Mumbai pacers Thakur, Sandhu dismiss Punjab cheaply

Hosts Mumbai took early control of their Group B Ranji Trophy fixture against Punjab, bundling out the visitors for a meagre 154 in 57 overs on Day 1 of the four-day game at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Thursday.

Medium pacers Shardul Thakur and Balwinder Singh Sandhu continued the good form they showed in the season opener for Mumbai against Andhra at Vizianagaram by sharing eight wickets between them as Punjab’s batsmen lacked application on a track that assisted seam bowling.

Dhawal Kulkarni, the most experienced bowler in the 40-time champions' line-up, picked up a late wicket while one batsman was run-out after Punjab were asked to take first strike by Mumbai skipper Aditya Tare on winning the toss.

In reply, Mumbai lost openers Shrideep Mungela and Akhil Herwadkar cheaply.

But one-down Shreyas Iyer played an attacking, unbeaten knock of 61 off 43 balls, including 10 fours and a six, to take charge in the company of Suryakumar Yadav (16) and help the hosts finish with a healthy 103 for 2 in 18 overs.

Punjab started in encouraging fashion when openers Manan Vohra (34) and Jinvanjot Singh (11) kept the Mumbai bowlers at bay for 16 overs, adding 39 for the first wicket.

However, once Sandhu got the breakthrough with a one-handed return catch off Jivanjot, it was a virtual procession of batsmen to and fro the dressing room.

Gitansh Khera, one of four batsmen who played a triple figure knock in Punjab's innings win over Railways in their group opener at home, made the second highest score of 32.

At lunch the visitors were 69 for 3, with skipper Yuvraj Singh at the crease. However, soon after the break he edged to his counterpart Tare behind the stumps off Sandhu.

There was a brief period of resistance when Khera and Sarbjeet Ladda added 33 runs for the eighth wicket before Mumbai polished off the innings.

Brief scores:

Punjab: 154 all out (Manan Vohra 34, Gitansh Khera 32; S Thakur 4 for 47, Balwinder Sandhu 4 form 31).

Mumbai: 103 for 2 (S Iyer not out 61, S Yadav not out 16).

Parthiv steadies Gujarat with fine century

Vizianagaram: Out-of-favour India wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel scored a brilliant century to help Gujarat overcome early jitters and reach 250 for five against Andhra on the first day of their Group B match.

Put in to bat, Gujarat were struggling at 69 for three before Parthiv steadied in the boat, scoring a 176-ball 122, studded with 18 fours.

He also put on a crucial 105-run partnership with Y Venugopal Rao (39) for the fourth wicket.

At stumps, Rujul Bhatt was batting on 27 and Niraj Patel was unbeaten on 17.

For Andhra, D P Vijaykumar was the pick of the bowlers with figures of three for 61, while D Siva Kumar chipped in with two for 33.

Brief scores:

Gujarat: 250 for five in 81 overs (Parthiv Patel 122, Y Venugopal Rao 39, Rujul Bhatt batting 27; DP Vijaykumar 3-61, D Siva Kumar 2-33) vs Andhra.

Khadiwale, Bawne rally Maharashtra against Odisha

Cuttack: Harshad Khadiwale and Ankit Bawne struck dogged half-centuries as Maharashtra posted 231 for five in their Group B match against Odisha.

Medium pacer Biplab Samantray was the most successful bowler for Odisha, returning impressive figures of three for 31 in 10 overs at the Barabati Stadium, the venue for the second T20 match between India and South Africa in the ongoing series that was marred by crowd disruption.

At stumps on Day 1, Rahul Tripathi was batting on 41 with Chirag Khurana (18) for company.

Sent in to bat, Maharashtra lost Swapnil Gugale (2) with only three runs on the board in the fourth over to Suryakant Pradhan, who ended the day with 2 for 65 in 21 overs.

Skipper Rohit Motwani was out for 22 off 45 balls, having hit five boundaries. The experienced Kedar Jadhav (2), who has an ODI hundred to his name, was the next to go as the visitors slumped to 62 for three.

A 91-run for the fourth wicket between Khadiwale and Bawne revived Maharashtra, but both of them fell after doing all the hard work.

While Khadiwale hit 10 fours in his 164-ball knock, Bawne found the fence seven times while facing 146 deliveries.

Rohan Prem hits unbeaten ton as Kerala crawl

Hyderabad: Rohan Prem struck an unbeaten century as Kerala crawled to 186 for five in their Group C match against Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium.

At stumps on Day 1, Prem was unbeaten on 106 off 245 balls, with Raiphi Gomez on 10.

Prem hit 13 boundaries and two sixes after the visitors elected to bat. Opener V A Jagadeesh was Kerala’s next-best scorer with 42 off 160 balls.

Vishal Sharma and Akash Bhandari picked up two wickets apiece for Hyderabad.

Jadeja's all-round show gives Saurashtra upper hand

Rajkot: Riding on a superb all-round performance by Ravindra Jadeja, Saurashtra took the first innings lead against Jharkhand in their Group C match.

After bundling out Jharkhand for a meagre 168, Saurashtra scored 205 to take a slender 37-run lead by stumps on Day 1.

Electing to bat, Jharkhand kept losing wickets at regular intervals as Jadeja wreaked havoc, taking six wickets for 71, while Kamlesh Makvana (4-46) also chipped in with four scalps.

Opener Ishan Kishan top-scored with 87 but only three other batsmen could reach the double digits.

Replying to Jharkhand's total, Saurashtra also did not have a good start and also failed to apply themselves. But thanks to Jadeja's 75-ball 58, the home team managed to take a slight edge over their opponents.

For Jharkhand, Shahbaz Nadeem claimed four for 38.

Brief scores:

Jharkhand (1st innings): 168 (Ishan Kishan 87, Ravindra Jadeja 6-71, Kamlesh Makvana 4-46).

Saurashtra (1st innings): 205 (Ravindra Jadeja 58, Cheteshwar Pujara 27; Shahbaz Nadeem 4-38).

Ishant's fine bowling restricts Vidarbha

New Delhi: Ishant Sharma returned to competitive cricket, claiming three wickets for 26 runs, as Delhi restricted Vidarbha to 222 for 6 in their Group ‘A’ match.

Ishant worked up good pace and bounce from the Feroz Shah Kotla strip after Gautam Gambhir opted to field.

The lanky speedster bowled in four short spells and got wickets in three of those.

For Vidarbha, Faiz Fazal (55) and Subramanium Badrinath (44) added 89 runs for the third wicket in 38.4 overs. They steadied the innings from 16-2 after Wasim Jaffer (0) was run-out without playing a ball.
The other important partnership was 71 for sixth wicket between Aditya Shanware (41) and Jitesh Sharma (batting 35).
However, the day was all about Ishant showing that he is a class apart from other bowlers. While fellow-paceman Pradeep Sangwan (2-34) barely got the ball to bounce above shin, Ishant got it to rear awkwardly.

Ganesh Sathish got one that bounced and the resultant slash was taken by Vaibhav Rawal at third slip.

His second wicket was well-set Fazal, who gloved it to Mohit Ahlawat behind stumps as it kicked up from length.

Shanware, at the end of the day, got one that had shade extra bounce and moved away and Ahlawat took a simple catch.

It was Jitesh, whose cheeky shots got the score moving after Vidarbha were stuck for better part of the day.

Brief scores:

Vidarbha: 222 for 6 (Faiz Fazal 55, S Badrinath 44; Ishant Sharma 3-26) vs Delhi.