M P Arjun emerged the wrecker-in-chief after a six-wicket haul as Hyderabad bowled out hosts Punjab for a modest 221 on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A Match in Mohali on Tuesday.
Ravi Inder Singh, a centurion in the previous match, again played well for Punjab, top-scoring with 63 at PCA stadium.
In reply, Hyderabad too made a shaky start, losing opener Abhinav Kumar inside the first five overs. The visitors were 12 for 1 at the draw of stumps, with T Suman (2) and Alfred Absolem (1) at the crease.
Paceman Arjun vindicated his skipper VVS Laxman's decision to ask the hosts to bat as he blew away the Punjab top and middle-order, accounting for the first five batsmen.
Absolem (3/56) joined the party and finished with three wickets.
Punjab were tottering at 113 for 5 at one stage but useful contributions by skipper Ankur Kakkar (30), Vishwas Bhalla (24) and Manpreet Gony (20) down the order helped them post a modest total.
Ravi Inder was the only top-order batsman who put up resistance, staying at the wicket for close to three hours and hitting 11 fours in his 112-ball knock.
Brief scores: Punjab 221 all out in 76.5 overs (R Inder Singh 63, A Kakkar 30; M P Arjun 6/57, A Absolem 3/56) vs Hyderabad 12 for one in four overs.
Vinay Kumar sends Delhi crashing
New Delhi: A fiery R Vinay Kumar annihilated a depleted Delhi with a sensational eight-wicket haul as Karnataka, led by Rahul Dravid, took complete control of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group B encounter on Tuesday.
On an action packed Day 1, Vinay created mayhem in the Delhi line-up, claiming eight for 32 runs in a devastating spell of 21.4 overs as the hosts wilted for a mere 154 in 54.4 overs, a total that would not have been possible but for Puneet Bisht's unbeaten 31 down the order.
In reply, Karnataka ambled to 91 for 2, with Rahul Dravid (33) and K B Pawan (40) unbeaten at stumps. The visitors need just 64 runs for that crucial first innings lead.
Picked this afternoon in the Indian Test team for the home series against Sri Lanka, it was a perfect day for Dravid. The Karnataka captain won an important toss, watched in amusement as Vinay and his bowling colleagues mowed down Delhi and then got some useful runs under his belt to warm-up for the series against the Lankans.
Even though Dravid had pointed out to Australia's victory in the ongoing ODI series against India to warn that depleted teams should not be underestimated, a weakened Delhi proved no match for Karnataka.
With their star players busy on national duty and regulars like Mithun Manhas and Chetanya Nanda nursing injuries, Delhi fielded a second string side that found Vinay too hot to handle.
Vinay started the rot in the fourth over when he had rival captain Akaash Chopra (6) caught at slip by Dravid and removed Gaurav Chhabra (6) and Abhishek Sharma (0) in quick succession to reduce Delhi to 39 for three.
Shikhar Dhawan (26) offered some resistance but once Abhimanyu Mithun removed him and veteran Sunil Joshi got the better of Rajat Bhatia (7), Delhi had lost its top half for just 61 runs.
Mayank Tehlan (28) tried to delay the inevitable but Vinay was breathing fire by then and the right-arm pacer added five middle and lower order wickets to his three top order scalps to drop curtains on the Delhi innings.
In reply, Karnataka lost opener Muralidharen Gautam (2) and next man in Amit Verma (12) in quick succession but Pawan and Dravid ensured there was no panic.
Pawan's unbeaten 86-ball 40 had seven fours in it, while five of the 63 balls that Dravid faced raced to the fence.
Rain washes out Day 1 of Orissa-Mumbai match
Mumbai: Mumbai's hopes of registering their first victory suffered a jolt after the first day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match against Orissa at the Brabourne stadium was called off due to bad weather on Tuesday.
Unseasonal rain played spoilsport as play was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
Mumbai, who in their opening match had let Punjab off the hook after gaining a massive first innings lead of 212, have three points from one match.
Orissa, who were thumped by 159 runs in their first match by Gujarat, are yet open their account.
Squads:
Mumbai: W Jaffer (Capt.), M Hussain, A B Agarkar, Harmeet Singh, Iqbal Abdulla, Z Khan, O J Khanvilkar, S O Kukreja, D S Kulkarni, U R Malvi, S H Marathe, P T Naik, V R Samant, A P Tare, P G Waghela
Orissa: S S Das (Capt.) B Mohanty, D R Behera, N Behera, S Biswal, RR Das, Dhiraj Singh, S K Jena, D S Mohanty, R K Mohanty, P M Mullick, P Patel, B S Pati, Preetamjit Das, and S D Sahoo. PTI VKV AT
Shukla, Parvinder tons propel UP to 287-5
Rajkot: Centuries from Shivakant Shukla (119) and Parvinder Singh (120 not out) propelled Uttar Pradesh to a strong 287 for five on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match against Saurashtra in Rajkot on Tuesday.
Electing to bat, Uttar Pradesh were off to a disastrous start with two of their top order batsmen -- opener Tanmay Srivastava (4) and Ali Murtaza (5) -- back in the pavilion at the team's score of 13.
Their woes increased after captain Mohd Kaif was out for 14, leaving team reeling at 51 for 3.
Opener Shukla and Parvinder then stitched a 180-run stand for the fourth wicket off 283 balls to take Uttar Pradesh out of the woods. Shukla fell in the post-tea session after hitting 11 fours and three sixes in his 212-ball stay.
Parvinder, who came in at the fall of Kaif, carried his bat through the innings. He hit 16 fours and two sixes from the 206 balls he faced.
At draw of stumps, Bhuvneswar Kumar was giving Parvinder company on two.
For Saurashtra, Sandeep Jobanputra and Rakesh Dhurv took two wickets apiece for 44 and 79 runs respectively while Sandip Maniar chipped in with one UP wicket.
After losing their first group match to Karnataka by 186 runs, UP will now look to strengthen their position on Day 2.
Brief scores: UP 287 for 5 from 90 overs (T Srivastava 119, P Singh batting 120, S Jobanputra 2/44, R Dhurv 2/79) v Saurashtra.
TP Singh ton lifts Railways against HP
New Delhi: T P Singh hit a well-paced ton as Railways weathered journeyman spinner Sarandeep Singh's four-wicket haul to chug along to 238 for four on Day 1 of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match against Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday.
The Himachal new ball attack may lack firepower, but Sarandeep, who represented Delhi and Punjab in the past, proved he still has a few tricks up his sleeve. The 30-year-old off-spinner threw the spanner in the works every time a Railways partnership threatened to blossom.
Having shouldered the bulk of the workload, an indefatigable Sarandeep went on to dismiss T P Singh as well in the 88th over but, by then, the batsman had starred in a 130-run association with Yere Goud (48 not out) that laid the platform for a big total.
At stumps, Goud had Akshay Girap (1) for company.
Sarandeep sent down a staggering 32 of the 91 overs of the Railways innings, which is more than one third of the total workload.
Earlier after skipper Murali Kartik decided to bat, openers Faiza Fazal (29) and V Cheluvaraj (13) raised 30 runs for Railways before Sarandeep drew first blood by removing the latter.
Fazal had added 39 runs with next man in Sanjay Bangar (34) when Sarandeep struck again, removing the opener as Paras Dogra took his second catch of the match.
Bangar was looking set when Sarandeep got the better of his defence and Railways were 100 for three at that stage.
TP Singh then joined Goud in the middle and the duo cruised merrily. Once he got his eyes in, TP Singh opened up, while Goud, who put a premium on his wicket, also opened up occasionally.
TP Singh's patient 177-ball 102 included 12 fours and three sixes, while Goud's unbeaten 131-ball 48 had three fours and a couple of sixes in it.
Irfan, Pinal to Baroda's rescue
Kolkata: India discard Irfan Pathan and wicketkeeper-batsman Pinal Shah came to Baroda's rescue with an unbeaten 73-run seventh wicket stand to guide the visitors to 219 runs for six at stumps on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match.
Irfan (42 not out) and Pinal (41 not out) played cautiously to share 73 runs in exactly 28 overs for the seventh wicket after Baroda lost half of their side before reaching the 150-run mark.
Sourav Sarkar (2/50) and skipper Laxmi Ratan Shukla (2/38) picked two wickets apiece for Bengal while Ranadeb Bose and off-spinner Saurasish Lahiri scalped one each.
Put into bat, Baroda had a terrible start to their innings, losing their first two wickets in the fourth over with the scoreboard reading seven.
