Round five of the 2025/26 Ranji Trophy ran from November 16 to 19. Here is a round-up of all the action from the fifth round of matches.
Elite Group A
Led by Saurabh Kumar (5-47), Andhra needed a little more than a session on the final day to complete an innings win against Jharkhand. Nagaland caved in against Odisha once their dogged second-wicket stand ended. Rinku Singh’s 176 helped Uttar Pradesh secure the all-important first-innings lead against Tamil Nadu. Baroda lasted barely an hour on the the last day against Vidarbha.
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Final scores:
- Jharkhand 328 (Sharandeep Singh 115; KV Sasikanth 4-67, Saurabh Kumar 4-77) and 158 (Sharandeep Singh 65; Saurabh Kumar 5-47) lost to Andhra 567-6d (Abhishek Reddy 247) by an innings and 81 runs.
- Odisha 275 (Anil Parida 118*; Imliwati Lemtur 3-26) and 350-5d (Swastik Samal 169, Subhranshu Senapati 137) beat Nagaland 161 (Dega Nischal 72; Govinda Poddar 3-22) and 165 (Dega Nischal 52; Govinda Poddar 5-69) by 299 runs.
- Tamil Nadu 455 (Baba Indrajith 149, C Andre Siddharth 121; Kartik Yadav 5-103) and 103-2 (B Sachin 59) drew with Uttar Pradesh 460 (Rinku Singh 176; P Vidyuth 4-73). Uttar Pradesh got the first-innings lead.
- Vidarbha 169 (Ninad Rathva 5-47) and 272 (Yash Rathod 91; Atit Sheth 5-47) beat Baroda 166 (Vishnu Solanki 59*; Nachiket Bhute 3-24) and 131 (Darshan Nalkande 5-12) by 144 runs.
Elite Group B
At Rajkot, Goa withered away in front of Parth Bhut’s (7-56) left-arm spin to lose by an innings against Saurashtra. Kerala batted for 20 overs in the last day, setting Madhya Pradesh 404 for a win. They then had MP at 126-8, but Aryan Pandey and Kumar Kartikeya played out nearly 20 overs to save the match.
Final scores:
- Saurashtra 585-7d (Prerak Mankad 155, Sammar Gujjar 116; Darshan Misal 4-195) beat Goa 358 (Abhinav Tejrana 118; Yuvrajsinh Dodiya 6-98) and 180 (Parth Bhut 7-56) by an innings and 47 runs.
- Kerala 281 (Baba Aparajith 98; Arshad Khan 4-54) and 314-5d (Sachin Baby 122, Baba Aparajith 105rh; Saransh Jain 3-61) drew with Madhya Pradesh 192 (Saransh Jain 67; Eden Apple Tom 4-55) and 167-8 (Sreehari Nair 4-51). Kerala got the first-innings lead.
- Games completed on day three: Maharashtra 350 beat Punjab 151 and 107 by an innings and 92 runs. Karnataka 547-8d beat Chandigarh 222 and 140 by an innings and 185 runs.
Elite Group C
Trailing by 242 in the first innings, Assam resumed the final day on 98-3. Bengal had them at 238-7 and then 251-8, but the tail held on resolutely, and Bengal had to remain content with a first-innings lead. From 107-1, Uttarakhand collapsed to 197 as Gujarat triumphed by an innings. Services completed a massive win against Haryana less than an hour after play began on the last day.
Final scores:
- Assam 200 (Swarupam Purkayastha 62; Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal 3-24) and 282-9 (Denish Das 73; Shahbaz Ahmed 4-57) drew with Bengal 442 (Shahbaz Ahmed 101). Bengal got the first-innings lead.
- Gujarat 324-8d (Jaymeet Patel 100; Jagmohan Nagarkoti 4-65) and 291-5d (Aarya Desai 80; Mayank Mishra 3-78) beat Uttarakhand 272 (Kunal Chandela 116; Vishal Jayswal 3-29) and 197 (Aarav Mahajan 60; Vishal Jayswal 4-72) by 146 runs.
- Services 205(Rahul Rathee 4-59) and 283-7d (Rajat Paliwal 61) beat Haryana 111 (Amit Shukla 8-27) and 166 (Pulkit Narang 5-66) by 211 runs.
- Games completed on day three: Tripura 136 and 193 lost to Railways 446-9d by an innings and 117 runs.
Elite Group D
Mumbai needed less than hour on the final day to beat Puducherry by an innings. Ravi Kiran (6-90) ensured a massive first-innings lead for Chhattisgarh against Himachal Pradesh. The last three Hyderabad wickets survived only 32 balls as Jammu & Kashmir continued with their impressive run. Following on 274 runs behind, Delhi slipped to 239-5 before Yash Dhull (189) saved the game against Rajasthan.
Mumbai (24) and Jammu & Kashmir (20) seem well set to qualify: with two games still to play, the others are at least seven points behind them.
Final scores:
- Mumbai 630-5d (Siddhesh Lad 170, Akash Anand 107*) beat Puducherry 132 (Mohit Kale 53; Shardul Thakur 3-22) and 276 (Aman Khan 86; Tushar Deshpande 3-32) by an innings and 222 runs.
- Chhattisgarh 585-6d (Amandeep Khare 101*, Mayank Verma 112) and 15-0 drew with Himachal Pradesh 425 (Ankit Kalsi 204; Ravi Kiran 6-90). Chhattisgarh got the first-innings lead.
- Jammu & Kashmir 170 (Abid Mushtaq 57; Tanay Thyagarajan 3-19) and 422 (Abdul Samad 125; Tanay Thyagarajan 4-87) beat Hyderabad 121 (Auqib Nabi 4-39, Sunil Kumar 5-29) and 190 (Abid Mushtaq 7-68) by 281 runs.
- Rajasthan 570-7d (Kunal Singh Rathore 102, Mahipal Lomror 128*, Kartik Sharma 120; Simarjeet Singh 3-81) drew with Delhi 296 (Arpit Rana 62, Vaibhav Kandpal 62; Jaideep Singh 3-36) and 316-7 (Yash Dhull 189; Kukna Ajay Singh 3-92). Rajasthan got the first-innings lead.
Plate Group
A thrilling day's cricket unfolded at Patna after Armaan Jaffer and Joseph Lalthankhuma both got their second hundreds of the match. Riding on their rapid hundreds, Mizoram set Bihar 248 in a session. Despite the absence of Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Bihar took only 27.4 overs to complete the chase. It turned out to be crucial, as Meghalaya opted for batting practice at Surat and settled for three points against Manipur.
As a result, Manipur (18) and Bihar (16) qualified for the Plate Final ahead of Meghalaya (15) and Sikkim (15).
Final scores:
- Mizoram 509 (Armaan Jaffer 193, Joseph Lalthankhuma 101; Khalid Alam 3-80) and 260-6d (Armaan Jaffer 119*, Joseph Lalthankhuma 101) lost to Bihar 522 (Mangal Mahrour 102, Ayush Loharuka 136; Lalrempuia 3-153) and 251-3 (Mangal Mahrour 67) by 7 wickets.
- Meghalaya 430 (Ajay Duhan 102, Rahul Dalal 151) and 239-4d (Rahul Dalal 103*; Bishworjit Konthoujam 3-85) drew with Manipur 342 (Pheiroijam Jotin 86) and 72-1 (Ronald Longjam 51*). Meghalaya got the first-innings lead.
- Games completed on day three: Arunachal Pradesh 91 and 104 lost to Sikkim 514-7d by an innings and 319 runs.
