Hyderabad registered the lowest total in the history of the Ranji Trophy when they were dismissed for just 21 runs by Rajasthan, as the new season began on a sensational note, in Jaipur, on Monday.
Debutant pacer Deepak Chahar, 18, wreaked havoc, claiming eight wickets for ten runs.
The previous lowest total was registered by Southern Punjab, who were all out of 22 in a chase of 114 against Northern India in Amritsar in 1934-35, in the first edition of the domestic cricket tournament.
Hyderabad also equalled the record for the lowest total in India's first-class cricket history. Way back in 1915-16, Mohammedans were also out for 21, against Bombay Quadrangular.
Hyderabad were all out in 15.3 overs, in 78 minutes, in their first innings in the Plate Division match after host skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar won the toss and elected to field.
Not even a single Hyderabad batsman could manage double digits, three of them even failed to open their account.
Opener Akshat Reddy (6) was the top scorer for the visitors.
Medium pacer Chahar may never have expected such a dream debut as he recorded sensational figures of 7.3-2-10-8.
His pace colleague Pankaj Singh claimed the other two wickets.
Chahar was on a hat-trick after dismissing M P Arjun and Alfred Absolem with the last ball of his seventh over and the first of his eighth, but Pagadala Naidu denied him the feat.
The young paceman's performance though was not the best ever on debut. Maharashtra's Vasant Ranjane had taken nine wickets for 56 runs against Saurashtra in 1956-57.
Rajasthan's batsmen then put their team firmly in the driver's seat, aggregating 220 for two in 72 overs by close on the opening day.
Kanitkar led from the front with the bat, stroking his way to an unbeaten century, inclusive of 12 fours, while Akash Chopra made a steady 65 on debut for Rajasthan.
Brief scores:
Hyderabad (1st innings): 21 all out in 15.3 overs (Deepak Chahar 8-10, Pankaj Singh 2-11)
Rajasthan (1st innings): 220-2 in 72 overs (H Kanitkar 100 not out, R Bist 33 not out, A Chopra 65).
Jaffer's ton gives Mumbai good start
Skipper Wasim Jaffer led from the front with a century, while middle-order batsman Rohit Sharma hit a quickfire 93 as hosts Mumbai amassed 340 for seven on the first day of their Group A Elite division match against Saurashtra in Mumbai.
Coming together at the fall of opener Sushant Marathe's wicket, with the score 105, Jaffer and Sharma added 147 runs for the third wicket in just 25.2 overs as the hosts looked to be on their way to a huge total.
However, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja chipped in with three crucial wickets to trigger a lower middle-order collapse, as Saurashtra took five wickets for just 83 runs to claw their way back into the match.
Earlier, put in to bat, Mumbai, without the the services of Ajinkya Rahane, who failed to recover fully from an injury, had a sedate start, as makeshift opener Omkar Gurav (16), and Sushant Marathe (45) added 37 runs for the first wicket before the former was caught behind off right-arm pacer Jayesh Odedara.
Jaffer and Marathe shared a 68-run partnership for the second wicket, before Marathe met the same fate as Gurav.
It was then that Jaffer 138 (283m, 172b, 4x19, 6x1) and Sharma 93 (103m, 86b 4x14, 6x2) joined hands and took the team's total past 250 in dominating fashion.
Jadeja had other ideas as he prevented Sharma from completing a well-deserved ton, having him caught by debutant Jaidev Unadkat.
Abhishek Nayar (24) and Prashant Naik (7) could not do much, but the big blow for the hosts came when a well-set Jaffer was caught behind late in the day off Rakesh Dhruv.
Romesh Powar (1) too was dismissed by Jadeja, as Ajit Agarkar (10 not out) and Iqbal Abdullah (1 not out) held fort till stumps were drawn for the day.
For Saurashtra, Jadeja ended the day with figures of 3-100, while Odedara (2-71) and Dhruv (2-51) shared two wickets apiece.
Brief scores:
Mumbai (1st innings): 340-7 in 90 overs (Wasim Jaffer 138, Rohit Sharma 93, Sushant Marathe 45; Ravindra Jadeja 3-100, J Odedara 2-71, Rakesh Dhruv 2-51).
Yuvraj, Goel hit half-centuries
India's Test discard Yuvraj Singh hit a brisk half-century, while Karan Goel was unbeaten on a steady 56, as Punjab amassed 276 for six on day one of their Ranji Trophy Super League match against Uttar Pradesh in Meerut.
Sarul Kanwar gave the hosts, who elected to bat, a flying start, scoring 42 from as many balls, including eight boundaries; he put on 55 for the opening wicket with Ravi Inder Singh (13).
But both the openers fell in the space of two overs, to pacer Praveen Kumar, leaving Punjab in a spot of bother at 56 for two.
Yuvraj, who was dropped from the Indian Test side, was comfortable out in the middle as he cruised to a half-century. But he was guilty of not carrying on to play a big knock, bowled by Kumar for 52, who took three for 68 in 25 overs.
Piyush Chawla also helped restrict the batsmen, claiming two for 51 in 25 overs.
Goel then steadied the Punjab innings, first with Bhalla, and then with Harmeet Singh, who contributed a valuable 29. Goel shared a partnership of 72 runs with Bhalla before adding another 64 runs with Harmeet to take his team to safety.
Brief scores:
Punjab (1st innings): 279 for six in 90 overs (Goel 56 not out, Yuvraj 52; Praveen 3-68) vs Uttar Pradesh.
Bengal batsmen make merry on Day 1
Opener Arindam Das responded to skipper Manoj Tiwary's decision to bat first, scoring an unbeaten 150 as Bengal put up 313 for 2 against Delhi in a Group A Super League match of the Ranji Trophy at the Ferozshah Kotla in Delhi.
Giving Arindam company was captain Tiwary, who looked in fine nick, scoring an unbeaten 47 (80 balls, 4x6) and adding 110 runs for the unbroken third-wicket partnership.
Delhi captain Mithun Manhas at the toss said it was a good toss to lose as he wanted to bowl first having three frontline seamers in Pradeep Sangwan, Parwinder Awana and Sumit Narwal apart from back-up option in Rajat Bhatia.
However, the Kotla track turned out to be lifeless, offering very little help to the bowlers, as Arindam showed lot of application and completed his seventh century in first-class cricket.
The Delhi seamers tried their best throughout the day without success on a track where the ball did not rise above the knee for the better part of the day, and the odd delivery turning into shooters.
It was captain Manhas's 16 overs of part-time off-spin that gave Delhi the two wickets to fall.
Arindam, who batted for all of 387 minutes, hit 19 boundaries during his 238-ball knock.
He was rarely troubled by the Delhi bowlers during the day. He and fellow-opener Shreevats Goswami (68, 124 balls, 10x4, 1x6) scored freely, adding 115 runs in the opening session.
With the bowlers hardly getting any movement the only thing that the Bengal batsmen needed to be careful was the low bounce.
Shreevats was the dominant partner during the opening stand as hit some delightful shots square of the wicket. There were few shots past the third man region but all were intended ones and with absolutely no carry in the strip, the ball did not fly to the slip cordon.
Shreevats, who was unbeaten on 61 at lunch hit a straight six off Manhas but his impetuousity cost him as he was holed out at mid-on by Narwal while trying to hoick the Delhi skipper again.
Then came a quiet phase of play when debutant Abhishek Chowdhury who was inducted in place of Abhishek Jhunjhunwala failed to get going. Neither was he able to rotate the strike nor was he able to hit boundaries as he consumed 99 deliveries for his painstaking 20 but Arindam duly completed his century hitting Awana to mid-wicket boundary.
Chowdhury's agony was ended by Manhas when he got one to drift in and found the batsman's pads although the decision seemed a debatable one.
The final session which yielded 116 runs in 28 overs was the most exciting one for the visitors as both Arindam and Tiwary played some delightful strokes. With leggie Chetanya Nanda looking horribly out of form (he bowled seven out of 13 no-balls), Manhas didn't have much options to fall back on.
The Tiwary-Arindam duo, who practise under the same coach during off-season, matched each other stroke for stroke.
If Arindam square drove Bhatia followed by nice tuck to the mid-wicket boundary, Tiwary was seen going inside-out to hit Nanda through covers which forced the bowler to pack leg-side with five-men and bowl a negative line. The best stroke of the day, however, was a classical cover drive off Awana that raced to the boundary.
Balaji gives TN upper hand
India medium pacer Lakshmipathy Balaji claimed four wickets to help Tamil Nadu enjoy an upper hand as the hosts were 21 for no loss after skittling out Assam for 184 in their first innings on the opening day of their four-day Elite-A Ranji Trophy match, in Chennai.
At stumps, Tamil Nadu openers, Abhinav Mukund (8) and S Anirduha (13) were at the crease.
Put in to bat on a sunny day this morning, Assam's top order -- Dheeraj Jadhav (4), Sridharan Sriram (14), captain Amol Mazumdar (0) -- failed miserably to leave the visitors tottering at 73 for four.
Debutant medium pacer Sunil Sam, trained by Australian Speedster Dennis Lillee, gave the hosts its first wicket, dismissing opener Jadhav, caught by wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik.
Balaji, who maintained a steady line and length, dismissed Sriram, Mazumdar and then a settled opener, Parvez Aziz, caught by Subramaniam Badrinath, to push Assam at the back foot.
Aziz was the top scorer making 36 runs off 87 balls studded with four boundaries.
From 85 for four at lunch and at one stage 118 for 4, Assam were reduced to 123 for seven.
Balaji in his second spell after the lunch break claimed three wickets in five overs, of which one was a maiden and gave away 14 runs.
Tarjinder Singh (25) and Dhiraj Goswami (25) resisted the attack for some time. Earlier, Deepak Sharma, who was run out for 27, added 45 runs for the fifth wicket in 18.3 overs.
For Tamil Nadu, Balaji remained chief wicket taker with 4 for 53 and Aushik Srinivasan, left-arm orthodox spinner was impressive with 2 wickets for eight runs.
Tamil Nadu captain and wicket keeper Dinesh Karthik pouched four victims and was involved in a run out.
Brief scores:
Assam (first innings) 184 all out in 72.2 overs (Parvez Aziz 36, Deepak Sharma 27, Tarjinder Singh 25, Dhiraj Goswami 25, L./Balaji 4 for 53 and Aushik Srinivas 2 for 8) and Tamil Nadu (first innings) 21 for no loss (A.Mukund 8 not out, S Anirudha not out).
Middle order lifts Gujarat
A good show by their middle-order batsmen helped Gujarat reached 234 for four against Railways on the first day of the Ranji trophy Super League Group A match, at the Karnail Singh stadium, in Delhi.
Bhavik Thaker scored an unbeaten 54 while Niraj Patel (46) and Parthiv Patel (36) also chipped in with useful contributions to help Gujarat recover from 58 for two.
Thaker and debutante Pratharesh Parmar (28) were at the crease at stumps.
Put into bat, Gujarat made a cautious start with openers Jay Desai (26) and Priyank Kirit Panchal (16) taking their time to score runs, dealing mainly in ones and twos.
All-rounder Sanjay Bangar dealt the first blow, removing Desai in the 28th over and to make things worse for Gujarat, Panchal also was sent packing by Sailender Gehlot just four balls later.
At 58 for two, Niraj took the onus on himself and stitched a 74-run third wicket partnership with Parthiv, before the latter was caught by Vairamudi Cheluvaraj off Salil Yadav's bowling in the 52nd over.
Parthiv scored four boundaries in his cameo.
Niraj, who hit seven fours in his 99-ball innings, and Thaker then tried to steady the ship but the former was run out by Tejinder Pal Singh as Gujarat were reduced to 163 for four.
Thaker then starred in an unfinished 71-run partnership with Parmar to take his team across the 200 mark. The 28-year-old right-handed batsman cracked eight fours and a six in his innings so far.
For Railways, Bangar, Gehlot and Yadav shared one wicket each giving away 32, 46 and 69 runs respectively.
Brief scores:
Gujarat first innings: 234 for four in 90 overs (Niraj Patel 46, Bhavik Thaker 54 not out, PR Parmar 28 not out; Sanjay Bangar 1/32).
Pacer Basanth cripples Baroda
Right-arm pacer Basanth Mohanty wrecked havoc in overcast conditions with a fiver and helped Orissa gain the upper-hand after restricting Baroda to a paltry 99 for nine at the end of the rain-marred opening day of the Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match in Cuttack.
After Orissa elected to bowl first on a wet Barabati stadium pitch, Mohanty made most of the conditions as he scalped five wickets for 24 runs off his 12 overs to spell the doom on Baroda.
He was ably supported by senior pro Debasis Mohanty, Alok Chandra Sahoo and left-arm spinner Dhiraj Singh, who picked a wicket each.
For Baroda only three batsmen could reach double figures in the day with Rakesh Solanki being the lone bright spot with an unbeaten 44.
Yusuf Pathan (10) and Murtuja Vahora (12) were the other batsmen to have made double digit scores.
With overnight rains rendering the ground wet, the match started half an hour late and Das had no hesitation in opting to bowl after winning the toss.
His decision was backed by some fine seam bowling display by the Mohanty duo with Basanth being the more dangerous as Baroda lost half of their side with just 46 on the board.
But Solanki did put up some resistance with a cautious 44 that came off 88 deliveries and was studded with seven fours.
Badani shines for Haryana
Left-hand batsman Hemang Badani hit an unbeaten half-century to help Haryana post 204 for four against Himachal Pradesh in their Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match in Dharmasala on Monday.
Badani blasted eight boundaries and a six in his 156-ball knock, while R Dewan (46) and Manav Sharma (49) also made useful contributions to take Haryana across the 200-run mark.
Badani and Dhruv Singh were at the crease at draw of stumps, at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium.
Put into bat, Haryana had a shaky start, losing opener Nitin Saini (5) in the 11th over, courtesy Jitender Mehta, who had the opener caught by Ashok Thakur.
Dewan and Sunny Singh (19) then tried to steady the ship and took Haryana across the 50-run mark but the latter was soon run-out by Paras Dogra.
Dewan and Manav then added another 34 runs before Thakur had the opener in the 40th over as Haryana were reduced to 88 for three.
Manav then stitched a 74-run partnership with Badani, but Mehta denied the former a well-deserved half-century as he fell short by one run.
Badani then ensured that there were no more hiccups and along with Dhruv Singh took Haryana across the 200-mark.
For Himachal Pradesh, Jitender Mehta scalped two wickets for 38 runs, while Thakur took one for 40.
