A round-up of Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Friday.
Ajinkya Rahane and Prithvi Shaw faltered yet again as Karnataka pacers wreaked a havoc and bundled out Mumbai for a paltry 194 on the opening day of their Elite Ranji Trophy match in Mumbai.
However, skipper Suryakumar Yadav came to Mumbai's rescue with a counter-attacking 77 off 94 balls, laced with 10 fours and two sixes at the BKC ground in suburban Mumbai. His knock ensured that the hosts at least went past the 175-run mark.
Meanwhile, in the third session, there was an injury scare for Shaw, who fell while saving an overthrow and hurt his left-shoulder. He was taken off the field.
Earlier, the four-pronged Karnataka pace attack justified skipper Karun Nair's decision to bowl first on a breezy morning as they ran through the Mumbai batting line-up to reduce them to 86/6 at lunch.
Opener Aditya Tare (0) was the first wicket to fall as he dismissed by medium pacer V Koushik (3-45).
Rahane then joined Shaw as the two tried to steady the ship but the former perished after scoring just seven. Rahane had got a life earlier in his innings when Ronit More failed to latch on a return catch but the India vice-captain failed to make most of the opportunity.
However, More made up for the miss as he struck twice in the 13th over, first removing Rahane and then Siddhesh Lad (4) within a space of three balls.
While Rahane edged behind to wicketkeeper B R Sharath, Lad was bowled as Mumbai slumped to 34/3.
Shaw played a sedate knock, but again failed to convert his start. The pint-sized right-handed batsman made 29 off 57 balls before he played on the stumps off experienced right-arm pacer Abhimanyu Mithun (2-48).
Left-arm speedster Prateek Jain (2-20) continued Mumbia's wicket ways as he dismissed Sarfaraz Khan (8) and Shams Mulani (0).
Surya and Attarde then rallied the innings with their 88-run stand off 92 balls with Attarde playing second fiddle. Captain Surya launched an attack on Shreyas Gopal as Mumbai amassed 19 runs in the 28th over.
Surya completed his fifty with a flick off Koushik as after lunch the two kept frustrating the opposition bowlers.
However, Koushik broke the stand as Attarde edged to the first slip as Mumbai lost their seventh wicket on 148.
Despite losing partners, Surya kept playing his shots. However, he perished in tame fashion as he was caught down the leg side off Mithun.
Mumbai were eventually shot out for 194 in 55.5 overs with Shreyas Gopal (1-24) taking the final wicket.
In reply, Karnataka openers Devdutt Padikkal (32) and R Samarth (40 not out) gave the visitors a sedate start by conjuring 68 for the first wicket.
However, left-arm spinner Shams Mulani pegged back Karnataka by removing Padikkal and Abhishek Reddy (0) in the same over to reduce Karnataka to 68-2.
Rohan Kadam (4) was dismissed by off-spinner Attarde.
At stumps, Karnataka were 79/3 with trailing Mumbai's first innings score by 115 runs.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai 194 (Suryakumar Yadav 77; Shashank Attarde 35; V Koushik 3-45) vs Karnataka 79/3 (R Samarth 40 not out, Shams Mulani 2/13).
At Kanpur: Uttar Pradesh vs Tamil Nadu: No play on opening day.
At Vadodara: Baroda 201 (Deepak Hooda 86; Aditya Waghmode 31; Amit Mishra 4-51; Himanshu Sangwan 3-57) vs Railways 24/2.
At Dharamshala: Himachal Pradesh 175 (A P Vashisht 33; Avesh Khan 5-52; Ishwar Pandey 3-51) vs Madhya Pradesh 87/4 (Rameez Khan 36 not out).
Maharashtra 44 all out against Services
Services bowled out Maharashtra for 44 with medium pacer P S Poonia picking up 5/11 in their Ranji Trophy match in New Delhi on Friday.
By stumps on the opening day, Services took full control of the Group 'C' game by taking a 97-run lead at the Air force Complex Ground in Palam.
Poonia, who got his wickets in 10.2 overs, was complemented by Sachidanand Pandey (3/18) and Diwesh Pathania (2/13), as Maharashtra were shot out in 30.2 overs.
Services finished the day at 141 for four.
Only two Maharashtra batsmen got into double figures while four batters failed to open their account as Poonia and Co kept striking at regular intervals.
Pathania started the slide, getting rid of opener Murtaza Trunkwala (0) in the opening over by leaving his stumps in disarray.
The other opener Ruturaj Gaikwad (4) lasted 12 balls before falling to Pandey. The experienced Ankit Bawne was trapped leg-before for 6 by Poonia for his first wicket.
Satyajit Bachhav (11) and Chirag Khurana (14) put on 22 runs for the sixth wicket, the highest of the Maharashtra innings, before the lower order caved in for the addition of four more runs.
When Services batted, Mukesh Choudhary (1/17) struck early as he had Nakul Varma leg-before for a duck in the second over.
Ravi Chauhan (49 not out) and skipper Rajat Paliwal (42) added 69 runs to hand Services the advantage before the latter was caught behind by VV More off MD Ingale.
Chauhan and Rahul Singh Gahlaut (22 not out) ensured that Services finished the day without any further loss and the two will look to press home the advantage on day two.
There was no play on the opening day in the games between Tripura and Odisha in Agartala and Chhattisgarh and Haryana in Raipur.
Brief scores:
Maharashtra 44 all out in 30.2 overs (PS Poonia 5/11, Sachidanand Pandey 3/18) vs Services 141 for 4 in 51 overs (Ravi Chauhan 49 batting, Rajat Paliwal 42).
At Ranchi: Jharkhand 170 for 4 in 50 overs (Kumar Deobrat 35, Saurabh Tiwary 43 not out; Abid Mushtaq 3/24) vs Jau & Kashmir.
At Dehradun: Assam 237 for 5 in 92 overs (Gokul Sharma 47, Riyan Parag 104 not out, Kunal Saikia 34 not out) vs Uttarakhand.
Bidhuri, Baroka restrict Punjab after Gill controversy
Delhi all-rounder Kunwar Bidhuri and leg-spinner Tejas Baroka restricted Punjab to 266 for eight after Shubman Gill grabbed headlines for arguing with an umpire in the Ranji Trophy in Mohali.
Bidhuri (3/62 in 13 overs) and Baroka (2/34 in 10 overs) put the brakes on scoring on the opening day of the Group A match. Skipper Mandeep Singh's painstaking (81 off 181 balls) was the only saving grace for the hosts.
The morning was marred by the Gill incident that led to the match being halted for close to 10 minutes after the India 'A' white-ball captain was adjudged caught behind by umpire Mohammed Rafi when he was on 10 off medium pacer Subodh Bhati.
However, Gill got into an argument with Rafi and the umpire, after consulting square leg umpire Paschim Pathak, overturned the decision. This didn't go well with Delhi vice-captain Nitish Rana, who asked the umpires why the decision was changed.
The Delhi players were annoyed and after the match referee's intervention, the game started again. Gill (23 off 41 balls) didn't last long as he edged one off Simarjeet Singh (1/64 in 15 overs) to Anuj Rawat behind the stumps.
Gurkeerat Mann (65 off 50 balls) entertained for a while as he struck 12 boundaries in his innings before a delivery from left-arm spinner Vikas Mishra (1/52 in 29 overs), whose job was to bowl wicket to wicket and keep one end tight, castled him.
Mandeep and Anmolpreet Singh (45) had a 64-run stand before Bidhuri got one to held its line and trap Anmol plumb in-front.
Sharad Lumba (0) gave a return catch to Baroka, who also removed Anmol Malhotra, caught by skipper Dhruv Shorey.
At 223 for six, Mandeep didn't have the option to attack as Bidhuru struck twice with the old ball, castling Mayank Markande and then getting Mandeep caught by substitute fielder Vaibhav Kandpal.
Brief Scores:
In Mohali: Punjab 266/8 (Mandeep Singh 81, Gurkeerat Mann 62, Kunwar Bidhuri 3/64) vs Delhi.
In Kolkata: Bengal vs Gujarat. 1st day's play washed out.
In Hyderabad: Kerala 126/7 (Salman Nozar 37, M Ravi Kiran 3/24. Mohammed Siraj 2/36).
In Jaipur: Rajasthan 151 (Ashok Menaria 74, CV Stephen 4/67, KV Shashikanth 4/50).
