A summary of all the action from Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Tuesday.
Himachal Pradesh seamers made full use of early morning moisture as they shot out hosts Haryana out for a lowly 46 before their batters took full advantage of the eased-out conditions to take control on the opening day of their group A Ranji Trophy match in Rohtak on Tuesday.
At stumps, HP were 246 for 1, riding on opener Prashant Chopra's century (137) and his 219-run opening stand with Raghav Dhawan (86 batting). Himachal as of now look favourites to win the match outright with three days of play still left.
Haryana skipper Himanshu Rana's decision to bat first on a December morning at the forever seamer-friendly Chaudhary Bansi Lal Stadium track at Lahli backfired badly as KKR seamer Vaibhav Arora (4/15), right-arm medium pacers Sidharth Sharma (3/12) and rookie Kanwr Abhinay (2/1) shared the bulk of the spoils. The team's senior-most pro Rishi Dhawan also got a wicket.
The Haryana innings folded in just 20.4 overs as Arora blew the top order with wickets in the third, fifth and seventh overs of the innings. There was no looking back after that as the underlying moisture did play a part and the relentless pressure did the rest.
Save India's U-19 World Cup star Nishant Sindhu (19), none of the other 10 Haryana batters could reach double-digits.
By the time Chopra and Dhawan came out to bat, the wicket had eased and they got full value of their shots.
The two spinners -- left-armer Sindhu (0/51) and the seasoned Jayant Yadav (0/47) -- gave away nearly 100 runs (98) in the 20 overs between them.
Chopra hit 16 fours and four sixes while Dhawan had 11 hits to the fence and one maximum.
Brief Scores:
In Rohtak: Haryana 46 all out in 20.4 overs (Vaibhav Arora 4/15, Sidharth Sharma 3/12). Himachal Pradesh 246/1 (Prashant Chopra 137, Raghav Dhawan 86 batting).
In Kolkata: Uttar Pradesh 198 in 63.5 overs (Rinku Singh 79, Priyam Garg 53, Ishan Porel 5/35). Bengal 29/4 (Shivam Mavi 3.14).
In Sovima: Uttarakhand 282 in 78 overs (Kunal Chandela 92, Dikshanshu Negi 83, Akash Singh 3/45). Nagaland 9/0.
In Cuttack: Odisha 214/5 (Shantanu Mishra 61, Subhranshu Senapati 52, Lukman Meriwala 2/46) vs Baroda.
Delhi pacers hit back after batters struggle against Maharashtra
Pune: Young Yash Dhull had a tough initiation into first-class captaincy as Delhi wilted under overcast conditions to be bowled out for 191 before the Ishant Sharma-led pace attack left Maharashtra reeling at 80 for 5 on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group B match, here, on Tuesday.
The sun peeped in through the clouds now and then but the ball nipped around a fair bit throughout, with pacers Manoj Ingale (5/43), Rajvardhan Hangargekar (3/58) and Ashay Palkar (2/67) bowling fast and full in the corridor to cause the damage.
Delhi, though, had started off well with senior opener Dhruv Shorey (41) and Anuj Rawat (24) adding 54 runs for the first wicket before Maharashtra drew first blood.
Palkar bowled deliveries that moved in the air and straightened after pitching in as batters were forced to jab at the deliveries.
Ingale, in fact, brought the ball back into the left-handers as both Rawat and veteran Vaibhav Rawal were bowled through the gate.
In case of Dhull, his former India U-19 teammate Hangargekar got one to rear from back of length as he tried to drive on the backfoot. There was no footwork and he tried to only use his hands and the ball flew to the slip cordon where Kaushal Tambe did the rest.
Hangargekar also got the prized scalp of IPL specialist Nitish Rana, who edged one behind after looking ill at ease in bowler-friendly conditions.
Himmat Singh (49) played some audacious pull shots and also hit a beautiful down the ground six but was also caught napping in the corridor of uncertainty.
When Maharashtra batted, Simarjeet Singh (2/16) quickly got rid of Pavan Shah (3) and Kaushal Tambe (0) before Ishant Sharma (1/21)bowled a delivery to Rahul Tripathi, that he had often bowled during his heydays to the best in the world.
It was fast and full angled on the off-stump and Tripathi pushed hard at it to give Lalit Yadav a regulation catch at third slip. Ishant though seemed to gain a bit of weight having been out of competitive cricket for a long time.
Debutant Mayank Yadav also bowled at a brisk pace and got a wicket while Dhull's acrobatic fielding accounted for a run-out off the last ball of the day.
Brief Scores:
In Pune: Delhi 191 in 48.2 overs (Himmat Singh 49, Yash Dhull 40, Manoj Ingale 5/43). Maharashtra 80/5 in 28.2 overs (Simarjeet Singh 2/13, Ishant Sharma 1/21)
In Hyderabad: Hyderabad 256/5 (Tanmay Agarwal 116, Ravi Teja 72; Sandeep Warrier 3/52) vs Tamil Nadu
In Guwahati: Assam 249/6 (Rahul Hazarika 90, Riyan Parag 76, Chetan Sakariya 2/26) vs Saurashtra.
In Vizianagaram: Andhra 238 in 74.4 overs (Shoaib Khan 84, Tanush Kotian 4/91) vs Mumbai 25/1.
Nadeem, Singh seize momentum for Jharkhand
Ranchi: Jharkhand spin twins Shahbaz Nadeem and Utkarsh Singh shared five wickets between them as Kerala failed to convert their strong start to be 276 for six on day one of their group C Ranji Trophy match, here on Tuesday.
Left-arm spinner Nadeem took the key wickets of Sanju Samson (72) and Rohan Kunnummal (50) en route to 3/108, while off-spinner Singh ended the dogged resistance of Rohan Prem (79 off 201 balls) in his 2/43 as Jharkhand seized some late momentum going into the second day.
Promising opener Kunnummal, who recently got an India A call-up for the Bangladesh tour, continued his fine form to slam one six and five boundaries in his 71-ball 50.
He and Rohan Prem put on a strong opening stand of 90 after electing to bat. But Nadeem gave the breakthrough, trapping Kunnummal LBW for 50, as Kerala went on to lose three wickets for the addition of eight runs on either side of lunch break.
Prem was at his resolute best but Singh cleaned him up just after the tea break. Samson took control of the proceedings after Prem's departure in a partnership with Akshay Chandran.
But Nadeem once again triggered the collapse dismissing Samson to break their 33-run partnership. They went on to lose another quick wicket with Jalaj Saxena being run-out for zero.
Chandran (39 batting) and Joseph (28 batting) were in the middle at stumps after a 51-run unbroken partnership.
Brief Scores:
At Ranchi: Kerala 276/6 in 90 overs (Rohan Prem 79, Sanju Samson 72, Rohan Kunnummal 50; Shahbaz Nadeem 3/108, Utkarsh Singh 2/43) vs Jharkhand.
At Bengaluru: Karnataka 148 for 6 in 40 overs (Nikin Jose 62; Diwesh Pathania 5/40) vs Services.
At Puducherry: Chhattisgarh 162 in 59 overs (Shahnawaz Hussain 43; Sagar Udeshi 4/36, Ankit Sharma 4/78). Puducherry 17/2 in 9 overs (Ajay Mandal 2/4).
At Porvorim: Goa 210 for 5 in 85 overs (Suyash Prabhudesai 81 not out, Snehal Kauthankar 59; Aniket Choudhary 2/37) vs Rajasthan.
Railways’ Karn Sharma bamboozles Vidarbha, picks 8 for 38
Nagpur: Railways leg-spinner Karn Sharma snared eight wickets in a sensational bowling display but Vidarbha still managed 213, courtesy captain Faiz Fazal's century, on the first day of their Ranji Trophy Group D match here on Tuesday.
Captain Fazal (112 off 219 balls) played a lone hand for Vidarbha as he saw wickets tumbling at the other end, seven of them of Sharma's bowling (8/38). He also fell in the end off Sharma as the ninth Vidarbha batter to be dismissed.
Fazal hit 12 fours during his innings.
Only Atharva Taide (43) and Sanjay Raghunath (18) could reach double-digit figures among the other Vidarbha batters as the 35-year-old former India bowler ran through the opposition batting line-up.
In reply, Railways were 22 for 1 in 6.1 overs at stumps.
In another Group D match played in Mohali, opener Prabhsimran Singh struck a double hundred as Punjab batters toyed with Chandigarh bowlers to post 363 for 3 on the first day of their Ranji Trophy Group D match on Tuesday.
Chandigarh's ploy to insert Punjab backfired as Prabhsimran (202) and Abhishek Sharma, who also hit a century, put on 250 runs for the opening wicket in 57.4 overs to completely demoralised the Chandigarh bowlers.
Chandigarh finally broke the opening stand towards the end of the second session with Gurinder Singh getting the wicket of Abhishek, who hit exactly 100 off 146 balls with the help of 11 fours and two sixes.
Prabhsimran was the last man out on the day, caught by Sandeep Sharma off Rohit Dhanda (2/50), who also got rid of the Naman Dhir (34). Prabh hit 28 fours and two sixes during his 278-ball innings which lasted almost the whole day.
Captain Mandeep Singh and Anmolpreet Singh were batting on 16 and 5 respectively at stumps.
In Agartala, Gujarat captain Priyank Panchal hit 111 in his side's 271 all out in 75.3 overs against Tripura on the first day.
Tripura pacer Manisankar Murasingh returned with impressive figures of 5/74 as he removed all the top five Gujarat batters, including Panchal.
Brief Scores:
At Nagpur: Vidarbha: 213 all out in 80.4 overs (Faiz Fazal 112, Karn Sharma 8/38) vs Railways 22 for 1 in 6.1 overs.
At Mohali: Punjab: 363 for 3 in 85 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 202, Abhishek Sharma 100; Rohit Dhanda 2/50) vs Chandigarh.
At Agartala: Gujarat: 271 all out in 75.3 overs (Priyank Panchal 111, Manisankar Murasingh 5/74) vs Tripura 1/0 in one over.
At Jammu: Madhya Pradesh: 251 for 6 in 90 overs (Yash Dubey 81, Rajat Patidar 62, Shubham Sharma 52; Auqib Nabi 3/45).
Taruwar, Goswami stand tall for Mizoram
Nadiad: Meghalaya bowlers, led by Rajesh Bishnoi (4/62), wreaked havoc but Taruwar Kohli produced a captain's knock of 123, while Shreevats Goswami chipped in with a splendid 74 to push Mizoram to 252 on day one of their Ranji Trophy plate group match here, on Tuesday.
Opting to bowl, Megahalya new ball bowlers Abhishek Kumar (2/37) and Akash Choudhary (2/40) blew away the top-order to reduce Mizoram to 8 for 3 inside four overs.
But thereafter, it was skipper Taruwar who took charge of the proceedings in an entertaining fourth wicket partnership with Goswami that yielded 136 runs. Taruwar hit 15 fours in his 250-ball knock, while the left-handed Goswami smashed eight fours en route a 122-ball 74 to drive Mizoram forward.
Left-arm spinner Bishnoi then triggered the collapse after he had Goswami LBW. Taruwar fell short of partners to see his side fold for 86.1 overs.
Brief Scores:
At Rangpo: Manipur 186 in 56.5 (L Kishan Singha 42, Ronald Longjam 41; Sumit Singh 3/43, Palzor Tamang 2/41) vs Sikkim 58 for no loss in 26 overs (Arun Chettri 41 batting, Pankaj Rawat 12 batting).
At Patna: Arunachal Pradesh 212 in 74.3 overs (Akhilesh Sahani 66; Ashutosh Aman 4/36, Sachin Kumar 3/29, Malay Ra 2/48). Bihar 50 for no loss in 13 overs (Baljeet Singh Bihari 30 batting, Adhiraj Johri 20 batting).
At Nadiad: Mizoram 252 in 86.1 overs (Taruwar Kohli 123, Shreevats Goswami 74; Rajesh Bishnoi 4/62, Abhishek Kumar 2/37, Akash Choudhary 2/40). Meghalaya 0 for no loss in 1 over.
