Round four of the 2025/26 Ranji Trophy began on November 8; here's a round-up of all the action from the fourth round of matches.
Elite Group A
Despite securing a 215-run lead against Baroda, Jharkhand neither enforced the follow-on nor declared in the second innings but opted to bat out the last day.
Chasing 345 against defending champions Vidarbha, Odisha reached 100-0 and then 164-2, but their lower order caved in against Parth Rekhade, who claimed his maiden first-class five-wicket haul (5-80): they eventually folded for 244.
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Final scores:
- Vidarbha 286 (Dhruv Shorey 144; Sambit Baral 3-69) and 218-2d (Aman Mokhade 101*, Dhruv Shorey 101) beat Odisha 160 (Gaurav Farde 4-28) and 244 (Swastik Samal 65; Parth Rekhade 5-80) by 100 runs.
- Jharkhand 506 (Kumar Kushagra 234; Mahesh Pithiya 3-156, Bhargav Bhatt 3-123) and 226-4 (Shikhar Mohan 102*; Bhargav Bhatt 3-73) drew with Baroda 291 (Shashwat Rawat 106; Sahil Raj 4-63, Rishav Raj 4-70). Jharkhand got the first-innings lead.
- Games completed on day three: Tamil Nadu 182 and 195 lost to Andhra 177 and 201-6 by four wickets. Uttar Pradesh 535-6d beat Nagaland 117 and 153 by an innings and 265 runs.
Elite Group B
Having obtained the all-important first-innings lead (of 13 runs), Karnataka opted for batting practice on the final day. Mayank Agarwal followed his first-innings 80 with a hundred, while Abhinav Manohar scored 96.
At Thiruvananthapuram, MD Nidheesh got 10 wickets in the match, but Saurashtra had Kerala in a spot of bother when they reduced them to 37-2 and then 96-3. Varun Nayanar and Ahammed Imran then managed to play out time to give Kerala three points.
Madhya Pradesh won a thriller against Goa at Porvorim. Chasing 328 after conceding a 97-run first-innings lead, MP became 49-2 but stayed in the hunt through small partnerships throughout their chase. Goa seemed to claw back when MP slipped from 255-5 to 263-7, but Saransh Jain (4-78, 48, 2-64, 82 not out) continued with his excellent game to seal the win.
Final scores:
- Karnataka 313 (Mayank Agarwal 80; Jalaj Saxena 4-94) and 310-8d (Mayank Agarwal 103; Mukesh Choudhary 3-70) drew with Maharashtra 300 (Jalaj Saxena 72; Shreyas Gopal 4-46). Karnataka got the first-innings lead.
- Goa 284 (Suyash Prabhudessai 65; Saransh Jain 4-78) and 230 (Abhinav Tejrana 69; Kumar Kartikeya 5-81) lost to Madhya Pradesh 187 (Vasuki Koushik 5-34) and 328-7 (Saransh Jain 82*) by three wickets.
- Saurashtra 160 (Jay Gohil 84; MD Nidheesh 6-20) and 402-8d (Chirag Jani 152; MD Nidheesh 4-83) drew with Kerala 233 (Rohan Kunnummal 80; Jaydev Unadkat 4-42) and 154-3 (Varun Nayanar 66*). Kerala got the first-innings lead.
- Games completed on day three: Chandigarh 173 and 195 lost to Punjab 142 and 227-2 by eight wickets.
Elite Group C
Bengal took about an hour on the fourth morning at Surat to take the five remaining Railways wicket to secure an innings win and bag a bonus point. With career-best figures of 7-56, Shahbaz Ahmed led the rout. Mohammed Shami missed this round of the Ranji Trophy.
A marathon batting effort by the Assam batters kept Tripura at bay at Agartala. Assam batted for more than two days (including 117.4 overs in their second innings) to save the game. Tripura needed only seven wickets on the final day, but had to be content with only the first-innings lead as Assam captain Denish Das and Sibsankar Roy got hundreds. The captains agreed to a draw once Assam avoided the innings defeat.
Final score:
- Tripura 602-7d (Hanuma Vihari 156, Vijay Shankar 150*; Darshan Rajbongshi 3-83) drew with Assam 238 (Sibsankar Roy 84*; Swapnil Singh 3-29) and 367-7 (Denish Das 103, Sibsankar Roy 101*; Ajay Sarkar 3-70). Tripura got the first-innings lead.
- Bengal 474 (Anustup Majumdar 135, Sumanta Gupta 120; Kunal Yadav 4-98) beat Railways 222 (Bhargav Merai 91; Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal 4-35) and 132 (Shahbaz Ahmed 7-56) by 162 runs.
- Games completed on day three: Services 248 and 125 lost to Gujarat 256 and 118-4 (Amit Shukla 4-75) by six wickets. Haryana 112 and 148 lost to Uttarakhand 288 by an innings and 28 runs.
Elite Group D
Jammu & Kashmir beat Delhi for the first time, that too at the latter’s home venue. Chasing 179, the visitors were 55-2 at stumps on the third day. They lost only one more wicket on the fourth morning as opener Qamran Iqbal saw them home, hitting 20 fours and three sixes en route to an unbeaten 133 off only 147 balls. At Hyderabad, the home team declared on the final day with a steep target of 340; Rajasthan lost only three wickets as they batted out time.
Final scores:
- Delhi 211 (Ayush Badoni 64; Auqib Nabi 5-35) and 277 (Ayush Badoni 72; Vanshak Sharma 6-68) lost to Jammu & Kashmir 310 (Paras Dogra 106; Simarjeet Singh 6-52) and 179-3 (Qamran Iqbal 133*) by eight wickets.
- Hyderabad 364 (Rahul Radesh 129; Ashok Sharma 3-89) and 244-9d (Rahul Singh 59; Mahipal Lomror 4-51) drew with Rajasthan 269 (Kunal Rathore 83; Chama Milind 3-44) and 207-3 (Salman Khan 79). Hyderabad got the first-innings lead.
- Games completed on day three: Chhattisgarh 377 and 4-0 beat Puducherry 205 and 175 by 10 wickets. Mumbai 446 beat Himachal Pradesh 187 and 139 by an innings and 120 runs.
Plate Group
Momentary drama unfolded in Anand after Mizoram just about managed to avoid the innings defeat. Manipur needed only 12 runs to win, but were soon reduced to 8-5 before eventually winning the game. At Rangpo, Sikkim could not capitalise on a 164-run lead as they took only three Bihar wickets on the final day.
Final score:
- Bihar 265 (Sakibul Gani 66; Ankur Malik 5-81) and 392-6 (Bipin Saurabh 100*; Ankur Malik 3-149) drew with Sikkim 429 (Kranthi Kumar 137; Suraj Kashyap 4-142). Sikkim got the first-innings lead.
- Manipur 400 (Al Bashid Muhammed 126) and 12-5 (Bobby Zothansanga 3-5) lost to Mizoram 143 (Bishworjit Konthoujam 3-23) and 268 (Armaan Jaffer 81; Kishan Singha 5-95) by five wickets.
- Games completed on day three: Meghalaya 628-6d beat Arunachal Pradesh 73 and 109 by an innings and 446 runs.
