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A summary of the first day's play in the Ranji Trophy league matches at various venues across the country.
Middle-order batsman Deepak Hooda's fine century rallied Baroda from a precarious position to 320 for 8 against table-toppers Karnataka at stumps on the opening day of their Group A Ranji Trophy match, in Mysore, on Wednesday.
Electing to bat in the four-day encounter at the Srikantadatta Narasimha Raja Wadeyar Ground, the Aditya Waghmode-led side experienced a top-order collapse and were reeling at 93 for five before Hooda (142) stitched a 87-run sixth-wicket partnership with Irfan Pathan (34) and steadied the Baroda boat.
Karnataka medium-pacers Abhimanyu Mithun (3-75) and Ronit More (2-52) combined well to rattle Baroda's top order batsmen till Hooda, who belted 13 fours and 6 sixes in his 194-ball stay, brought sanity to the innings.
Irfan also played a useful knock before being run-out by Ravikumar Samarth.
Hooda, 19, who notched his second first-class hundred, continued to torment the Karnataka bowlers as Baroda not only brought up the 300-mark but also maintained a healthy run-rate.
He was finally scalped by Mithun, caught behind in the final few overs of the day. He also had useful stands with Pinal Shah (30) and Swapnil Singh (28 not out).
Karnataka captain and wicketkeeper Chidhambaram Gautam had a field day behind the wickets, taking four catches.
Opener Saurabh Wakaskar (25), Waghmode (14), Yusuf Pathan (5) and Hooda returned to the pavilion as a result of Gautam's glovework.
Leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal and left-arm spinner Abrar Kazi chipped in with a wicket each as Karnataka pegged things back a bit in the final session of play.
Brief Scores:
Baroda: 320-8 in 90 overs (Deepak Hooda 142, Irfan Pathan 34; Abhimanyu Mithun 3-75; Ronit More 2-52).
TN in command after Rahil Shah slays Mumbai
Tamil Nadu were just six runs short of taking the first innings lead against Mumbai after left arm spinner Rahil Shah ripped through the visitors' batting line-up with a seven-wicket haul on Day 1 of the Group A match in Chennai.
Electing to bat, Mumbai wilted under the double end spin attack and were shot out for 141 in 48.5 overs.
In reply, Tamil Nadu were 136 for 4 in 43 overs, with Vijay Shankar (47, 5x4) and Baba Aparajith (0) unbeaten at stumps.
Shah, opening the attack, claimed two wickets in his first spell before taking five later in the day.
Off-spinners Suresh Kumar (2/54) and Malolan Rangarajan (1/37) were the other wicket-takers.
Six of the Mumbai batsmen failed to log double digits, while the top order, save Shreyas Iyer (50), collapsed.
Opener Aditya Tare was the first to exit scoring 17 and veteran Wasim Jaffer failed to open his account, caught at mid-off by Baba Aparajith off Shah.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai: 141 all out in 48.5 overs (Shreyas Iyer 50; Rahil Shah 7/34).
Tamil Nadu: 136/4 in 43 overs (Dinesh Karthik 43, Vijay Shankar 47).
Bengal make slow progress against UP
Young left-hander Sudeep Chatterjee scored a patient half century after a painstaking start by opener Arindam Das as Bengal crawled to 141 for four in 57 overs against Uttar Pradesh in Ghaziabad.
At stumps, Wriddhiman Saha (45, 78 balls, 9x4) was at the crease, having added 52 runs for the fourth wicket with Sudeep (60, 128 balls, 7x4), who was unfortunately run-out at fag end of the day courtesy Kuldeep Yadav's direct throw at non-striker's end.
Put into bat after the first session was lost due to foggy weather, veteran opener Arindam Das couldn't simply find gaps as his excruciating 19 off 108 balls put severe pressure on other batsmen and it was left to India international Wriddhiman to prop the team’s total somewhat.
Brief Scores:
Bengal: 141-4 (Sudeep Chatterjee 60, Wriddhiman Saha 45 batting, Kuldeep Yadav 2/58) vs UP.
Gugale's maiden ton hoists Maharashtra
Opener Swapnil Gugale (174) struck his maiden first class hundred to help Maharashtra post 312 for 6 on the opening day of their Group B match against Delhi in Pune.
Playing only his fourth first class game, the 23-year-old almost batted through the day, facing 243 balls in his stupendous knock, which was embellished with 25 boundaries and two sixes.
While Gugale kept the one end tight, the other Maharashtra batsmen struggled to stay on the wicket.
It was not until number seven batsman Chirag Khurana (55 batting) joined Gugale that the hosts enjoyed a stable partnership.
Not even a single middle-order batsman crossed the 20-run mark and the hosts were struggling at 166 for five.
Gugale and Khurana then raised a 106-run stand for the sixth wicket, which was broken when the opener was done in by Manan Sharma.
Giving Khurana company at the end of the day was Shrikant Mundhe (16).
Delhi's decision to field was not a bad one but it was Gugale who negated the good work done by their bowlers.
Brief Scores:
Maharashtra: 312 for 6 in 90 overs.(Swapnil Gugale 174, Chirag Khurana 55 batting; Sumit Narwal 1/30).
Saxena, Bist save Rajasthan the blushes
Vineet Saxena (87) and Chetan Bist (51) saved the day for Rajasthan with fighting unbeaten half-centuries as the visitors ended Day 1 on 191 for five against Odisha in their Group B match in Balangir.
Put in to bat, Rajasthan were off to a poor start as opener Pranay Sharma (0) left without bothering the scorers. He was caught behind off paceman Basant Mohanty in the third over of the day.
Robin Bist (10) was trapped by medium fast bowler Deepak Behera (2/35) and talented Ashok Menaria became the second victim of Mohanty.
The visitors also lost Rajesh Bishnoi (11) and Puneet Yadav (15) and were tottering at 85 for five.
Thereafter, Saxena and wicketkeeper-batsman Bist joined forces and resurrected the Rajasthan innings with a 106-run unconquered stand for the sixth wicket.
Brief Scores:
Rajasthan: 191 for 5 in 90 overs.(Vineet Saxena 87 batting, Chetan Bist 51 batting; Basant Mohanty 2/37, Deepak Behera 2/35).
Andhra 123-2 against HP on rain-hit opening day
Andhra Pradesh's batsmen put up a slow but steady performance, scoring 123 for 2 on a weather-hit opening day of their Group C match against Himachal Pradesh in Dharamsala.
Put in to bat, they held steady after losing opener Prasanth Kumar (7) early in the day.
In the 34 overs that were bowled, Srikar Bharat and Murumulla Sriram stood out with patient knocks. While Bharat departed for 47, which came off 82 deliveries and included six fours, Sriram was still at crease with a 91-ball 45, with skipper Mohammad Kaif (1), when stumps were drawn for the day.
Both the wickets were taken by Rishi Dhawan, who returned figures of two for 40 in his 13 overs.
Brief Scores:
Andhra Pradesh: 123-2 in 34 overs (Srikar Bharat 47, Murumulla Sriram 45 batting; Rishi Dhawan 2/40).
Image: Baroda player Deepak celebrates his century against Karnataka during their Ranji Trophy match in Mysore.
Photo: PTI