Ranji Trophy: Umpiring draws flak

Dalal, Shorey hit fifties on day one

Hiten Dalal scored a brisk 79 on debut before Himachal Pradesh fought back to reduce Delhi to 305 for eight at stumps on day one of a Group B Ranji Trophy match, in New Delhi, on Monday.

Dhruv Shorey (88) too made a significant contribution but missed out on a hundred on a day when some questionable umpiring calls were made.

Gautam Gambhir, who was on 44, vented out his frustration after being caught at short leg off left-arm spinner Mayank Dagar in the 17th over. The replays showed that the ball only hit the pad before Priyanshu Khanduri claimed the catch, ending a 96-run opening-wicket partnership between Gambhir and Dalal.

Dalal and Shorey then took the innings forward. Dalal, who had scored a fifty also on his List A debut earlier this year, went for the attack at the slightest of opportunities. He ended up collecting 10 fours and three sixes.

Once Dalal departed, Shorey never really got the support he was looking for with Delhi suffering a middle-order collapse after being 161 for one in the 34th over.

Nitish Rana (6) could not do much on his captaincy debut, lasting just 19 balls. Running out of partners, a well-settled Shorey perished while attempting an aerial hit over cover.

Anuj Rawat and Lalit Yadav failed to build on their starts, leaving Delhi in a spot of bother.

Varun Sood was batting on 18 and Vikash Mishra on 5 when stumps were called.

Dagar was the pick of the bowlers for Himachal Pradesh, taking three wickets for 57 runs in 21 overs while off-spinner Gurvinder Singh took two for 57 in 21 overs.

Brief Scores: Delhi 305/8 in 89 overs (Gambhir 44, Shorey 88, Dalal 79; Dagar 3/57).

Akshath Reddy's knock helps Hyderabad take honours

Skipper Akshath Reddy led from the front with a superb unbeaten 114 to help Hyderabad make 249 for 3 to take the honours on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group 'B' match against Tamil Nadu, Tirunelveli.

The visiting team elected to bat after winning the toss and suffered an early blow when Tanmay Agarwal (10) was out, edging one to wicketkeeper N Jagadeesan off M Mohammed in the sixth over.

The talented Rohit Rayudu walked in at the fall of Tanmayand pottered around for 54 balls for 13 before being caught by B Anirudh Sitaram.

Mystery bowler C V Varun, making his debut, was introduced as early as in the seventh over but he couldn't do any damage as the rival batsmen negotiated him well.

Akshath played himself in and found an able partner in Himalay Agarwal (29).

The two were involved in a half-century partnership to steady the Hyderabad innings.

Himalay fell to K Vignesh, who was returning to the side after recovering from an injury.

Then came the big partnership of the day as Akshath and B Sandeep (73 batting) joined forces.

The two played deliveries on merit and also despatched the bad balls to the boundary.

While the captain hit 14 fours and a six, Sandeep too looked to score of every given opportunity and slammed 10 fours and a six.

Akshath brought up his ton with a sweep off Rahil Shah in the 83rd over.

Brief scores: Hyderabad 249 for 3 in 90 overs (Akshath Reddy 114 batting, B Sandeep 74 batting) vs Tamil Nadu.

At Kolkata: Bengal 246 for 4 in 82 overs (Koushik Ghosh 100, A R Easwran 86, Manoj Tiwari 31 batting, Shubham Sharma 1 for 3) vs MP.

At Thiruvananthapuram: Andhra Pradesh 225 for 8 in 89.3 overs (Ricky Bhui 109, Shiv Charan Singh 45, Akshay KC 4 for 56) vs Kerala.

Ghosh slams ton on Bengal comeback

Koushik Ghosh slammed his second first-class century in his comeback game, steering Bengal to 246/4 on day one of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group B fixture against Madhya Pradesh at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Included in the side as an extra batsman, the left-hander repaid the faith in him with his 189-ball 100 (14x4). Ghosh had last played against Vidarbha in their Ranji match on November 9 in Kalyani last year.

The 26-year-old, along with Abhimanyu Easwaran (86), stitched a 136-run partnership after opener Abhishek Raman (14) got out cheaply in the first session.

But Madhya Pradesh ended the day on a positive note, picking two wickets -- including Ghosh's -- in two overs before bad light stopped play in 82 overs.

Ghosh got out without adding anything to his century and edged one behind the stumps and in the next over Sudip Chatterjee (0) was trapped by leg-spinner Mihir Hirwani.

There would have been further damage but sloppy fielding by Madhya Pradesh came to Bengal's rescue.

At close, Bengal skipper Manoj Tiwary was batting on 31 after being dropped twice while his partner Anustup Majumdar (7 batting) got a reprieve once.

Earlier, Bengal had a steady start with openers Raman and Abhimanyu surviving the first hour of play.

It was young pacer Avesh Khan who gave the breakthrough, dismising Raman as Ghosh was sent ahead of Chatterjee in a bold decision by the Bengal think-tank.

Playing in place of off-spinner Pradipta Pramanik, Ghosh was promoted to number three with Chatterjee dropping down to four.

Making full use of the challenge, Ghosh ensured that there was no further damage as he and Abhimanyu batted out the entire second session.

Brief Scores: Bengal 246/4; 82 overs (Koushik Ghosh 100, Abhimanyu Easwaran 86, Manoj Tiwari 31 batting) vs Madhya Pradesh.