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Dravid props Karnataka

Maestro Rahul Dravid did make an impact on his first millennium appearance for Karnataka, making an elegant 71. But his presence failed to act as an inspiration for his teammates and the defending champions were bowled out for a paltry 243 against an unfancied Rajasthan attack in a Ranji Trophy Super League match in Bangalore on Wednesday, the opening day of the four-day contest.

The visitors were one down for 24 at draw of stumps as Javagal Srinath got the prized scalp of Gagan Khoda, the Rajasthan skipper and batting mainstay, to keep Karnataka's hopes alive.

Dravid fought valiantly but almost alone as none of the Karnataka batsmen save opener M. Beerala (48), Thilak Naidu (38) and Sunil Joshi (34) stayed long enough to make any sort of an impression. Beerala and Dravid added 108 runs for the second wicket but it was a procession thereafter as the defending champions crumbled from 109 for 1 to 150 for 5. A 63-run sixth wicket association saved Karnataka the blushes and they managed to post 243.

The star of the day was D.P. Singh who took four wickets for 44.

Scoreboard
Karnataka (1st innings): M. Beerala b D.P. Singh 48, Barrington c Khoda b S. Singh 0, R. Dravid b Kanwat 71, T. Naidu run out 38, A. Vijay lbw D.P. Singh 0, B. Akhil c Krishna Kumar b Dave 14, S. Joshi c Sharma b D.P. Singh 34, A. Kumble n.o. 17, J. Srinath c Doru b Kanwat 2, D. Ganesh c A. Jain b Dave 6, V. Prasad b D.P. Singh 0. Extras (b 5, lb 5, nb 3) 13. Total (79 overs): 243.

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-109, 3-125, 4-126, 5-150, 6-213, 7-216, 8-224, 9-240, 10-243.

Bowling: Shamsher 12-1-39-1, Krishna Kumar 5-0-27-0, Sharma 6-2-19-0; Jain 2-0-15-0; Dave 11-1-28-2; D.P. Singh 21-8-44-4, Kanwat 22-6-61-2.

Rajasthan (1st innings): Anshu Jain batting 10, G. Khoda c Prasad b Srinath 3, N. Doru batting 7. Extras: (nb 4) 4. Total ( for 1 wkt, 9 overs): 24.

Fall of wicket: 1-5.

Bowling: Srinath 4-0-13-1, Prasad 3-0-9-0, Kumble 1-0-2-0, Joshi 1-1-0-0.

KANPUR: Sanjay Raul's unbeaten ton helped Orissa to obtain a respectable score even as Uttar Pradesh pushed the rivals into a tight corner on the opening day of their four-day Group C Ranji Trophy Super League match at Green Park on Wednesday.

The visitors, who fielded a strong batting line-up, could score only 241 in their first innings which folded up 20 minutes before the scheduled close and Uttar Pradesh were 8 for no loss in four overs at close of play.

It was largely due to Sanjay Raul's (108) disciplined innings on a slow and low wicket and his 66-run sixth wicket association with P. Jaichandra which helped the visitors recover from a sorry 98 for four. This was Raul's second century of the season, the earlier one being against Assam in the zonal league.

Scoreboard
Orissa (1st innings): Shib Sundar Das lbw Shalabh Srivastava 23, Prashant Mahapatra lbw Gyanendra Pandey 5, Prabanjan Mullick b Mritunjay Tripathi 16, Sanjay Raul not out 108, Rashmi Ranjan Parida c Gyanendra b Zaidi 16, P. Jaichandra c Mohd. Saif b Gyanendra Pandey 36, Robin Morris c A. Tyagi b Musi Raza 6, Yash Pal Mohanty c&b Gyanendra Pandey 12, Sanjay Satpathi b Musi Raza 2, Ajay Barik lbw Gyanendra Pandey 0, Jagannath Das run out 2. Extras (b-4, lb-10, nb-1) 15. Total (84 overs): 241.

Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-30, 3-64, 4-98, 5-164, 6-185, 7-20, 8-209, 9- 210.

Bowling: A.W. Zaidi 13-4-39-1; Shalabh Srivastava 20-5-48-1; Mritunjay Tripathi 17-4-42-1; Gyanendra Pandey 19-3-42-4; Musi Raza 15-1- 56-2.

Uttar Pradesh (1st innings): Manoj Mudgal not out 7, Jyoti Yadav not out 1. Total (for no loss): 8.

Bowling: Ajay Barik 2-1-5-0; Robin Morris 2-0-3-0.

CALCUTTA: Despite a none too impressive and rather lacklustre Bengal bowling attack, a strong Delhi batting line-up showed itself in poor light and the visitors were six down for 200 at the draw of stumps on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Super League match the Eden Gardens in Calcutta on Wednesday.

The promise that a green turf had held out, a day before, fizzled out in the first hour of play itself as the Delhi batsmen seemed determined to milk the Bengal attack very systematically. Their task was made easy by Laxmi Ratan Shukla and Sumit Panda -- the two Bengal seamers who shared the new ball. While Panda hardly appeared to be fit, Shukla was a far cry from what he was a season ago.

This forced the Bengal skipper to bring himself in the attack from the Club House end, while left-arm spinner Utpal Chatterjee's services had to be sought from the High Court end as early as in the 14th over of the innings. The move bore rich dividends for the hosts.

While Ganguly bowled his heart out, pitching nothing short and mixing the slower ones well to keep the batsmen guessing, the experienced Chatterjee put the brakes on the visitors, conceding a meagre 40 runs in his 34 overs. This slowed down the scoring rate drastically and even the battle-hardened Delhi skipper fell into the trap by trying to break through the shackles.

Earlier, opener Ashu Dani had perished offering an outside edge behind the stumps to a sharply rising delivery from Ganguly, after a patient 21, while Akash Malhotra was bowled by Chatterjee for 34. Later on, Shukla, who was quite a disappointment in his initial spells, trapped Virendra Sehwag and Mithun Minhas leg-before wicket.

While wickets tumbled at one end, opener Akash Chopra was a cool customer. All his 11 boundaries were exquisitely timed and he was in no hurry whatsoever, mixing caution with aggression. He remained unbeaten on 79 and looks set for a bigger score.

The unimpressive bowling attack was matched by poor fielding as Devang Gandhi and Rohan Gavaskar floored a few chances.

Scoreboard
Delhi (1st innings): A. Chopra batting 79, A. Dani c Karim b Ganguly 21, A. Malhotra b Chatterjee 34, A. Sharma c Gavaskar b Ganguly 11, V. Sehwag lbw b Shukla 5, M. Manhas lbw b Shukla 0, V. Dahiya c Ganguly b Chatterjee 17, N. Chopra n.o. 22. Extras (lb-4, w-1, nb-6) 11. Total (for 6 wkts) (90 overs): 200.

Fall of wickets: 1-45, 2-107, 3-125, 4-137, 5-137, 6-171.

Bowling: Shukla 20-6-45-2, Panda 9-0-36-0, Ganguly 18-1-50-2, Chatterjee 34-13-40-2, Majumdar 3-0-11-0, Lahiri 6-2-14-0.

HYDERABAD: Superb half centuries by Rajiv Kumar (85) and skipper Sunil Kumar (80) and their 153-runs fourth wicket partnership enabled visitors Bihar score 225 for 6 in 90 overs against hosts Hyderabad on the opening day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Group `B' Super League tie on Wednesday.

Bihar, electing to bat, started off on a disastrous note as their top three batsmen were back in the pavilion with just 30 runs on the board.

Rajiv and Sunil, however, got together, furstrating the Hyderabad bowlers as they added 153 invaluable runs in a defiant fourth wicket partnership that stretched over 219 minutes and 55.1 overs.

Rajiv Kumar's 258-minute, 204-ball stay at the crease of 84 was laced with eight hits to the fence and a majectic six while Sunil Kumar, the more aggressive of the two, faced 156 balls, hitting eight boundaries in his 219-minute innings of 80.

Scoreboard
Bihar (1st innings): N. Ranjan lbw Satwalker 10, Ratan Kumar c Nandakishore b Satwalker 12, Amir Hasmi c Youraj b N.P. Singh 4, Rajiv Kumar run out 85, Sunil Kumar c & b Raju 80, Manish Kumar n.o. 7, M. Dhoni c Youraj b Kanwaljit 18, Vikas n.o. 0. Extras (b 1, lb 4, nb 4) 9. Total (in 90 overs) (for 6 wkts): 225.

Fall of wickets: 1-19; 2-26; 3-30; 4-183; 5-200; 6-225.

Bowling: N.P. Singh 15-4-25-1, Satwalker 11-4-31-2, Pratap 6-2-14-0, Kanwaljit 21-2-62-1, Raju 25-8-45-1, Yadav 12-3-43-0.

Coming to Delhi after scoring an innings and 114-run win over Bihar in the first round, Baroda failed to take any advantage from early breakthroughs provided by left arm spinner Valmik Buch, who finished the day with figures of four for 47.

Electing to bat, Railways lost their opener Sanjay Bangar with 37 runs on the board. Vishal Sharma, who opened the innings with Bangar, played some glorious shots and hit seven boundaries before Buch bowled him out for 43.

Buch took a fine return catch to claim the wicket of Abhay Sharma. The next man Yere Gaud was watchful after a failed stumping attempt by Baroda 'keeper Milap Mewade at 64 for 3. Gaud along with Railways' captain Prahlad Rawat were cruising along when left arm medium pace Zaheer Khan claimed his wicket.

The delivery which claimed Rawat's wicket hit him on the foot and examination revealed a hairline fracture in the great toe of the left foot.

After the loss of four wickets, Railways were struggling at 86, but at this stage, the Baroda bowlers lost their zip. Devendra Singh made his intentions clear by hitting a magnificent six at long off of Buch. However, trying to hit the bowler again he was caught by Himanshu Jadhav three short of fifty.

Scoreboard
Railways (1st innings): Sanjay Bangar c Indulkar b Buch 11, Vishal Sharma b Buch 43, Abhay Sharma c&b Buch 1, Yere Goud batting 60, Prahlad Rawat lbw Zaheer Khan 18, Devendra Singh c Jadhav b Buch 47, Sudhir Wankhede batting 5. Extras 9. Total (for 5 wkts. in 90 overs) 194.

Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-53, 3-59, 4-86, 5-179.

Bowling: Zaheer Khan 19-9-48-1; Rakesh Patel 12-2-41-0; Valmik Buch 29-12-47-4; R. Swaroop 21-2-28-0; Ajit Bhoite 7-1-15-0; Tushar Arothe 2-0-10-0.

ROHTAK: A strokeful century from Prakash Bhatt (110) and his 185-run third wicket stand with skipper Sitanshu Kotak (83) took Saurashtra to a comfortable 285 for five against Haryana on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Super League match on Wednesday.

Electing to bat, Saurashtra lost two early wickets when opener Vasant Kumar (14) was caught by Parinder Sharma off Feroze Ghyas at 24 and Altaf Merchant (8) followed him 29 runs later.

Bhatt then joined his skipper in the middle and the two built the innings with some sound batting before Bhatt, whose knock included 17 hits to the fence, was clean bowled by Vineet Jain at 238.

Kotak (83) was clean bowled by Pankaj Thakur when the score read 263. His 83 included 11 fours. Feroze Bambhania (7) was the last man to fall, trapped leg before wicket by Thakur after the addition of 18 runs.

At close of play, Bimal Jadeja (20) and Niraj Obedra (0) were at the crease.

Jain and Thakur claimed two wickets each for 66 and 54 runs, respectively.

Scoreboard
Saurashtra (1st innings): Vasant Kumar c P. Sharma b Ghyas 14, Altaf Merchant c Sanjay Dalal b Vineet Jain 8, Sitanshu Kotak b Pankaj Thakur 83, Prakash Bhatt b Vineet Jain 110, Bimal Jadeja batting 20, Firoz Bambhania lbw Pankaj Thakur 7, Niraj Odedara batting 0. Extras (b-12, lb-6, w-2, nb-23) 43. Total (for 5 wkts) 285.

Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-53, 3-238, 4-263, 5-281.

Bowling: Vineet Jain 17-4-66-2; Feroze Ghyas 17-7-68-1; Manish Shakhalkar 14-3-45-0; Pankaj Thakur 30-12-54-2; Sanjay Dalal 10-2-24-0; Parinder Sharma 2-0-10-0.