India pacer Mohammed Shami returned wicket-less from his 10 overs in a subdued comeback to competitive cricket after 360 days as Bengal struggled in their Ranji Trophy Group C game against Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday.
Electing to field first, MP were 103/1 at stumps after bowling out Bengal for 228 in their first innings. The visitors need an outright win to keep their slim quarterfinal hopes alive.
Bengal's attack is depleted by injuries to Ishan Porel and Rishav Vivek, while Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep are on national duty. All eyes are now on Shami to not only prove his fitness but also rejuvenate his state team's campaign.
Bowling on the Holkar Stadium green-top, the 34-year-old Shami, who was sidelined with an Achilles tendon injury on his left leg for which he underwent a surgery, returned figures of 10-1-34-0.
Shami, who was last seen in action in India's ODI World Cup final against Australia in Ahmedabad on November 19 last year, bowled four overs in the first spell, giving away 16 runs. He conceded three fours and bowled 17 dot balls in that spell.
His second spell was slightly better with figures of 6-1-18-0. Shami's fitness will be closely monitored by the BCCI think-tank, with hopes that a strong performance would secure him a spot in the Indian squad for the high-profile Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, starting in Perth on November 22.
Shami was also seen for the first time playing with his younger brother Mohammed Kaif, who took the only wicket to fall in the MP innings, trapping opener Himanshu Mantri for 13.
But the other opener Shubhranshu Senapati showed resilience, and was batting on 44 from 103 balls at stumps, while India batter Rajat Patidar was 41 not out off 55 balls
Earlier, Bengal's top-order crumbled, with opener Shuvam Dey and No. 4 Rohit Kumar getting out for golden ducks, while Sudip Chatterjee (15), Sudip Gharami (10) also got out cheaply, leaving Bengal reeling at 42/4.
However, Shabaz Ahmed played a stellar knock, rescuing the team with a gritty fifty.
Bengal were 79/5 when Shahbaz joined skipper Anustup Majumdar to put together a crucial 96-run partnership.
After Anustup's dismissal, Shahbaz (92) upped the ante and marched towards a second first-class century but fell short by eight runs, signalling the arrival of Shami who batted with his brother Kaif for the first time in a competitive match.
Aryan Pandey (4/47) was the pick of MP bowling, while left-arm pacer Kulwant Khejroliya bagged 4/84.
Koushik's five in a row
Karnataka seamer Vasuki Koushik claimed a five-wicket haul for the second consecutive match as Uttar Pradesh were bowled out for just 89 at Ekana Stadium.
Koushik finished with 5/20, following his 5/38 against Bengal in their previous game, marking his fourth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket.
Young pacer Vidyadhar Patil supported him well, taking 2/22, while debutant Yashovardhan Parantap chipped in with 1/19.
Together, the Karnataka pacers shared eight wickets as UP lasted just 40.3 overs.
In reply, Karnataka reached 127/5, led by a brisk 68 not out (77 balls) from wicketkeeper-batter Krishnan Shrijith.
Brief Scores
In Indore: Bengal 228; 51.2 overs (Shahbaz Ahmed 92, Anustup Majumdar 44; Aryan Pandey 4/47, Kulwant Khejroliya 4/84). Madhya Pradesh 103/1; 30 overs.
In Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh 89; 40.3 overs (Sameer Rizvi 25; Vasuki Kaushik 5/20). Karnataka 127/5; 31 overs (Krishnan Shrijith 68 batting, Shreyas Gopal 14 batting).
In Mohali: Bihar 135; 56.2 overs (Ayush Loharuka 63; Sukhdeep Singh Bajwa 3/38) vs Punjab.
In Rohtak: Kerala 138/2; 54 overs (Rohan Kunnummal 55, Akshay Chandran 51 batting) vs Haryana.
Sharandeep leads the way for Jharkhand
Opener Sharandeep Singh scored a dogged unbeaten 64 as Jharkhand batters were painstakingly slow in their approach reaching 136 for 3 on a weather-curtailed opening day of the Ranji Trophy group D fixture against Delhi here on Wednesday. Having lost to Chattisgarh in the last game, Delhi in their final home game of the season made wholesale changes under new skipper Ayush Badoni.
The three pacers -- Money Grewal (1/43 in 14 overs), Simarjeet Singh (1/16 in 14 overs) and left-armer Siddhant Sharma (1/32 in 14 overs) -- were primarily used by Badoni keeping the conditions in mind.
Sharandeep, who hit nine boundaries was ready to dead bat most deliveries and leave a lot during his undefeated 183-ball innings. He added 93 for the third wicket with southpaw Utkarsh Singh (46 off 86 balls) before Siddhant dismissed the latter towards late afternoon.
The match also saw Simarjeet making a comeback to the playing eleven after missing out on last three matches and he kept things tight at one end.
Simarjeet was rewarded when he breached Aryaman Sen's defence but Sharandeep and Utkarsh showed good defensive technique during the day.
The spinners got to bowl only 13 overs between them and they didn't look very penetrative on the day.
Brief Scores
In Delhi: Jharkhand 1st Innings 136/3 in 55 overs (Sharandeep Singh 64 batting, Simarjeet Singh 1/16) vs Delhi.
In Ahmedabad: Railways 1st Innings 229 in 80.2 overs (Mohd Saif 60, Ajith Ram 4/44) vs Tamil Nadu.
In Chandigarh: Saurashtra 1st Innings 299/2 in 79 overs (Harvik Desai 99, Chirag Jani 153) vs Chandigarh.
In Raipur: Assam 1st Innings 264 for 6 in 87 overs (Denish Das 104, Parvez Musaraf 42) vs Chattisgarh.
Rajasthan pile on the runs against Uttarakhand
Middle-order batters Mahipal Lomror and Kartik Sharma struck unbeaten hundreds, punctuating their knocks with 11 sixes to power Rajasthan to 362 for four against hosts Uttarakhand on the first day of their Group B Ranji Trophy match on Wednesday.
Invited to bat, Rajasthan were off to a steady start but soon found themselves in trouble after sipping to 188 for four in the second session.
Having seen three batters walk back to the dressing room after getting their eye in, Lomror stitched an excellent partnership of 174 runs for the fifth wicket to steer the visiting side to a comfortable position.
Among the batters to have failed on the day was Rajasthan skipper Deepak Hooda (10 off 29 balls), who was caught behind off the bowling of Deepak Dhapola, signaling the arrival of Sharma into the crease.
Uttarakhand did not taste any success thereafter as Rajasthan completely dominated the final session of play with the duo of Lomror and Sharma in total control of the proceedings in the elite group game.
At the close of play, Lomror was batting on 141 off 189 balls while Sharma was going strong on 113 off 114 deliveries, having scored at almost run-a-ball.
During his stay in the middle, Lomror found the fence 14 times and cleared it on five occasions, while Sharma entertained those present at the ground by smashing 11 fours and six sixes.
Earlier in the day, Uttarakhand's decision to field first did not bring them great returns as Rajasthan reached 100 for the loss of just one wicket in Abhijeet Tomar (20).
Ram Chouhan (29) fell with the score reading 106 but still the visitors did not have enough reasons to worry.
However, losing two more wickets, including that of their skipper, with the team score yet to cross 200, put Rajasthan in a spot of bother. In between, Zubair Ali made 26 in 40 balls, getting dismissed after settling down.
That's when Sharma joined Lomror in the middle, and the two first steadied the ship and then placed their team ahead with their dominant batting display.
The big, undefeated partnership between Lomror and Sharma helped Rajasthan take honours on the first day.
For Uttarakhand, there was a wicket each for Dhapola, Abhay Negi, Avneesh Sudha and Swapnil Singh, as stumps were drawn with eight overs still to be bowled due to bad light.
Brief scores
In Dehradun: Rajasthan 1st innings 362/4 in 82 overs (Mahipal Lomror batting 141, Kartik Sharma batting 113) vs Uttarakhand.
In Nagpur: Gujarat 1st innings 281/6 in 86 overs (Vishal Jayswal batting 110, Priyank Panchal 88; Praful Hinge 3/53) vs Vidarbha.
In Dharamsala: Puducherry 1st innings 85 all out in 35 overs (Mukul Negi 3/8, Vinay Galetiya 3/24, Vaibhav Arora 2/16) vs Himachal Pradesh 1st innings 147/2 in 41 overs (Shubham Arora 58).
In Hyderabad: Hyderabad 1st innings 244/5 in 90 overs (Tanmay Agarwal 124; Tripurana Vijay 3/85) vs Andhra.
Pithiya's six-figure haul powers Baroda to winning position
Off-spinner Mahesh Pithiya recorded his career-best innings figures with a six-wicket haul before opener Jyotsnil Singh scored a century as Baroda took a 205-run lead against Meghalaya on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group A match on Wednesday.
Pithiya (6/25 in 13 overs), who has a similar bowling action to seasoned India off-spinner R Ashwin, picked his second five-wicket haul of the season as Baroda spinners spun a web around the visiting batters to bundle out Meghalaya for a paltry 103 in 36.5 overs during the first session after being asked to bowl.
Jyotsnil (121) then shared a 95-run opening stand with Shivalik Sharma (42) and 123 run partnership with Shashwat Rawat (90 not out), who inched closer to his seventh first class ton.
Baroda reached 308/6 at the close of play, inflating their lead to over 200 runs.
Pithiya had made headlines last year when the touring Australian Test side had called him up as a net bowler. His previous inning best bowling figures were 6/102 against Services last month.
Bhargav Bhatt (2/28), skipper Krunal Panya (1/18) and Ninad Rathva (1/31) complemented Pithiya with the home side choosing not to bowl any pacer.
Pithiya's claimed his victim of the day by bambozzling opener Bamanbha Shangpliang in the sixth over. He then dismissed Balchander Anirudh and skipper Kishan Lyngdoh off consecutive balls in the 14th over.
Brief Scores:
In Vadodara: Meghalaya 103 all out in 36.5 overs (Akash Choudhary 40; Mahesh Pithiya 6/25) vs Baroda 308 for 6 in 52.4 overs (Jyotsnil Singh 121, Shashwat Rawat 90 batting; Bijon Dey 2/79).
In Cuttack: Maharashtra 162 all out in 54 overs (Ramakrishna Ghosh 80; Sumit Sharma 4/39) vs Odisha 99 for 1 in 34 overs (Swastik Samal 56 batting; Ramakrishna Ghosh 1/23).
In Jammu: Tripura 165 all out in 50.3 overs (Mandeep Singh 67; Auqib Nabi 6/54) vs Jammu & Kashmir 82 for 3 in 29 overs (Shubham Khajuria 46 batting; Rana Dutta 1/19).
In Delhi: Services 192/6 in 64 overs (Mohit Ahlawat 76, Shubham Rohilla 56; Mohit Avasthi 2/33).
