that had 16 boundaries. This was after Delhi managed a below par first innings score of 294 after starting the day at 248 for 6.

While left-handed Sumit Mathur, who has had a steady presence in Delhi middle-order remained unbeaten on 71 with 11 fours and a six, there wasn't much support from the lower-order with Hrithik Shokeen (30) unable to convert his start.

For Puducherry, their player-cum-mentor Sagar Udeshi, the 39-year-old left-arm spinner, got 4 for 36 while Abin Matthew got three wickets.

When Puducherry batted, Rohera, a former MP keeper-batter, was solid in both attack and defence with Delhi bowlers not proving to be incisive enough, barring Simarjeet Singh (2/50) who produced two wicket-taking deliveries in first and last spell of the day.

Rohera added 91 for the second wicket with Paras Ratnaparkhe (43) and another 93 for the third wicket with Anand Bais (48) as Puducherry now require 55 runs to get the all-important first innings lead and ensure at least three points.

Deepak Hooda smashes ton to put Rajasthan in lead vs Mumbai ============================================== Former India T20 specialist Deepak Hooda hit an unbeaten 121 as Rajasthan raced to a 83-run first innings lead against title contenders Mumbai in a group D encounter in Jaipur.

After Mumbai were bowled out for 254 on day 1, Rajasthan ended the second day at a solid 337 for 4, thanks to Hooda's innings that had 13 boundaries.

The other significant contributor was opener Sachin Yadav (92 off 162 balls), who hit 15 fours and added 94 with skipper Mahipal Lomror (41) for the second wicket and 92 for the third wicket with Hooda.

Brief Scores In New Delhi: Delhi 1st Innings 294 (Sanat Sangwan 99, Sumit Mathur 71, Sagar Udeshi 4/36) Puducherry 1st Innings 240/4 (Ajay Rohera 107 batting, Simarjeet Singh 2/50).

In Jaipur: Mumbai 1st Innings 254.

Rajasthan 1st Innings 337/4 (Deepak Hooda 121 no, Sachin Yadav 92).

In Nadaun: Himachal Pradesh 1st Innings 318 (Akash Vashist 118, Tanay Thyagrajan 4/80).

Hyderabad 1st Innings 274/8 (Chama Milind 94 not out, Divesh Sharma 3/66).

In Raipur: Jammu and Kashmir 1st Innings 394 (Shubham Khajuria 190, Paras Dogra 59, Ravi Kiran 7/82) Chhattisgarh 1st Innings 75/1 (Ayush Pandey 32 batting, Umar Nazir Mir 1/23). PTI KHS KHS ATK