Jammu and Kashmir take control against Hyderabad
As many as 16 wickets fell on the opening day as visitors Hyderabad were left reeling at 88/6 after bundling out Jammu and Kashmir for 170 on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group D match in Jammu on Sunday.
Pacer Auqib Nabi continued his rich vein of form to return 3/30 as Hyderabad, yet to lose a match this season, were trailing by 82 runs at stumps.
Reduced to 32/5 while batting first, J&K were bolstered by a stroke-filled 57 (49 balls, 9x4s) from Abid Mushtaq at No. 7, who put on 60 runs for the sixth wicket with Abdul Samad and another 47 for the seventh wicket with Sahil Lotra.
Hyderabad bowlers Kartikeya Kak (3/48) and Tanay Thyagarajan (3/19) did well to give their side the advantage, but a poor response with the bat undid their effort.
Nabi struck on the third ball to remove Tanmay Agarwal (0) and Abhirath Reddy (5), followed by Nitish Reddy (3), who was caught by Umar Nazir.
Skipper Rahul Singh Gahlaut dropped anchor at one end but he fell for 48.
In Mumbai, both Musheer Khan and comeback batter Akhil Herwadkar missed their centuries while Siddhesh Lad made 80 not out (132 balls, 9x4s, 1x6s), as the hosts reached 317/3 against Pondicherry.
India batter Sarfaraz Khan was batting on 29.
Playing their first match of the season at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai made merry on a flat pitch on which fresh green grass on the first day morning led Pondicherry skipper Sagar Udeshi, who had played cricket in the city in his early days, to field.
Udeshi's decision proved wrong as Mumbai raced to a brisk start with openers Ayush Mhatre (36) and Musheer putting on a half-century stand in the first 10 overs.
Both Mhatre and Musheer pounced on every opportunity to score as Pondicherry bowlers struggled for control.
But the young Mhatre paid the price of playing one shot too many when he committed on the front foot to poke one outside the off-stump and was caught behind by another Mumbai-born player in the opposition camp, Siddhant Aadhhathrao off Abin Mathew.
The dismissal brought Herwadkar at the crease and the left-hander, replacing Ajinkya Rahane who was unavailable for this game, put on 119 runs with Musheer.
Musheer (84 off 102 balls, 11x4s) was by far the best batter on the day for Mumbai as his crisp hits, particularly drives down the ground, stood out. He looked set for a second consecutive ton but Sabhay Chadha had him caught by Paras Ratnaparkhe for 84.
Herwadkar, playing his first game for Mumbai since 2018, showed resolve to play an impactful innings even though he was dropped twice. While there was no century in the end for the left-hander, he did well to make 86 off 188 balls with 11 fours.
Herwadkar said he was nervous on his comeback but grew in confidence as the innings progressed.
At Rajsamand, centuries from opener Sachin Yadav (130) and Kunal Singh (103) led Rajasthan to 263/4 at the end of play against Delhi.
Yadav struck 17 fours and two sixes to make 130 while Rathore played a perfect second fiddle, making 102 off 198 balls (11 fours, 1 six). Both the batters fell towards the end of play as Delhi made crucial breakthroughs.
Chhattisgarh also enjoyed a successful day out while visiting the Amtar Cricket Ground in Himachal Pradesh's Nadaun, reaching 319/3 against the hosts.
Anuj Tiwary scored a 260-ball 162 (20x4s, 3x6s) with opener Ayush Pandey making 59. Sanjeet Desai was batting on 76.
Brief scores:
At Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir 170 in 47.1 overs (Abdul Samad 34, Abid Mushtaq 57, Sahil Lotra 36; Tanay Thyagarajan 3/19) lead Hyderabad 88/6 in 28 overs (Rahul Singh Gahlaut 48, Auqib Nabi 3/30) by 82 runs.
At Mumbai: Mumbai 317/3 in 84 overs (Musheer Khan 84, Akhil Herwadkar 86, Siddhesh Lad 80 not out; Abin Mathew 1/63) vs Pondicherry.
At Rajsamand: Rajasthan 263/4 in 84.2 overs (Sachin Yadav 130, Kunal Singh Rathore 102; Simarjeet Singh 3/56) vs Delhi.
At Nadaun: Chhattisgarh 319/3 in 87 overs (Anuj Tiwary 162, Sanjeet Desai 76 not out; Divesh Sharma 1/55) vs Himachal Pradesh.
Smaran's hundred, Karun's 95 give Karnataka control over Chandigarh
Promising Ravichandran Smaran made an unbeaten hundred and Karun Nair a 95 as Karnataka reached a strong 298 for five against Chandigarh on the opening day of their Elite Group B Ranji Trophy match in Hubballi, Karnataka.
Smaran (110 batting) had Shreyas Gopal (38 batting) for company at stumps at the KSCA Stadium.
This is Smaran's second successive three-figure mark after making an unbeaten 220 against Kerala in the last match at Mangalapuram.
Karnataka were on the back foot initially, having lost skipper Mayank Agarwal, KV Aneesh and KL Shrijith for just 64 on the board.
As they have done so often this season, Smaran and Karun rescued Karnataka, milking 119 runs for the fourth wicket.
Just as Karun (95, 164b) was motoring towards another hundred, the right-hander was trapped in front of the wicket by left-arm spinner Tanpreet Singh.
Left-arm spinner Nishunk Birla (2/85) soon jettisoned Abhinav Manohar as Karnataka slipped to 210 five to face a mini crisis.
But the left-handed Smaran, who brought up his hundred off 165 balls in 219 minutes, found a strong-willed partner in Shreyas.
The pair added 88 runs for the unbroken sixth wicket stand to take Karnataka close to the 300-run mark.
Brief scores:
At Hubballi: Karnataka: 298/5 in 90 overs (R Smaran 110 batting, Karun Nair 95, Shreyas Gopal 38 batting) vs Chandigarh.
At Mullanpur: Maharashtra: 275/5 in 88 overs (Arshin Kulkarni 133, Prithvi Shaw 74; Gurnoor Brar 2/86, Mayank Markande 2/35) vs Punjab.
At Rajkot: Saurashtra: 317/4 in 90 overs (Prerak Mankad 88 batting, Arpit Vasavada 81, Jay Gohil 68; Vasuki Koushik 1/37) vs Goa.
At Indore: Kerala: 246/7 in 90 overs (Baba Aparajith 81 batting, Abijith Praveen 60, Abhishek Nair 47; Saransh Jain 3/38, Arshad Khan 3/45) vs Madhya Pradesh.
Sharandeep Singh's hundred lifts Jharkhand century against Andhra
Young opener Sharandeep Singh overcame a lean patch to score a century as Jharkhand looked set for a 300-plus score on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group A match against Andhra, in Jamshedpur.
Sharandeep, 22, came good after back-to-back disappointments by scoring a 209-ball 115 as he led his side to 259 for six after a none-too-impressive start, which saw Jharkhand's top order unable to make an impact on their home turf.
With opener Shikhar Mohan and last game's double-centurion Kumar Kushagra walking back early, Sharandeep, who had two single-digit scores against Baroda in the previous game and just one half-century this first-class season, came up with some inspired batting to make a big contribution.
Playing in his 11th first-class game Sharandeep, who will turn 23 in 10 days, relied on his ground strokes to smash 16 boundaries and share two vital half-century partnerships with skipper Virat Singh (41) and Aditya Singh (29).
The right-hand batter first stitched a 78-run stand with Virat and then a 62-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Aditya as Jharkhand made a comeback from from 73 for 2.
Andhra's veteran right-arm pacer KV Sasikanth (3/50) and left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar (2/63) managed to tie down the Jharkhand batters, who have scored two 500-plus totals this Ranji season.
In Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu batting stalwart Baba Indrajith scored an unbeaten 128, his 17th first-class ton, while teenage middle-order batter C Andre Siddarth hit 121 as the southern team reached 282 for 5 in 81.3 overs against Uttar Pradesh.
In Nagpur, table-toppers Vidarbha suffered a middle-order meltdown to be all out for 169 in 58 overs against Baroda. The hosts then reached 70 for 2 thanks to a 59-run stand between Jyotsnil Singh (27 not out) and Shashwat Rawat (33).
Brief scores:
In Jamshedpur: Jharkhand 259 for 6 in 87 overs (Sharandeep Singh 115, Virat Singh 41; KV Sasikanth 3/50, Saurabh Kumar 2/63) vs Andhra.
In Bhubaneswar: Odisha 243 for 7 in 89 overs (Biplab Samantray 92, Anil Parida 98 not out; Ronit More 2/45, Imliwati Lemtur 2/25, Rongsen Jonathan 2/61) vs Nagaland.
In Coimbatore: Tamil Nadu 282 for 5 in 81.3 over (Baba Indrajith 128 not out, C Andre Siddarth 121; Kunal Tyagi 2/23) vs Uttar Pradesh.
In Nagpur: Vidarbha 169 in 58 overs (Yash Rathod 40 not out; Ninad Rathva 5/47, Atit Sheth 2/25) vs Baroda 70 for 2 in 30.5 overs (Nachiket Bhute 2/7).
Bengal reduce Assam to 194/8 on Day 1
Middle-order batter Swarupam Purkayastha hit a patient half-century while skipper Sumit Ghadigaonkar remained unbeaten on 48 before Bengal reduced Assam to 194 for eight on the opening day of a Ranji Trophy Group C match in Kalyani, West Bengal.
Sent into bat, Purkayastha held the Assam innings together by scoring 62 off 140 balls that included seven boundaries and one hit over the fence.
He stitched 53 runs with Pradyun Saikia (38) for the second wicket and then 68 runs for the fourth wicket with Ghadigaonkar to take Assam close to the 200-run mark.
Right-arm fast bowler Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal (3/20), Mohammed Kaif (2/30) and Mohammed Shami (2/62) were the main wicket takers for Bengal.
Haryana in spot of bother after bowling out Services cheaply
In Rohtak, hosts Haryana found themselves in a spot of bother, tottering at 20 for 5 in 12 overs in their first innings after bowling out Services for 205 in 75.5 overs.
Opting to bowl, right-arm fast bowler Rahul Rathee (4/59), left-arm spin bowling all-rounder Parth Vats (3/26) and medium pacer Anuj Thakral (2/22) picked up most of the wickets for Haryana.
For Services, Nakul Sharma top-scored with an 88-ball 41.
In reply, left-arm orthodox bowler Amit Shukla wreaked havoc with figures of 5/1 as Services reduced Haryana to 20 for 5.
Haryana trailed Services by 185 runs.
Railways take control against Tripura
Railways produced a fine bowling display to first bowl out Tripura for 136 in 41 overs and then rode on Kush Marathe (73 batting) and Mohammad Saif's (66 batting) unbeaten half-centuries to reach 149 for 2 at stumps on the opening day in Valsad.
Opting to bat, Vijay Shankar (44 not out) and Babul Dey (42) made useful contributions for Tripura.
Left-arm spinner Raj Choudhary (4/30), Kunal Yadav (2/32) and Adarsh Singh (2/25) were the wicket takers for Railways.
Gujarat produces fine batting effort
In Dehradun, Jaymeet Patel (100), opener Abhishek Desai (99) and Kshitij Patel (59 not out) were the architects of Gujarat's 318 for 7 after being asked to bat by hosts Uttarakhand.
Mayank Mishra (3/54) and Jagmohan Nagarkoti (3/60) shared six wickets between them for Uttarakhand.
Brief Scores:
In Kalyani: Assam 1944 for 8 in 77 overs (Swarupam Purkayastha 62, Sumit Ghadigaonkar 48 not out; Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal 3/20) vs Bengal.
In Rohtak: Services 205 all out in 75.5 overs (Nakul Sharma 41; Rahul Rathee 4/59) vs Haryana 20 for 5 in 12 overs (Ankit Kumar 8 batting; Amit Shukla 5/1).
In Valsad: Tripura 136 all out in 41 overs (Vijay Shankar 44 not out, Babul Dey 42; Raj Choudhary 4/30) vs Railways 149 for 2 in 40 overs (Kush Marathe 73 batting, Mohammad Saif 66 batting; Manisankar Murasingh 1/24).
In Dehradun: Gujarat 318 for 7 in 87 overs (Jaymeet Patel 100, Abhishek Desai 99, Kshitij Patel 59 batting; Mayank Mishra 3/54, Jagmohan Nagarkoti 3/60).
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