Led ably by Shardul Thakur, Mumbai bowlers put up a much better display than the previous game and shot out Railways for a paltry 217 on day one of their four-day Group ‘B’ Ranji Trophy tie at the Wankhede Stadium, in Mumbai, on Sunday.
Thakur, who went wicket less against UP in the hosts’ previous drawn game, did the bulk of early damage by bagging three out of the top four wickets to fall, before finishing with four wickets by sticking to a consistent outside off-stump line.
His new-ball partner Dhawal Kulkarni, though not as impressive, bagged two wickets.
But Railways hit back strongly and reduced Mumbai to 4 for two before stumps were drawn for the day with the home team trailing the visitors by 213 runs.
Railways, who won the toss and elected to bat on a wicket that afforded some help to the bowlers, plunged into deep trouble against the new ball to be 16 for 3 before staging a partial recovery through top scorer Arindam Ghosh (67) and Vivek Singh (28).
But the loss of Vivek Singh at 48, put the visitors again on the back foot.
The Railways innings folded up an hour after tea.
In the remaining time, Mumbai were rocked when they lost debutant Bista (2) to a catch at gully off Anureet Singh. Night watchman Kulkarni was then castled by leggie Karn Sharma for a duck.
Akhil Herwadkar was the unbeaten batsman on 2 at stumps with the new batsman yet to come to the crease.
Brief scores: Railways 217 all out (Aridam Ghosh 67, Sagar Mishra 46; D Kulkarni 2 for 40, S Thakur 4 for 38, Harmeet Singh 2 for 41) v Mumbai 4 for 2.
Chopra's unbeaten ton takes HP to strong position
Opener Prashant Chopra struck his second century in three matches to take Himachal Pradesh to a strong position against Saurashtra at the end of the opening day's play in a Group ‘C’ match in Rajkot.
The visitors got off to a strong start after opting to bat to finish the day at a commanding 310 for three.
Chopra ended the day unbeaten on 168 that came off 299 balls. He hit as many as 24 boundaries.
After Jaydev Unadkat cleaned up Bains, Chopra and Ankit Kalsi (37), added 81 runs.
Saurashtra then removed Kalsi and Paras Dogra (23) as Himachal Pradesh were three down for 237.
But Chopra shared an unbroken 73-run alliance with Robin Bist (30 not out) to take Himachal Pradesh's total past the 300-run mark.
Saurashtra bowlers had a tough time as four of them conceded more than four runs an over.
Brief Scores: Himachal Pradesh: 310 for three in 90 overs (Prashant Chopra 168 not out; Jaydev Unadkat 1/45).
Shukla's 6-wkt haul helps Jharkhand bowl out Tripura for 166
Rahul Shukla grabbed six wickets for 40 runs in a brilliant pace-bowling spell as Jharkhand shot Tripura out for 166 on the opening day to take control of their match in Agartala.
Shukla ran through the Tripura batting line-up as the home side were bowled out in just 55 overs at the Tripura Institute of Technology Ground.
Electing to field, Jharkhand reduced Tripura to 46 for 3 in the morning session with Shukla clean-bowling Arindam Das and Udiyan Bose.
There was hardly any partnership of significance for the home side, as Shukla and company kept striking at regular intervals.
Jharkhand replied solidly, despite losing opener Sumit Kumar in the sixth over, to end the day at 42 for one.
Brief Scores: Tripura 1st Innings: 166 all out in 55 overs (Parvinder Singh 66; Rahul Shukla 6/40). Jharkhand 1st Innings: 42 for 1 in 15 overs.
Umesh Yadav pick up four as Rajasthan bundled out for 216
Pacer Umesh Yadav, released from India's Test squad for the ongoing second Test against South Africa, took four wickets to help Vidarbha dismiss Rajasthan for 216 on day one of the Group ‘A’ match in Nagpur.
Yadav ended with figures of 4 for 45 in 17.5 overs with the other notable performance coming from Akshay Wakhare (3/78).
Puneet Yadav and Siddharth Dobal saved Rajasthan the blushes with a fighting 67 and 51 respectively.
Rajasthan, who chose to bat, kept losing wickets at regular intervals to remain on the backfoot throughout the innings.
Brief scores: Rajasthan 216 in 88.4 overs (Siddharth Dobal 51, Puneet Yadav 67; Vidarbha: Umesh Yadav 4/45, Akshay Wakhare 3/78).
Devdhar century takes Baroda to 344/3
Opening batsman Kedar Devdhar struck a brilliant 186 to help Baroda reach to a comfortable 344 for 3 on the opening day of their match against Punjab in Vadodara.
Devdhar, who had missed out on a century twice this season, hit 28 fours and a six in his 249-ball knock and shared a whopping 245 runs off 352 balls with Aditya Waghmode (96) for the opening wicket to take the home side to a strong position at the Moti Bagh Stadium.
Punjab captain Harbhajan Singh's decision to bowl first backfired as the visiting team bowlers leaked runs. Harbhajan himself was wicketless from the 16 overs he bowled today.
Devdhar looked like he would last a full day's play but he was dismissed by seamer Deepak Bansal just a few minutes before the draw of stumps.
Hardik Pandya (42) and Swapnil Singh (0) were batting at close of play.
Gurkeerat Singh, who spent a day with the Indian Test side in Bangalore as their 17th man before being released to play in the Ranji Trophy, took a wicket. Yuvraj Singh also took one wicket while conceding 32 runs.
Brief Scores: Baroda 1st Innings: 344 for 3 in 90 overs (Kedar Devdhar 186, Aditya Waghmode 96; Yuvraj Singh 1/32).
Bengal make 239/3 on day one
Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sayan Mondal and Sudip Chatterjee stuck half centuries as Bengal reached 239/3 at stumps on day one of their Ranji Trophy game against Maharashtra in Pune.
Chatterjee and Shreevats Goswami were batting on 51 and 21 at close of play.
Openers Easwaran (65) and Mondal (58) gave the visitors a solid start, sharing a 128-run stand.
Samad Fallah, Dominic Muthuswami and Chirag Khurana took a wicket each for Maharashtra.
Captain Rohit Motwani's decision to put the opposition in did not pay off as Bengal batsmen frustrated the home team with gritty knocks.
Brief scores: Bengal 239/3 in 90 overs (Abhimanyu Easwaran 65, Sayan Mondal 58, Sudip Chatterjee 51 not out; Samad Fallah 1/39).
Natraj, Singh tons put Odisha in command against Haryana
Skipper Natraj Behera and Ranjit Singh struck unbeaten centuries to guide Odisha to 280 for one against Haryana on the opening day of a seventh round Group ‘A’ match in Lahli.
Opting to bat after winning the toss, Odisha suffered an early jolt in the form of opener Girja Rout (10) but thereafter it was a special display of batting from Natraj (143 batting) and Singh (109 batting) as the duo shared unconquered 263 runs to take Odisha to a comfortable position at the end of the first day's proceedings.
Natraj faced 244 balls and hit 12 boundaries and four sixes during his unbeaten knock, while Singh's ton came off 266 deliveries with the help of eight fours and two hits over the fence.
Pacer Mohit Sharma (1/33) accounted for the lone Odisha wicket to fall in the day.
Brief Scores: Odisha: 280 for one in 87 overs (Natraj Behera 143 not out, Ranjit Singh 109 not out; Mohit Sharma 1/33).
Delhi bow before pace against Assam, all out for 149
Pace duo of Krishna Das and Arup Das wreaked havoc with the new ball, sharing seven wickets between them to bundle out Delhi for 149 in their first innings on the opening day of a Group ‘A’ in Guwahati.
Krishna (4/38) and Arup (3/49) ran through Delhi's batting line-up with a lethal bowling spell to bowl out the visitor's in 59.4 overs and give Assam a slight upperhand.
Opting to bowl after winning the toss, Krishna gave a dream start to Assam by removing opener Unmukt Chand, LBW with the very first delivery of the match.
Krishna then dismissed Dhruv Shorey and Nitish Rana in his next over before Arup induced an edge from Delhi skipper Gautam Gambhir (4), which was gleefully accepted by Tarjinder Singh, to reduce the visitors to eight for four.
Milind Kumar (45) and wicket-keeper Puneet Bisht (23) then shared 63 runs for the fifth wicket to forge a fightback before the Assam bowlers again found their acts.
Besides Milind and Puneet, Manan Sharma (46) and Pradeep Sangwan (12) were the other two Delhi batsmen to have reached double digit scores.
Pallav Kumar Das (1/13), Amit Verma (1/14) and Jamaluddin Syed Mohammad (1/18) were other wicket takers for Assam.
In reply, Assam finished the day on 69 for three in 29 overs.
Brief Scores: Delhi: 149 all out in 59.4 overs (Manan Sharma 46 not out, Milind Kumar 45; Krishna Das 4/38, Arup Das 3/49). Assam: 69 for three in 29 overs (Gokul Sharma 22 not out, KB Arun Kar thik 19 not out; Pradeep Sangwan 2/1).
Kerala score 224/5 on day one
Half centuries from opener V A Jagdeesh and Robert Fernandez helped Kerala put up a respectable 224/5 on the opening day of their Group ‘C’ cricket match in Porvorim, Goa.
Opting to bat, Kerala started well as they put on 57 runs for the first wicket before Mohammed Azaruddeen became Prasanth Parmeswaran's first victim as he was trapped leg before wicket for 31.
Rohan Prem, who joined Jagdeesh, did not last long as he was cleaned-bowled by Shadab Jakati for 20.
Parmeswaran got his second wicket as he cleaned-bowled Sachin Baby for 20 with the score at 139.
Amit Yadav then took two quick wickets to get rid of Sanju Samson (1) and well-set Jagdeesh (61) to put Kerala under pressure with the score at 147.
But Akshay Kadoth (28) and Robert (51) stitched 77 runs for the unbroken sixth wicket to take Kerala to 224/5 when the stumps were drawn. For Goa, Prasanth Parmeswaran and Amit Yadav claimed two wickets each while Shadab Jakati took one wicket.
Juneja, Bhatt hit fifties as Gujarat reach 252-6 against MP
Manpreet Juneja (61) and Rujul Bhatt (51) cracked twin fifties to power Gujarat to 252 for six in their first innings against Madhya Pradesh on the opening day of their Group ‘B’ match in Surat.
Juneja hit six boundaries and one six in his 101-ball innings, while Bhatt was more patient as he had just a couple of fours to show in his 142-ball stay.
For MP, Puneet Datey (2/51) and Jalaj S Saxena (2/52) were the pick of the bowlers with two wickets, while Iswar Pandey (1/34), Ankit Kushwah (1/43) took one wicket each.
Electing to bat, Gujarat found the going tough as they lost their openers -- SK Patel (7) and PK Panchal (22) at the score of 55 for two in 21.2 overs.
Patel was the first to go when he was caught behind by wicketkeeper Naman Ojha off Pandey's bowling. Panchal too could not stay longer as he was back into the pavilion after being cleaned up by Kushwah.
Bhargav Merai (40) and Parthiv Patel tried to steady the innings but the latter was dismissed by Datey with Shrivastava taking the catch in the 25th over. Datey returned in the 37th over to get rid off Merai as he trapped him in front of wicket as Gujarat slipped to 109 for four.
Juneja then took the onus on himself and shared 73 runs with Bhatt, before he became the victim of Jalaj S Saxena in the 63rd over. Bhatt was the last batsman to be dismissed on Sunday when he was caught by Harpreet Singh off Sexena's ball in the 83rd over.
Axar Patel (35) and Rush Kalaria (4) were at the crease at the Lalabhai Contractor Stadium when the stumps were drawn.
Brief Score: Gujarat 1st innings: 252 for six in 90 overs (M C Juneja 61; PM Datey 2/51).
UP score 277/4 on day 1 against TN
Uttar Pradesh produced a solid batting display, reaching 277 for 4 in their first innings against Tamil Nadu on the opening day of their Group ‘B’ match in Kanpur.
Top order batsmen Almas Shaukat (88), Umang Sharma (73) and Suresh Raina (52 not out) scored half-centuries after they were asked to take the first strike by Tamil Nadu skipper Abhinav Mukund.
At the draw of stumps, Raina and Saurabh Kumar (9 off 11) were at the crease at the Green Park Stadium.
Aswin Crist (1/75), Kaushik J (1/31), M Mohammed (1/59) and Vijay Shankar (1/53) picked one wicket each.
Uttar Pradesh openers Shaukat (88) and Himanshu Asnora (30) played with caution early on to set the foundation for their team. They lost their first wicket in the 28th over when Aswin Crist had the latter caught behind by Dinesh Karthik.
Shaukat then joined hands with Sharma and added 111 runs for the second wicket before he was dismissed by Vijay Shankar with Karthik once again taking the catch in the 66th over.
Brief Score: Uttar Pradesh 1st innings: 277/4 in 87 overs (Almas Shaukat 88; Kaushik J 1/35).
