Chirag Jani bags five as Saurashtra in control against Jharkhand
In a dominant display, defending champions Saurashtra, led by Jaydev Unadkat, took control on day one against Jharkhand in their Ranji Trophy clash.
Chirag Jani's five-wicket haul restricted Jharkhand to 142, with notable contributions from Kushagra and Nadeem. In response, Saurashtra finished the day at a strong 108/1, thanks to Harvik Desai's unbeaten 54 and Sheldon Jackson's 37.
With the experienced Pujara and Vasavada yet to bat, Saurashtra hold a significant advantage, trailing by just 34 runs at stumps.
Brief Scores:
At Rajkot: Jharkhand 142 in 49 overs (Kumar Kushagra 29, Shahbaz Nadeem 27; Chirag Jani 5/22, Jaydev Unadkat 2/39, Aditya Jadeja 2/34) vs Saurashtra 108/1 in 29 overs (Harvik Desai 54 not out, Sheldon Jackson 37 not out).
At Solapur: Manipur 137 in 54.1 overs (Kangabam Priyojit 45, Prafullomani Singh 33; Pradeep Dadhe 4/35, Hitesh Walunj 5/33) vs Maharashtra 123/3 in 32.3 overs (Siddhesh Veer 58, Kedar Jadhav 49 not out; Bishworjit Konthoujam 2/41).
At Nagpur: Services 223/8 in 80 overs (Rajat Paliwal 84, Lovekesh Bansal 73; Umesh Yadav 2/64, Aditya Thakare 2/34, Darshan Nalkande 2/40) vs Vidarbha.
At Rohtak: No play between Rajasthan and Haryana due to bad light.
Anustup Majumdar hits century in Bengal's strong show against Andhra
Anustup Majumdar's century propelled Bengal to 289/4 on day one against Andhra in their Ranji Trophy Group B match.
After a slow start and losing two early wickets, Majumdar (125) and Sourav Paul (96) forged a crucial 189-run partnership.
Spinner Lalith Mohan broke the stand, finishing with a couple of wickets for Andhra. Meanwhile, in Raipur, Chattisgarh captain Amandeep Khare's century (116) led the fightback against Assam, guiding the team to 249/5 by the end of the day.
Brief Scores:
In Visakhapatnam: Bengal 289 for 4 in 86 overs (Sourav Paul 96, Anustup Majumdar 125; Lalith Mohan 2/91) vs Andhra.
In Raipur: Chattisgarh 249 for 5 in 89.5 overs (Ashutosh Singh 58, Amandeep Khare 116; Mukhtar Hussain 1/33, Akash Sengupta 1/33) vs Assam.
In Alappuzha: Uttar Pradesh 244 for 5 in 64 overs (Rinku Singh 71 batting, Dhruv Jurel 54 batting; Shreyas Gopal 1/33) vs Kerala.
In Patna: Mumbai 235 for 9 in 67 overs (Bhupen Lalwani 65, Suved Parkar 50, Tanush Kotian 50; Veer Pratap Singh 4/32) vs Bihar.
Koushik's seven-for, Devdutt's unbeaten 80 give Karnataka command over Punjab
Pacer Vasuki Koushik's seven-wicket haul and an unbeaten fifty by Devdutt Padikkal helped Karnataka gain complete command over Punjab on the first day of their Group C Ranji Trophy match in Hubballi, Karnataka.
Koushik made good use of the conditions to grab seven for 41 that helped Karnataka bundle out Punjab for a paltry 152 for in their first innings.
In reply, the hosts reached 142 for 3 at close as Padikkal made an unbeaten 80 in as many balls with 14 hits to the fence.
Padikkal added 76 runs for the second wicket with opener Ravikumar Samarth.
For Punjab, Nehal Wadhera offered a semblance of fight with 44 off 79 balls with seven fours.
TN in control
At Valsad, pacers M Mohammed (5/44) and Sandeep Warrier (4/57) took nine wickets among them as Tamil Nadu skittled Gujarat for an under-par 236 in their first innings.
Umang Kumar top-scored for Gujarat with 76 off 110 balls and he received good backing from Manan Hingrajia (65, 159 balls).
But none of the batters could convert the starts. Tamil Nadu are yet to start their first innings.
Yuvraj powers Railways
Pacer Yuvraj Singh grabbed five for 10 from 11.3 overs as Railways shot out Chandigarh for a meagre 96 and then reached 73 for no loss at close in the first innings as bad light often played a spoilsport.
Paul shines for Tripura
At Agartala, Sridam Paul made 112 off 162 balls and veteran batter Ganesh Satish chipped in with an unbeaten 59 off 129 balls as Tripura reached a satisfactory 261 for 4 against Goa in their first innings at close.
Brief scores:
At Hubballi: Punjab 152 all out in 46.5 overs (Nehal Wadhera 44, Mayank Markande 26 not out; Vasuki Koushik 7/41) vs Karnataka 142 for 3 in 33 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 80 not out, R Samarth 38).
At Valsad: Gujarat 236 all out in 72.3 overs (Umang Kumar 76, Manan Hingrajia 65; M Mohammed 5/44, Sandeep Warrier 4/57) vs Tamil Nadu.
At Chandigarh: Chandigarh 96 all out in 38.3 overs (Yuvraj Singh 5/10) vs Railways 73 for no loss in 16 overs (Shivam Chaudhary 45 not out, Vivek Singh 28 not out).
At Agartala: Tripura 261 for 4 in 74 overs (Sridam Paul 112, Ganesh Satish 59 not out, Sudip Chatterjee 42; Lakshay Garg 2/48).
MP score 291 for 7 on Day 1 against Uttarakhand
Venkatesh Iyer struck an impressive 89 to help Madhya Pradesh reach 291 for 7 on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group D match against Uttarakhand in Dehradun.
MP were 72 for 4 during the morning session but Iyer's 110-ball knock, studded with 13 boundaries, revived their innings.
He found an able ally in Saransh Jain who remained not out on 87 off 196 balls (9x4, 1x6) at the close of play.
Anubhav Agarwal was giving company to Jain on 12 not out.
For, Uttarakhand, Rajan Kumar and Mayank Mishra took two wickets apiece.
In another Group D match in Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir were shot out for 100 in 35.3 overs by Himachal Pradesh with Vaibhav Arora (4/29) and Rishi Dhawan (3/20) doing most of the damage.
In reply, Himachal Pradesh were 47 for no loss at close of play, with Ekant Sen and Prashant Chopra batting on 27 and 19 respectively.
In Delhi, only 19 overs could be possible on the opening day, with the home side being reduced to 40 for 4 by Puducherry.
Delhi captain Yash Dhull made just 2 while his opening partner Lakshay Thareja scored 19. Vaibhav Sharma (9) and Ayush Badoni (2) were out on double-digit scores.
For Puducherry, Gaurav Yadav and Abin Mathew took two wickets apiece.
Brief Scores:
In Dehradun: Madhya Pradesh 291 for 7 (Venkatesh Iyer 89, Saransh Jain 87 not out; Rajan Kumar 2/65, Mayank Mishra 2/28) vs Uttarakhand.
In Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir 100 all out in 35.3 overs (Abid Mushtaq 28; Vaibhav Arora 4/29, Rishi Dhawan (3/20) vs Himachal Pradesh 47 for no loss in 9 overs.
In Delhi: Delhi 40 for 4 in 19 overs (Lakshay Thareja 19; Gaurav Yadav 2/22, Abin Mathew 2/9) vs Puducherry.
In Vadodara: Baroda 322 for 6 in 88 overs (Jyotsnil Singh 73, Mitesh Patel 94 batting, Atit Sheth 56 batting; Debabrata Pradhan 1/48) vs Odisha.
