Ranji Trophy round-up: Kerala dominate Bengal, Jharkhand’s Varun Aaron picks up five-for

Rookie pacer Basil Thampi had a career-best return of 4/57 as Kerala dominated Bengal on day one of the Ranji Trophy. The Bengal side were bundled out for just 147 at the Eden Gardens. Meanwhile, KV Siddharth’s century helped Karnataka win day one honours against domestic giants Mumbai. Tamil Nadu also had a fine outing on day one against Andhra while India discard Varun Aaron yet again starred with the ball, picking up five wickets against a hapless Rajasthan side. Here is a report of select matches:

Tamil Nadu dominate Andhra

A four-wicket haul by medium-pacer M Mohammed and two late strikes by spinner R Sai Kishore helped Tamil Nadu reduce Andhra to 198/8 at stumps on the opening day of the Group B match at the CSR Sarma College Ground in Ongole.

Sent into bat by the visiting team, Andhra lost the openers early as Mohammed and comeback man T Natarajan struck in the fifth and sixth overs. Jyothi Saikrishna (58) and Ricky Bhui (22) strung together a partnership of 40 runs for the third wicket to revive Andhra. However, Mohammed removed Bhui and captain B Sumanth (1) to peg back the home team.

Jyothisaikrishna and Girinath Reddy (69*) were involved in a half-century partnership before Mohammed got the wicket of the former. Natarajan sent back Shiv Charan Singh for the addition of one run to leave Andhra at 142/6.

Reddy then added 53 runs with Shoaib Mohammed Khan (26) to lend respectability to the score. Lanky Left-arm spinner Sai Kishore castled Khan and KV Shashikanth (0) off successive deliveries to hand the advantage to Tamil Nadu. He will look to complete a hat-trick when he comes on to bowl on Wednesday.

Brief scores: Andhra 198/8 (Girinath Reddy 69*, Jyothisaikrishna 58, M Mohammed 4/60) Vs Tamil Nadu.

Tanmay ton takes Hyderabad to 232/3

Tanmay Agarwal scored his seventh first-class hundred to guide Hyderabad to 232/3 against Delhi on the opening day of a Group B match in Hyderabad. Opener Tanmay batted the entire day and was unbeaten on 112 alongside Bavanaka Sandeep (24).

Hyderabad were in a spot of bother at 52 for two before Tanmay and Himalay Agarwal (66) shared a 135-run stand to put their team in a strong position. Tanmay’s sublime knock included 10 fours and two sixes.

Barring left-arm spinner Vikas Mishra (2/61), Delhi bowlers were not able to make an impact. Delhi have fielded a depleted attack in the game in the absence of Ishant Sharma and Navdeep Saini, who are on India and India A duty respectively. Senior player Gautam Gambhir is also not playing the game due to a shoulder niggle.

Brief scores: 232/3 (Tanmay 112*, Himalay Agarwal 66; Vikas Mishra 2/61)

Siddharth’s century boosts Karnataka

Rookie Krishnamurthy Siddharth hit his maiden first-class hundred, an unbeaten 104, to guide Karnataka to 263/4 against Mumbai on day one of the Elite Group A match at Belgavi.

In the absence of mainstays Karun Nair and Manish Pandey, 25-year-old Siddharth stood up and shouldered the responsibility to help Karnataka recover after the loss of their openers at the KSCA Stadium.

Siddharth, who had a forgettable outing in the game against Vidarbha, made up that failure. In his 184-ball stay at the wicket so far, the batsman has struck 13 boundaries and two sixes.

Electing to bat, the hosts lost both their openers Dega Nischal (27) and Shishir Bhavane (5) cheaply to Mumbai’s right-arm medium pacer Shivam Dubey, who grabbed all four wickets that fell to end the day with fine figures of 4/32. Karnataka were struggling at 59/2 when one-down Mir Kaunain Abbas (64) and Siddharth (104*) rallied the innings.

The duo stitched an important 104-run stand for the third wicket to frustrate the visitors with Abbas hitting 10 fours in his 154-ball knock to play the ideal foil to Siddharth. But, when Karnataka looked poised for a big score, Dubey struck again for his third wicket as he removed a well-settled Abbas, who was caught by wicketkeeper Aditya Tare.

Karnataka 263/4 (KV Siddharth 104*, Shreyas Gopal 47*, Shivam Dube 4/32) vs Mumbai.

Kerala take day one honours

Bengal batsmen cut a sorry figure on home turf to be bowled out for 147, giving Kerala an upper hand in their Group B match at the Eden Gardens.

Young Basil Thampi returned with career-best first-class figures of 4/57 as Kerala’s three-pronged pace attack shared nine wickets between them to dismiss the hosts in 56.2 overs after deciding to bowl on a greenish wicket.

Playing his first Ranji match of he season, M D Nidheesh (3/22) made a fine comeback, claiming the key wickets of Bengal top-scorer Anustup Majumdar (53) and skipper Manoj Tiwary (22).

Seven of Bengal batsmen failed to get to double digits scores and capped five ducks, including that of opener Koushik Ghosh and number three Sudeep Chatterjee. Anustup Majumdar made a patient 53 from 97 balls with the help of six boundaries and one hit over the fence.

Bengal 147 (Anustup Majumdar 53, Abhishek Raman 40; Basil Thampi 4/57, MD Nidheesh 3/22, Sandeep Warrier 2/42) lead Kerala 35/1 (Jalal Saxena 14*, Rohan Prem 14*; Mohammed Shami 1/19).

Aaron helps Jharkhand skittle Rajasthan

Speedster Varun Aaron grabbed a five-wicket haul as Jharkhand bundled out Rajasthan for 100 on the opening day of their Group C match in Ranchi. In response, Jharkhand were at 92/5 at stumps, trailing Rajasthan by eight runs.

After Jharkhand opted to field, 29-year-old Aaron, an India discard, wreaked havoc as he returned with exceptional figures of 5/22 at the JSCA International Stadium Complex. Aaron had powered Jharkhand to a nine-wicket win in their last game against Haryana at Rohtak, when he bagged 6/32 in the second outing.

The right-arm fast bowler continued his brilliant form and was ably supported by medium pacers Ajay Yadav (3/35) and Rahul Shukla (1/22). Spinner Anukul Roy (1-8) also played his part to perfection.

Aaron’s wickets included those of Rajasthan skipper Mahipal Lomror (20) and Rajesh Bishnoi (35). Apart from these two, no other batsman contributed with the bat, as the visitors were eventually shot out in 42.2 overs.

Jharkhand also lost their four wickets early, but then Ishank Jaggi (44*) and Virat Singh (18) steadied the ship. The duo compiled a crucial 58-run stand for the fifth wicket, which has taken Jharkhand on the cusp of a first innings lead.

Brief Scores: Rajasthan 100 (Rajesh Bishnoi 33, Varun Aaron 5/22, Ajay Yadav 3/35) against Jharkhand 92/5 (Ishank Jaggi 44*, Virat Singh 18, TM Ul Haq 4/29). Jharkhand trail by 8 runs.

Bhatia, Rawat tons rescue Uttarakhand

Rajat Bhatia and Saurabh Rawat led Uttarakhand’s rearguard action with fighting centuries, taking their team to 290/5 against Sikkim in a top-of-the-table plate group match in Bhubneshwar.

Bhatia made 121 off 156 balls before becoming Ishwar Chaudhary’s (3/81) third victim of the day. Rawat remained unbeaten on 115 off 246 balls with the help of seven fours and three sixes as he along with the skipper shared 208 runs together to revive their innings from 38/4 in 12.5 overs.

Opting to field at their adopted home venue, KIIT Stadium, Sikkim got the early breakthrough with Chaudhary dismissing Uttarakhand opener Karanveer Kaushal (4) in the fifth over.

Bipul Sharma (1/67) then accounted for the experienced Vineet Saxena (19) followed by the wickets of Kartik Joshi (8) and Vaibhav Singh (5) as the Uttarakhand found themselves in a spot of bother in their first away match of the season.