Ranji Trophy 2016-'17 got underway on Thursday on a rather low-key note despite some big names on show. Defending champions Mumbai made a strong statement, dismissing Tamil Nadu out for a low score.
Group A
Mumbai vs Tamil Nadu
The defending champions skittled out Tamil Nadu for a paltry score of 87 with medium-pacer Dhawal Kulkarni and Tushar Deshpande in fine form, picking up four wickets each in front of an empty stadium in Rohtak. Despite K Vignesh's impeccable spell, Mumbai got were just two runs shy of Tamil Nadu's score at the close of play.
Brief Scores:
Tamil Nadu 87 (Baba Indrajith 28 not out; Dhawal Kulkarni 4/31, Tushar Deshpande 4/25) lead Mumbai 85/4 (Kaustaubh Pawat 26 not out; K Vignesh 2/5) by two runs.
Baroda vs Gujarat
Baroda batsmen made merry against the Gujarat to end the day's play in command at 285/2. Aditya Waghmode slammed an unbeaten century to put his team in command on day one. Rising batting star Deepak Hooda gave Waghmode good company in the middle.
Brief Scores:
Baroda 285/2 (Aditya Waghmode 103 not out, Deepak Hooda 76 not out) vs Gujarat.
Railways vs Punjab
At 133/5, it looked like Punjab would end the day on the driver's seat, but Railways fought back through a terrific unbeaten 124 run stand for the sixth wicket between Shivakant Shukla and Ashish Yadav.
Brief Scores:
Railways 257/5 (Shivakant Shukla 117 not out, Ashish Yadav 65 not out; Siddarth Kaul 2/53) vs Punjab.
Madhya Pradesh vs Uttar Pradesh
Despite Harpreet Singh's unbeaten century, Uttar Pradesh scalped seven Madhya Pradesh wickets to finish strongly on day one.
Brief Scores:
Madhya Pradesh 292/7 (Harpreet Singh 112 not out, Devendra Bundela 52; Ankit Rajpoot 2/53) vs Uttar Pradesh.
Group B
Odisha vs Vidarbha
Biplab Samantaray's unbeaten half-century saved Odisha from the blushes as the Vidarbha bowlers made merry. The question lies as to how much Samantaray can add with the tail.
Brief Scores:
Odisha 134/6 (Biplab Samantaray 53 not out; Shrikant Wagh 2/13) vs Vidarbha.
Saurashtra vs Rajasthan
Sheldon Jackson continued from where he left in the Duleep Trophy to score yet another breezy knock, but failed to get a three-figure score. Saurashtra skipper Jaydev Shah, though, made no such mistake and ended the day's play with an unbeaten century.
Saurashtra 295/5 (Jaydev Shah 120 not out, Sheldon Jackson 76; Aniket Choudary 2/25) vs Rajasthan.
Maharashtra vs Jharkhand
It looked like Jharkhand had done enough when skipper Varun Aaron scalped four wickets to bundle Maharashtra out for 210, but Anupam Sanklecha's two wickets late in the day put the match right back in the balance at the close of play.
Maharashtra 210 (Ankit Bawne 78, Kedar Jadhav 59; Varun Aaron 4/47, Ashish Kumar 3/32) lead Jharkhand 33/2 (Virat Singh 10; Anupam Sanklecha 2/13) by 177 runs.
Assam vs Delhi
Delhi’s Navdeep Saini, Manan Sharma and Varun Sood took two wickets each to restrict Assam to 132/6 in their Ranji encounter at Vadodara. None of the Assam batsmen were able to play themselves in and lost wickets in regular intervals.
Assam 132/6 (Rahul Hazarika 37; Navdeep Saini 2/31, Manan Sharma 2/34, Varun Sood 2/29) vs Delhi.
Group C
Andhra Pradesh vs Himachal Pradesh
Centuries by Prashant Chopra and Sumeet Verma ensured that Himachal Pradesh reached 318/7 against Andhra at Bhubaneshwar. While Chopra fell for 117, Verma remained unbeaten on 116.
Himachal Pradesh 318/7 (Prashant Chopra 117, Sumeet Verma 116 not out) vs Andhra Pradesh.
Chattisgarh vs Tripura
Tripura were bowled out for 118 after the Chattisgarh bowlers ran through their batting line up in just 54 overs at Ranchi on Thursday. Wickets by Kant Singh, Pratik Sinha, Ajay Mandal and Sumit Ruikar ensure that Trpura batsmen didn’t last long at the crease.
Tripura 118/10 (Kant Singh 2/20, Pratik Sinha 2/13, Ajay Mandal 3/41, Sumit Ruikar 2/20) vs Chattisgarh 77/3.
Goa vs Hyderabad
Goa were bowled out for 164 after Hyderabad’s Mohammed Siraj took 4/14 in a fiery spell of bowling. Vishal Sharma and Ravi Kiran chipped in with two wickets apiece to restrict Goa to a score under 200.
Goa 164/10 (Saurabh Bandekar 59; Mohammed Siraj 4/14) vs Hyderabad 28/1.
Haryana vs Services
Haryana showed a disciplined performance against Services in their Ranji encounter at Mumbai. Electing to bowl first, Haryana restricted Services to 143/6 in a rain-hit clash. Rajat Paliwal was the pick of the bowlers, taking 2/11.
Services 143/6 (Anshul Gupta 69; Rajat Paliwal 2/11) vs Haryana.
Kerala vs Jammu and Kashmir
Sanju Samson struck a brilliant century to take Kerala to 263/7 at the end of day’s play against Jammu and Kashmir at Kalyani. Samson remained unbeaten on 129 with other batsmen failing to play themselves in. Samiullah Beigh took 4/68 for Jammu and Kashmir.
Kerala 263/7 (Sanju Samson 129 not out, Jalaj Saxsena 69; Samiullah Beigh 4/68) vs Jammu and Kashmir.
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