Ranji Trophy round-up: Sehwag, Yadav tons take Haryana to 319/8

Virender Sehwag celebrated his international retirement with a scintillating ton for Haryana as Jayant Yadav also joined the century-makers' list to help the side post 319 for eight on a dramatic Day 1 of their Ranji Trophy cricket league match against Karnataka in Mysore on Thursday.

Sehwag, who announced his international retirement on Tuesday, did not disappoint the spectators as he cracked a strokeful 136 runs in 170 balls with 16 fours and 3 sixes.

Yadav, whose 100-run knock was laced with 11 fours and a six, also joined the party as the duo stitched a 206-run third wicket partnership.

When the stumps were drawn, Haryana were in a strong position with tail-enders Harshal Patel and Ashish Hooda, batting on zero and six, respectively.

Defending champions Karnataka though showed courage to strike back after the tall stand as the bowlers bagged five wickets for just 54 runs in the final session. Sharing the new ball with captain Vinay Kumar, HS Sharath led charge with a hat-trick to end the day with impressive figures of 4-47. His hat-trick wickets were that of Sachin Rana (33), Rahul Dagar (0) and Nitish Saini (0). The hat-trick though was claimed in separate overs.

David Mathias bagged two wickets while Vinay Kumar and left-arm spinner Jagadeesha Suchith claimed a wicket each.

Brief Scores:

Haryana: 319/8 in 61 overs overs (Virender Sehwag 136, Jayant Yadav 100; HS Sharath 4-46).

Iyer ton drives Mumbai to 317/3 on Day 1

Vadodra: Mumbai batsman Shreyas Iyer slammed a strokeful century to help the Ranji giants post a healthy 317 for three on Day 1 of the their Group B cricket league encounter against Baroda on Thursday.

Electing to bat, Mumbai rode on an unbeaten 196-run fourth-wicket stand between Iyer (167 not out) and Suryakumar Yadav (66 not out) to manage a run-rate of 3.68 in 86 overs bowled in the day at the Reliance Stadium.

The Aditya Tare-led side lost a couple of early wickets but recovered well as Iyer sent the Baroda bowlers for a leather hunt during his 176-ball stay so far, his innings laced with 13 fours and 4 sixes.

Surayakumar played the sheet anchor’s role to perfection as he gave Iyer company during his 140-ball stay so far.

Brief Scores:

Mumbai: 317/3 in 86 overs (Shreyas Iyer 167 not out, Suryakumar Yadav 66 not out; Hardik Pandya 1-31).

Jadeja scalps six as 20 wickets fall on day 1

Rajkot: Ravindra Jadeja celebrated his return to India's Test squad with a six-wicket haul in a Group C Ranji Trophy match between Hyderabad and Saurashtra on the opening day which saw two stunning batting collapses at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Thursday.

Recalled into the Indian Test team after a gap of one year, Jadeja returned with figures of 21-1-75-6 to dismiss Hyderabad for 148 after they themselves were bundled out for 102, courtesy some brilliant bowling by Mehdi Hassan (5/43) and Vishal Sharma (4/30).

On a day when 20 wickets fell, Saurashtra skipper Jaydev Shah's decision to bat first backfired as his team was dismissed in 42 overs. Sagar Jogiyani (51) was the top-scorer for the hosts and apart from him and Shah (17), none of the other batsmen could reach double figures.

In reply, Hyderabad was tormented by some brilliant spin bowling by Jadeja and Kamlesh Makvana (4/23), who returned with a four wicket haul as the visitors were dismissed in 42.2 overs.

At the draw of stumps, Saurashtra were 10 for no loss with openers Avi Barot (8) and Jogiyani (2) at the crease. They trail Hyderabad by 36 runs with 10 wickets remaining.

Brief Scores:

Saurashtra: 102 in 42 overs (SD Jogiyani 51; M Hassan 5/43) & 10/0 in 8 overs.

Hyderabad:  148 in 42.2 overs (K Sumanth 41; R Jadeja 6/75). 

Sudeep, Saha take Bengal to 272/3 on Day 1

New Delhi: Wriddhiman Saha's delightful strokeplay coupled by Sudeep Chatterjee's patient century saw Bengal reach a respectable 272 for three at stumps against Delhi on the first day of their Ranji Trophy encounter on Thursday.

Left-hander Sudeep (108 batting) scored his second hundred in three matches, adding 142 runs with Saha (67 batting) for an unbeaten fourth-wicket stand.

The other highlight of the Bengal innings was a 103-run stand for the third wicket between Sudeep and skipper Manoj Tiwary (55).

Saha stamped his authority with a fine fifty even though Bengal suffered due sedate batting from their No 3, who failed to force the pace despite getting set as it took him 220 balls to reach his third first-class century of his career.

Thanks to Sudeep (9 boundaries) and Saha, who hit 9 fours and a big six over sight screen off Manan Sharma, Bengal looked good for a decent first innings total.

Brief Scores:

Bengal: 272/3 in 90 overs (Sudeep Chatterjee 108 not out, Manoj Tiwary 55, Wriddhiman Saha 67 not out; Manan Sharma 1-81).

Shrivastava scores century as MP finish day one 251/5

Patiala: Riding on Aditya Shrivastava's unbeaten ton and Jalaj Saxena's half-century, Madhya Pradesh reached 251 for five against Punjab on day one of their Group B Ranji Trophy cricket match on Thursday.

Shrivastava remained unbeaten on 105 when stumps were drawn and giving him company at the other end was Rameez Khan on 36.

Brief scores:

Madhya Pradesh: 251 for five in 92 overs (Aditya Shrivastava batting 105, Jalaj S Saxena 70; Sarabjit Ladda 2/62, Pargat Singh 2/75) vs Punjab.

Panchal ton takes Gujarat to 286/6 on first day

New Delhi: Opening batsman Priyank Panchal struck a sparkling 141 as Gurajat reached to a comfortable 286 for six on the first day of their Ranji Trophy cricket match against Railways on Thursday.

Panchal struck 17 fours and a six in his 233-ball innings as he contributed the bulk of the runs scored by Gujarat after being put to bat at the Karnail Singh Stadium.

He stitched 120 runs with captain Parthiv Patel (58) for the third wicket and another 73 runs with Venugopal Rao (35) for the fourth wicket to take his side to a strong position.

Brief Scores:

Gujarat 1st Innings: 286 for 6 in 90 overs (Priyank Panchal 141, Parthiv Patel 58; Arnab Nandi 2/34).

Menaria, Bhatia hit fifties as Rajasthan reach 258/5 on day 1

Jaipur:  Ashok Menaria (84) and Rajat Bhatia (59) hit half-century each as Rajasthan reached 258 for five against Maharashtra on the first day of their Ranji Trophy Group A cricket match on Thursday.

Menaria and Bhatia put on 86 runs together for the fourth wicket to take the home team past 200-run mark.

Menaria's knock came off 125 balls and was studded with 12 hits to the fence, while Bhatia took 132 deliveries for his innings that included four boundaries and a six.

Brief scores:

Rajasthan 1st innings: 258 for five in 88.3 overs (Ashok Menaria 84, Rajat Bhatia 59; Samad Fallah 2/58) vs Maharashtra.

Andhra bowlers pack UP for 170 on Day 1

Ongole: Medium-pacers helped Andhra Pradesh bag Day 1 honours after bundling out Uttar Pradesh for 170 in their Group B Ranji Trophy cricket encounter, on Thursday.

Putting UP into bat, Andhra bowlers justified their captain's faith by picking regular wickets as the visiting batting line-up fell like a pack of cards in 61.5 overs.

Andhra also started with a strong response to end the day on 77 for no loss with openers Prasanth Kumar (21 not out) and ’keeper-batsman Srikar Bharat (56 not out) in complete control.

Brief Scores:

Uttar Pradesh: 170 all out in 61.5 overs (Tanmay Srivastava 42, Praveen Kumar 47; Cheepurapalli Stephen 3-41, Siva Kumar 3-29)

Andhra Pradesh: 77/0 in 24 overs (Prasanth Kumar 21 not out, Srikar Bharat 56 not out; Praveen Kumar 0-24). 

Image: Virender Sehwag celebrating raises his bat after scoring a century in Ranaji Trophy against Karnataka in Mysore on Thursday

Photograph: PTI