
Courtesy: BCCI
On day three of the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 Elite, Group C match, Punjab captain Shubman Gill scored an impressive hundred at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, but despite that, his team suffered a defeat by an innings and 207 runs. After being bowled out for just 55 runs in just 29 overs during their first innings on the first morning of the contest, Shubman Gill-led Punjab had their task cut out, to make a comeback into the match, which they weren’t able to pull off despite the heroics of their captain.
In response to skittling out Punjab relatively cheaply, the Karnataka batters took full toll on the pitch which kept on improving for batting as time went along. Every batter in the Karnataka lineup got into double figures, but it was the double hundred from Ravichandran Smaran, who scored 203 runs in 277 balls with 25 fours and three maximums, which propelled their total to 475 runs in 122.1 overs, taking a massive first innings lead of 420 runs.
Shubman Gill scored his 14th First-Class hundred in Ranji Trophy 2024-25 clash
With such a big mountain to climb in their second innings, Punjab kept losing wickets at regular intervals while Shubman Gill at the other end tried valiantly to keep them in the match. The right-handed batter shared a 63-run stand for the seventh wicket with Mayank Markande, who scored 27 off 35, and shortly afterwards, he completed a yet another First-Class hundred, but when his wicket fell on 102 runs in 171 balls with 14 fours and three maximums, Punjab were headed towards an inevitable defeat.
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Shreyas Gopal picked the final wicket of Gurnoor Brar, to help bundle out Punjab for 213 runs in 63.4 overs, and secure a massive win for Karnataka, giving them a decent chance to make it through to the knockout round of the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 season. As far as Punjab are concerned, this defeat has sealed their fate in regards to reaching the knockout round of the tournament, finding themselves in fifth place in the Elite, Group C standings currently.