Mumbai in strong position against TN
Medium pacers Dhawal Kulkarni and Tushar Deshpande wrecked havoc by grabbing four wickets apiece as Mumbai put themselves in the drivers seat by dismissing Tamil Nadu for a paltry 87 on the opening day in their Ranji Trophy Group A match, in Lahli, on Thursday.
Mumbai skipper Aditya Tare's decision to insert opposition in proved right as Kulkarni and Deshpande ripped through the Tamil Nadu batting line-up at the Bansi lal Cricket Stadium in Haryana.
Only three Tamil Nadu batsmen could reach to double digit scores with Baba Indrajith being the highest scorer with 28 not out.
Kulkarni, who scalped Tamil Nadu's top three batsmen, returned with figures of four for 31 while Deshpande gave away 25 runs for his four wickets. Another medium pacer Balwinder Sandhu got two wickets for 14 runs to rout Tamil Nadu who were dismissed in 45.3 overs.
In reply, Mumbai also struggled but not to the extent Tamil Nadu had done. Mumbai were 85 for 4 in 32 overs at stumps to trail by 2 runs with six first innings wickets still in hand.
One-drop Kaustubh Pawar was batting on 28, in company with captain Tare (22 batting).
Jay Bista (7) was the first Mumbai batsman to fall at the team score of 22 before his opening partner Akhil Herwadkar (17) followed him at 45 for 2. Soon, Mumbai slumped to 45 for 3 and then 53 for 4 before Pawar and Tare shared 32 runs for the unbroken fifth wicket stand.
For Tamil Nadu, Krishnamoorthy Vignesh grabbed two wickets while Aswin Crist and J Kousik got one each.
Brief Scores:
Tamil Nadu 87 all out in 45.3 overs (Baba Indrajith 28 not out; Dhawal Kulkarni 4/31, Tushar Deshpande 4/25).
Mumbai: 85 for 4 in 32 overs (Kaustubh Pawar 26 batting, Aditya Tare batting; Krishnamoorthy Vignesh 2/5).
Jaydev Shah's ton takes Saurashtra to 269/5 vs Rajasthan
Skipper Jaydev Shah led from the front with an unbeaten hundred as Saurashtra reached 269 for five against Rajasthan on the opening day of their Group B Ranji Trophy encounter, in Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh.
Put in to bat by Rajasthan, Saurashtra were not off to a great start and their top-three batsmen were sent back to the pavillion with just 30 runs on the board.
However, Shah and Sheldon Jackson (76) pulled the team out of trouble with a 119-run fourth-wicket stand which lasted 25.2 overs.
It ended with Jackson being caught by Rajat Bhatia off medium pacer Aniket Choudhary, who ended the day as Rajasthan's top wicket-taker with a haul of 2/25.
But his departure did not affect Shah, who forged a 79-run stand with Samarth Vyas (27). Shah has so far struck 23 fours in his 141-ball unbeaten knock.
Brief Scores:
Saurashtra 1st Innings: 269/5 in 55.3 overs (Jaydev Shah 120 batting, Sheldon Jackson 76, Aniket Choudhary 2/25).
Waghmode scores ton as Baroda reach 285/2
Riding on Aditya Waghmode's unbeaten century, Baroda reached 285 for two against Gujarat on the opening day of their Group A Ranji Trophy encounter in Jaipur.
Put in to bat by Gujarat, Baroda got off to an excellent start with their opening batsmen -- Kedar Devdhar (65) and Waghmode (103 no out) -- adding 117 runs for the first wicket.
Waghmode, whose unbeaten knock came off 217 balls including 15 boundaries, shared two crucial partnerships.
After a solid opening stand with Devdhar, Waghmode coupled with Deepak Hooda to put on an unbroken 118-run partnership for the third wicket.
At the close of play, Hooda, unbeaten on 76, was giving company to Waghmode.
For Gujarat, Jasprit Bumrah and Priyank Panchal took wicket apiece.
Brief Scores:
Baroda 1st Innings: 285/2 in 80 overs (Aditya Waghmode 103 batting, Deepak Hooda 76 batting, Jasprit Bumrah 1/25).
Assam struggling at 132-6 against Delhi
Delhi pacers dished out a disciplined bowling performance to leave Assam tottering at 132-6 on a rain-hit opening day of the Ranji Trophy Group B match at the Reliance Stadium, in Vadodara.
After the morning session was washed out due to rain, Delhi bowlers came out with a determined and disciplined approach and made life difficult for the Assam batsmen. RG Hazarika (37) and Tarjinder Singh (31 not out) were the major contributors for Assam even as Delhi bowlers Navdeep Saini (2/31), Manan Sharma (2/34) and Varun Sood (2/29) tormented the batsmen with their line and length.
At the draw of stumps, Tarjinder and S Purkayastha (8) were at the crease.
Electing to bowl first, Delhi made good use of the possible playing time as only 62 overs could be bowled on the opening day due to rain.
Pallavkumar Das (15) and Rahul Hazarika (37) batted for 13.5 overs scoring 29 runs when the former was dismissed by Manan. Gokul Sharma (9) and Hazarika helped Assam cross the 50-mark before the skipper was cleaned up by Sood in the 35th over.
Soon Hazarika and Amit Verma (2) were removed in quick succession by Saini as Assam slipped to 65-4 in 39.4 overs.
Sood came back to dismiss KB Arun Karthik (9) and then Manan got rid of J Syed Mohammad (13) as Assam were looking down the barrel at 113-6 in 55.1 overs.
Brief Score:
Assam 1st innings: 132-6 in 62 overs (RG Hazarika 37; Varun Sood 2/29).
Ton-up Harpreet guides MP to 292-7 against UP
Harpreet Singh produced an unbeaten 112 to anchor Madhya Pradesh to 292-7 against Uttar Pradesh on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Group A match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, in Hyderabad.
Harpreet blasted 15 boundaries and a six in his unfinished 152-ball innings and he was ably supported skipper by Devendra Bundela (52).
For UP, Ankit Rajpoot (2/53), Pitush Chawla (2/64) and Kuldeep Yadav (2/94) picked a couple of wickets.
At the draw of stumps, Harpreet was left at the crease after Chandrakant Sakure was dismissed on the last ball of the opening day.
Electing to bat, Madhya Pradesh were dealt an early blow when they lost their opener Aditya Shrivastava (0) on the second ball of the innings but Mukul Raghav and Rajat Patidar (42) tried to rebuild the innings.
However, Raghav was forced to leave the field after he retired hurt on 31 with the scoreboard reading 54-1. Patidar and Bundela then joined hands but their partnership was soon broken when Yadav dismissed the former in the 35th over.
Bundela then alongwith Harpreet shared a 120-run stand to take MP across the 200-mark. However, Bundela was trapped infront of wicket by Chawla in the 64th over as MP slipped to 201-3.
Shubham Sharma (25) then provided good support to Harpreet as MP crossed the 250-mark but then they suffered a collapse, losing four wickets in the next 10 overs with Harpreet being the lone man standing.
Once Sharma was adjudged lbw in the 80th over, Raghav came back to bat at the team score of 252-4 but he could not stay longer and was sent packing by Imtiaz Ahmed in the 86th over. Wicket-keeper batsman Ankit Dane (9) and Sakure (4) were then dismissed by Yadav and Chawla respectively.
Brief Score:
Madhya Pradesh 1st innings: 292-7 in 89.5 overs (Harpreet 112 not out; AS Rajpoot 2/53).
Shukla saves day for Railways with unbeaten ton
Opener Shivakant Shukla (117) struck his seventh first class hundred and shared an unbeaten 124-run stand with Ashish Yadav (65) to lead Railways to 257 for five against Punjab on the opening day of their Group A Ranji Trophy match, in New Delhi.
Punjab, after electing to bowl, put Railways under tremendous pressure by reducing them to 76 for four but Shukla raised two crucial stands with his team-mates to save the day for his side.
Shukla, who last played a first class match in April 2014, added 57 runs for the fifth wicket with Mahesh Rawat (35) before combining with Yadav to end the day on a high.
Punjab paceman Manpreet Gony had Railways opener Saurabh Wakaskar caught for a duck by Yuvraj Singh in the fourth over of the day.
Siddharth Kaul (2/53) then removed Akshat R Pandey (3) and V Cheluvaraj (18) to make inroads into the Railways middle order.
Left-arm spinner Vinay Choudhary saw the back of Arindam Ghosh (11) to leave Railways reeling at 76 for 4.
Shukla though kept batting solid from one end and repaired the innings with Rawat and Yadav.
His 117 came off 291 balls with 11 fours and two sixes while Yadav took 94 balls for his 65, which had six shots to the ropes and one over it.
Brief Scores:
Railways 1st innings: 257 for 5 in 90 overs.(S Shukla 117 batting, A Yadav 65 batting, M Rawat 35; S Kaul 2/53).
Siraji takes four wickets as Goa bundled out for 164
Hyderabad pacer Mohammed Siraji bagged four wickets to help his team bundle out Goa for a partly 164 on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group C match at the VCA Civil Lines ground in Nagpur.
While Saurav Bandekar top scored with 59 for Goa and Snehal Kauthanker contributed with 39, other batsmen made a beeline to the pavilion.
Siraji wreaked havoc as he took four scalps, conceding just 14 runs. He was duly supported by Ravi Khan (2/30) and Vishal Sharma 2/42.
In reply, Hyderabad were 28 for one with Tanmay Agarwal scoring 10 before going back to the pavilion.
Akshay Reddy was unbeaten on 18 and Yash Sharma was yet to open his account when the stumps were drawn.
Brief scores:
Goa: 164 all out in 74 overs (Saurav Bandekar 59, Mohammed Siraji 4/14).
Hyderabad: 28 for one in 10 overs.
Image: Dhawal Kulkarni
Photograph: Matt Roberts/Getty Images
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