A round-up of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Friday.
Teenager Mhatre hits ton as Mumbai in command
Teenaged opener Ayush Mhatre compiled his maiden hundred in first-class cricket after an excellent performance by the bowlers as defending champions Mumbai dominated Maharashtra to take opening day honours in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match in Mumbai on Friday.
Mhatre, 17, and playing in only his third match, struck an unbeaten 127, decorating his knock with 17 fours and three sixes while facing 163 balls.
His innings powered Mumbai to a strong 220 for three at stumps on the first day.
Opting to bat first, Maharashtra were bowled out for a meagre 126 in their first innings with left-arm spinner Shams Mulani returning fine figures of 3/7 in 6.4 overs.
The other wicket-takers for Mumbai were Mohit Avasthi (3/31), Royston Dias (2/31) and Shardul Thakur (2/51).
India pacer Shardul, though, gave away 51 runs in his nine overs.
Maharashtra captain Ruturaj Gaikwad endured a bad day with the bat and was dismissed for a two-ball duck.
Nikhil Naik (38) and Azim Kazi (36) were the two main contributors with the bat for Maharashtra.
Boosted by the return of India's T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav, Mumbai are aiming to recover from their 84-run defeat to Baroda earlier this week.
When Mumbai came out to bat, they were dealt an early blow with the dismissal of Prithvi Shaw (1) to medium pacer Pradeep Dadhe (2/51).
Dadhe also accounted for the wicket of Hardik Tamore (4) as Mumbai slipped to 24 for two.
Tamore's departure brought Mumbai skipper Ajinkya Rahane (31) into the middle and the seasoned campaigner joined his junior teammate Mhatre to add 99 runs for the third wicket and put the team in a comfortable position.
However, just when he seemed to have settled nicely, Rahane was trapped in front of the wicket by left-arm spinner Hitesh Walunj.
Mumbai were then just three shy of matching Maharashtra's score as Shreyas Iyer walked in.
Senior batter Shreyas got into the groove quickly and added 97 runs for an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership at the BKC.
Shreyas made an unbeaten 45 off 59 balls, lacing his knock with four boundaries and two sixes.
By the end of day's play, Mumbai extended their lead to a healthy 94 runs.
Brief scores:
Maharashtra 1st innings: 126 all out in 31.4 overs (Nikhil Naik 38, Azim Kazi 36; Shams Mulani 3/7, Mohit Avasthi 3/31) vs Mumbai 1st innings: 220/3 in 49 overs (Ayush Mhatre 127 batting, Shreyas Iyer 45).
In Shillong: Tripura 1st innings: 29/2 in 7.2 overs vs Meghalaya (Match affected by rain).
In Cuttack: Jammu & Kashmir 270 all out in 70.3 overs (Abdul Samad 127; Sumit Sharma 5/79) vs Odisha 1st innings: 15/1 in 9 overs.
In Delhi: Baroda 1st innings: 249/3 in 90 overs (Shivalik Sharma batting 120, Vishnu Solanki batting 102) vs Services.
Gujarat's Arzan frustrates Andhra with unbeaten 59
Batting at number 10, Arzan Nagwaswalla hit a pugnacious 59 and added 86 runs for the unconquered ninth wicket with skipper Chintan Gaza (38) in a splendid rearguard action to take Gujarat to 289 for eight against Andhra on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy match in Ahmedabad, on Friday.
Electing to bat, the hosts had a steady start with Rishi Patel (26) and Priyank Panchal (28) adding 48 runs for the opening stand.
Manan Hingrajia (48) also began well but could not make the most of it. The middle- order then wobbled a bit with Gujarat losing Umang Kumar (15) and Jaymeet Patel (20) cheaply.
While Urvil Patel made a quickfire 48 off 53 balls with four fours and three sixes, wickets kept tumbling for Gujarat.
Left-arm spinner Lalith Mohan (3/90) and off-spinner Tripurana Vijay (2/84) shared five wickets between them and were responsible for hastening the Gujarat collapse but Arzan denied them with his fighting approach.
Arzan had a steady partner at the other end as Gaja happily played the second fiddle.
They frustrated the Andhra bowlers by staying unseparated for the final 20 overs. Arzan hit eight fours and a six in his unbeaten 72-ball knock, while Gaja was more patient, scoring 38 off 88 balls with just one shot to the fence.
Brief Scores:
Gujarat 1st innings: 289 for 8 in 87 overs vs Andhra. (Arzan Nagwaswalla 59 batting, Chntan Gaja 38 batting; L Mohan 3/90, T Vijay 2/84)
Other Group B matches:
Dharamsala: Rajasthan 1st innings: 304 for 7 in 87 overs vs Himachal Pradesh (Yash Kothari 84, Mahipal Lomror 89 batting; Mayank Dagar 4/83)
Dehradun: Uttarakhand 1st innings: 313 for 8 in 76 overs vs Hyderabad (Avneesh Sudha 89, Aditya Tare 69, Yuvraj Chaudhary 49; Tanay Thaygarajan 3/83, Rohit Rayudu 2/16)
Puducherry: Vidharbha 1st innings: 261 for 8 in 83 overs. (Yash Rathod 118, Harsh Dubey 69; Gaurav Yadav 3/57, Sagar Udeshi 2/40, Fabid Ahmed 2/51).
Salil Arora's hundred on debut takes Punjab to safety vs Madhya Pradesh
Making a remarkable first class debut, wicketkeeper-batter Salil Arora hit a resilient 101 to help Punjab recover from a jittery start and end the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group C match at 254 for seven against Madhya Pradesh, in Mullanpur, on Friday.
Arora, who came in at number seven, stitched an unbroken 100-run partnership with Sukhwinder Singh (64 from 96 balls) as Punjab made a superb recovery from being 154 for seven inside 63 overs.
Electing to bat, Punjab lost both their openers Abhay Choudhary (0) and Jaskaranvir Singh Paul (15) inside eight overs.
Their innings was in disarray with Naman Dhir (7), Pukhraj Mann (1), Anmolpreet Singh (25), Krish Bhagat (27) and skipper Mayank Markande (7) getting out cheaply.
But Arora showed fine resolve in the company of Sukhwinder who played a counterattacking innings, smashing eight fours and two sixes.
For MP, Kumar Kartikeya bagged 2/43, while Avesh Khan, Saransh Jain, Anubhav Agarwal, Kulwant Khejroliya and Shubham Sharma took one each.
At Alur, Kerala were 88 for no loss against Karnataka when bad light stopped play on truncated day.
Rohan Kunnummal was unbeaten on 57 from 74 balls with nine fours and one six, while Vathsal Goud gave a fine support with 31 in the 23 overs play that was possible following a wet outfield.
Brief Scores:
In Lucknow: Haryana 242/6; 90 overs (Himanshu Rana 114, Ankit KUmar 77; Shivam Sharma 3/46) vs Uttar Pradesh.
In Mullanpur: Punjab 254/7; 90 overs (Salil Arora 101 batting, Sukhwinder Singh 64; Kumar Kartikeya 2/43) vs Madhya Pradesh.
In Alur: Kerala 88 for no loss; 23 overs vs Karnataka.
Double centurion Sudharsan plunders Delhi bowlers
Delhi captain Himmat Singh paid a heavy price for misreading the conditions after some dodgy selections as B Sai Sudharsan's disdainful maiden double century powered Tamil Nadu to a commanding 379 for 1 on the opening day of their Group D Ranji Trophy game in New Delhi.
The sinewy left-hander was unbeaten on 202, having added 168 for the opening stand with N Jagadeesan (65 off 101) and another 211 runs for the second wicket with Washington Sundar (96 batting off 170 balls).
Delhi skipper Himmat was completely fooled by the thick covering of grass as the strip turned out to be flat in nature.
Navdeep Saini (1/65 in 17 overs) and Himanshu Chauhan (0/50 in 17 overs) did bowl probing opening spells but Sudharsan and Jagadeesan saw the first half an hour before feasting on some mediocre spin bowling.
Once Sudharsan's perfectly executed upper cut off Chauhan went for a six, the floodgates opened.
With Gujarat Titans Director of Cricket Vikram Solanki watching his player keenly, Sudharsan's repertoire of strokes must have pleased him, with the retention date approaching.
He was especially severe on left-arm spinner Harsh Tyagi (16.4-0-89-0), who repeatedly lost his length and was both cut and pulled for a flurry of boundaries.
It was surprising that the Delhi team management dropped left-arm spinner Sumit Mathur, who had got nine wickets on his debut last season. He is being benched for consecutive games.
All Sudarshan did was rock back on backfoot and bludgeon Tyagi through the mid-wicket region. He did get him caught at slip, but the bowler had overstepped. Sudharsan was on 77 then.
At the other end, portly off-spinner Mayank Rawat (26-0-110-0) failed to bowl three consecutive deliveries on spot, as Jagadeesan dispatched him into the mid-wicket stands.
Saini finally got him in the post-lunch session as the extra bounce saw him drag one back to the stumps. Sudharsan, who was hardy beaten during his stay in the middle, pushed one through covers for a boundary off Saini to get to his hundred.
Washington, who was a specialist batter at the junior level before his transformation into a bowling all-rounder, played a half-defensive push past Saini, which was followed by a forward-defensive check drive through covers, to stamp his authority.
Sudharsan, at the fag end of the day, completed a well-deserved double hundred off 249 balls, with a quick single off Tyagi.
Brief Scores: TN 379/1 (B Sai Sudharsan 202 batting, N Jagadeesan 68, Washington Sundar 96 batting) vs Delhi.
At Guwahati: Assam 249/8 in 87 overs vs Chandigarh.
At Rajkot: Chattisgarh 236/2 in 90 overs (Sanjeet Desai 81 batting, Amandeep Khare 51 batting) vs Saurashtra.
At Ahmedabad: Jharkhand 325/5 in 90 overs (Virat Singh 103 batting, Ishan Kishan 101, Nazim Siddiquie 96; Himanshu Sangwan 4/72) vs Railways.
