A summary of action from the Ranji Trophy matches played on Tuesday.
Anustup's 159 lifts Bengal to 310/9 against Himachal
Veteran Anustup Majumdar stroked his way to an unbeaten 159 and lifted Bengal to 310 for 9 after a poor start against Himachal in their Ranji Trophy Group A match in Kolkata on Tuesday.
Former champions Bengal were reeling at 44 for five after medium pacer Sidharth Sharma (5/69) struck thrice in the first 10 overs at Eden Gardens.
Rishi Dhawan accounted for Sudip Kumar Gharami, bowling him out for 5, while pacer Kanwar Abhinay got the prized wicket of skipper Manoj Tiwary (3) as Bengal found themselves in all sorts of trouble in the very first session of the first morning.
Then came the recovery acts, first through a 110-run partnership for the sixth wicket between Majumdar and Shahbaz Ahmed, and then the former's 65-run stand for the eight wicket with Akash Deep.
Shahbaz Ahmed's contribution was a handy 49 while Akash Deep got himself 34 runs.
Bengal's saviour on the day was, without an iota of doubt, the 38-year-old Majumdar, who not only got a big hundred but also guided the two lower-order batters after losing half the side with very little on the board.
On the way to his highest first-class score, Majumdar found the fence 21 times and cleared it twice while facing 205 balls, his runs coming at a strike-rate of over 77.
Sidharth Sharma, who bagged his maiden five-for in first-class cricket, was the most successful bowler for Himachal.
At stumps, which was called 12 overs early owing to bad light, number 11 Ishan Porel (6) was giving Majumdar company.
Brief scores:
Bengal: 310/9 in 78 overs (Anustup Majumdar 159 not out, Shahbaz Ahmed 49; Sidharth Sharma 5/69) in 78 overs vs Himachal.
In Sovima, Dimapur: Uttar Pradesh: 400/3 in 90 overs (Madhav Kaushik 107, Dhruv Jurel 194; Rongsen Jonathan 3/104) vs Nagaland.
In Dehradun: Odisha: 213 all out in 76.1 overs (Kartik Biswal 48, Biplab Samantray 46; Swapnil Singh 4/48) vs Uttarakhand: 4/0 in 4 overs.
Surya smashes 80-ball 90 on first-class return
Mumbai/Guwahati: Suryakumar Yadav made an 80-ball 90 in his first Ranji Trophy game in almost three years while skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Yashasvi Jaiswal struck fine hundreds to take Mumbai to 457 for three against Hyderabad on day one of the Group B contest here.
Surya, who has arguably been the best batter in white-ball cricket over the past 12 months, approached the red-ball game with his same aggressive intent. His knock comprised 15 fours and a six.
The stylish batter has time and again expressed his desire to play Test cricket for India. He last played a first-class game way back in February 2020.
Jaiswal continued his rich vein of form with a sublime 162 off 195 balls while Rahane was batting on 139 at stumps.
Prithvi Shaw was out for 19 after Hyderabad opted to field at the BKC ground.
Shorey strikes 8th first-class ton to lead Delhi's recovery
Opener Dhruv Shorey struck his eighth first-class hundred to steer Delhi to 271 for seven on day one of their fixture against Assam.
Assam removed Shorey's partner Anuj Rawat early after opting to field first.
Shorey remained unbeaten on 139 off 216 balls before bad light forced early stumps with 81 overs bowled on the day.
Delhi's young captain Yash Dhull made 22 off 56 balls while Vaibhav Rawal came up with a valuable 43 off 71 balls. Senior batter Nitish Rana was out first ball.
Delhi, who lost their tournament opener to Maharashtra, fielded a depleted unit in the absence of injured pacers Ishant Sharma and Mayank Yadav. They were forced to field three debutants in Harshit Rana, Pranshu Vijayran and spinner Hrithik Shokeen.
Senior pacer Navdeep Saini, who suffered an abdominal muscle strain while being part of the Indian team in Bangladesh, is unlikely to be fit in time for Delhi's next game.
Brief scores:
At Mumbai: Mumbai 457/3 in 90 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 162, Suryakumar Yadav 90, Ajinkya Rahane 139 n.o., Sarfaraz Khan 40 n.o.) versus Hyderabad.
At Guwahati: Delhi 271/7 in 81 overs (Dhruv Shorey 139 batting, Mrinmoy Dutta 2/50) versus Assam.
At Coimbatore: Andhra 277/5 in 90 overs (Abhishek Reddy 85, Ricky Bhui 68, Karan Shinde 55 n.o.; R. Sai Kishore 2/73) versus Tamil Nadu.
At Rajkot: Maharashtra 253/2 in 89 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 65, Naushad Shaikh 93 n.o., Ankit Bawne 61 n.o. versus Saurashtra.
Karnataka gain upper hand against Puducherry
Bengaluru: Eight-time champions Karnataka dished out an allround effort to bundle out Puducherry for 170 and then reach 111 for one on the opening day to gain a slight upperhand in their Ranji Trophy Group C match here on Tuesday.
Electing to field, Karnataka bowlers were right on the money as right-arm pace trio of Vidwath Kaverappa (4/52), Vijaykumar Vyshak (3/39) and Ronit More (2/34) shared nine wickets to dismantle Puducherry's batting line-up.
Leg-spinner Shreay Gopal (1/5) accounted for the other wicket.
Puducherry never had control of their innings after being sent in to bat as they lost wickets at regular intervals, failing to stitch substantial partnerships.
Skipper Damodaran Rohit (44) top-scored for Puducherry, while Kothandapani Aravind (20) and Sridhar Ashwath (20) also got some runs before they were bowled out in 54 overs.
In reply, opener Ravikumar Samarth remained unbeaten on 59, while skipper Mayank Agarwal made 51 as Karanataka ended the day's proceedings at 111 for 1.
Night watch-man More is yet to open his account.
Karnataka still trail Puducherry by 59 runs in their first innings with nine wickets in hand.
In another Group C match in Jaipur, India international Deepak Hooda hit 133 off 187 balls, while Salman Khan (62 not out) and Yash Kothari (58) also contributed with the bat as Rajasthan posted 310 for five in 87 overs on the opening day against Kerala.
For Kerala, Jalaj Saxena picked up two wickets for 74 runs.
Brief Scores:
At Bengaluru: Puducherry 170 all out in 54 overs (Damodaran Rohit 44; Vidwath Kaverappa 4/52) vs Karnataka 111 for 1 in 32 overs (Ravikumar Samarth 59 not out, Mayank Agarwak 51; Ankit Sharma 1/8).
At Jaipur: Rajsathan 310 for 5 in 87 overs (Deepak Hooda 133, Salman Khan 62 not out, Yash Kothari 58; Jalaj Saxena 2/74) vs Kerala.
At Jamshedpur: Jharkhand 280 for 4 in 90 overs (Saurabh Tiwary 65 not out, Kumar Kushagra 60 not out; Darshan Misal 2/59) vs Goa.
At New Delhi: Services 213 all out in 60.1 overs (Anshul Gupta 71, Devender Lochab 53; Ravi Kiran 5/44) vs Chhattisgarh 9 for no loss in 3 overs.
Patidar, Raghuwanshi help MP recover to 289-7 against Chandigarh
Indore: Sandeep Sharma snapped five wickets but Rajat Patidar and Akshat Raghuwanshi hit twin fifties as defending champions Madhya Pradesh recovered to 289 for 7 against Chandigarh on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group 'D' match here on Tuesday.
Electing to bat, openers Yash Dubey (44, 50 balls, 6 fours) and Himanshu Mantri (12) provided Madhya Pradesh a solid start, adding 63 runs for the first wicket.
However, Sandeep jolted the MP innings, picking up the wickets of Mantri and Dubey in quick succession.
Shubham Sharma (1) couldn't stay long as he fell to Hartejassvi Kapoor with the score at 75, while Sandeep accounted for Aditya Shrivastava (7) as MP were soon reduced to 94 for four.
Patidar (88, 116 balls, 16 fours), one of the stars of MP's maiden Ranji triumph, steadied the innings in the company of Raghuwanshi (65 not out, 167 balls, 5 fours, 1 six), putting on 94 runs for the fifth wicket.
The duo kept the Chandigarh bowlers at bay in a stand that lasted 154 deliveries even as Sandeep kept pegging away.
Sandeep, who has featured in two T20 Internationals for the country, then struck a vital blow by cleaning up Patidar.
Raghuwanshi then got together with Anubhav Agarwal (25) and added 67 runs for the seventh wicket before the latter fell LBW to Sandeep off the last ball of the day.
In another match in the group, Punjab hit back after being bowled out for 162 in 48.1 overs to reduce Railways to 77 for 7 at stumps at Karnail Singh stadium in New Delhi.
Brief scores:
At Motera: Gujarat 267 for 6 in 90 overs (S D Chauhan 73, Kathan D Patel 54, Priyank Panchal 52; Abid Mushtaq 3/88) vs J & K.
At Nagpur: Vidarbha 264 all out in 88.3 overs (Atharva Taide 53, A V Wankhade 47, A V Wadkar 43; A S Sarkar 6/74) vs Tripura 3 for no loss in 2 overs.
At Indore: Madhya Pradesh 289 for 7 in 88 overs (Rajat Patidar 88, Akshat Raghuwanshi 65 not out; Sandeep Sharma 5 for 81) vs Chandigarh.
At New Delhi: Punjab 162 all out in 48.1 overs (Abhishek Sharma 36, Prabhsimran Singh 33; Adarsh Singh 5/65) vs Railways 77 for 7 in 30 overs (Yuvraj Singh 26 not out; Baltej Singh 4/29).
