SPO-RANJI-UTTARAKHAND

Ranji QF: Ramaswamy, Jaffer hits tons, lead Vidarbha's charge
    Nagpur, Jan 16 (PTI) Veteran Wasim Jaffer and opener
Sanjay Ramaswamy struck unbeaten centuries as Vidarbha took
command against Uttarakhand on the second day of their Ranji
Trophy quarter-final match here Wednesday.
    At close of play, Vidarbha reached 260/1 in the first
innings, in response to Uttarakhand's 355, with Ramaswamy (112
not out) and Jaffer (111 not out) holding fort.
    The hosts are still adrift by 95 runs at the end of
day two at the Vidarbha Cricket Association's stadium at
Jamtha on the city's outskirts.
    But the day clearly belonged to Ramaswamy and Jaffer,
who conjured an unbeaten 215-run stand for the second wicket
after a rare failure by skipper Faiz Fazal (29) who perished
early.
    Fazal was dismissed by right-arm medium pacer Deepak
Dhapola.
    Jaffer in the process struck his fourth ton of this
Ranji season, having already hit hundreds in the league stage
against Mumbai, Gujarat and Baroda.
    In his 153-ball stay at the crease so far, the 40-year
-old batsman has hammered 13 boundaries, while his partner
Ramaswamy hit 16 fours in his 212-ball innings so far as the
duo took an inexperienced Uttarakhand bowlers to task.
    Earlier, resuming the day on 293 for six, Uttarakhand
added 62 runs to their overnight score before bundling out for
a respectable 355, with Saurabh Rawat top-scoring with 108.
    Rawat, who was unbeaten on 68, added 40 runs to his
tally as he notched up a deserving hundred.
    However, apart from Rawat, other lower-order batsmen
failed to make a mark for the visitors.
    Vidarbha bowlers, led by speedster Umesh Yadav,
ensured that the opponents did not score big.
    Yadav, who played the Test match at Perth against
Australia late last year, was the pick of the bowlers for the
hosts as he returned with figures of 4-90.
    Brief Scores: Uttarakhand 355 (Saurabh Rawat 108,
Avneesh Sudha 91; Umesh Yadav 4-90, Akshay Wakhare 2-46)
versus Vidarbha 260/1 (Sanjay Ramaswamy 112 not out, Wasim
Jaffer 111 not out; Deepak Dhapola 1-45). PTI NRB SSR
RSY RSY