Ranji trophy: Double ton by Juneja goes in vain

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The bat continued its domination as debutant Manprit Juneja slammed an unbeaten double-century (201, 324b, 26x4, 3x6) to help Gujarat earn a crucial point against Tamil Nadu on the final day of their Ranji Trophy match at the Sardar Patel Stadium here on Friday.

Gujarat, in reply to Tamil Nadu's first innings score of 698, were eventually bowled out for 539 in 146 overs -- a deficit of 159 runs. Meanwhile table-toppers Tamil Nadu garnered three points.

Manprit, who was unbeaten on 84 at the end of third days' play, carried on from where he had left. The tall middle-order batsman was affluent with his stroke-making and took on a jaded Tamil Nadu attack with élan.

Manprit reached the magical triple-figure-mark cracking Yo Mahesh to the boundary (his 18th overall) through a trademark on-drive. His century came off 177 balls, while the next hundred was collected in 126 deliveries.

Pratharesh Parmar, who walked out with Manprit in the morning, scored a patient 66 (193b, 7x4), but the 277 minutes that he spent at the crease proved to be invaluable for Gujarat. The pair added 189 runs (the highest partnership of their innings) in 67.1 overs. Later, all-rounder Jesal Karia (72, 74b, 12x4, 2x6) joined Manprit to stitch a brisk 113-run sixth-wicket stand from 22.1 overs.

Tamil Nadu have no one but only themselves to blame. Had they held on to a couple of early chances the game might have opened up. The duo (Manprit in particular) took complete advantage of the slip-ups.
R. Prasanna, had a rigid day on the field.

The specialist close-in fielder dropped regulation catches of Manprit when the batsman was on 107 and 197. Speedster J. Kaushik was the sufferer on both occasions. Earlier, the same fielder fluffed a difficult chance of Parmar's blade in the sixth over of the day sent down by L. Balaji.

The bowlers toiled hard but with minimal returns. Kaushik was the most impressive and his perseverance earned him three wickets. Aushik Srinivas also helped himself to three wickets by cleaning up the tail.
Understandably the follow-on was not forced. M. Vijay and Abhinav Mukund put on a century stand in 14