Batters have their day out on Day 1 of the second round of the ongoing Ranji Trophy tournament which saw centuries raining in the respective matches on Thursday (February 24). Karun Nair, Ricky Bhui, Ganesh Satish, Paresh Dogra, Mandeep Singh, Anmol Malhotra, Ankit Kalsi, Virat Singh, Het Patel, Karan Patel, Chirag Jani were the centurions who hogged limelight with the willow.
Karun Nair slams unbeaten 152 as Karnataka makes 268/8 against J&K
India Test discard Karun Nair came up with a fighting unbeaten 152 as Karnataka scored 268/8 against Jammu & Kashmir on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match.
Opener Devdutt Padikkal (8) fall early to Mujtaba Yousuf (2 for 44) after Karnataka won the toss and elected to bat.
Nair (267 balls, 21 fours, 1 six) and the other opening batter Ravikumar Samarth (45) then added 98 runs for the second wicket to steady the innings.
K V Siddharth, who hit a century in the opening match against Railways, helped Nair add 56 runs for the third wicket.
Nair grew in confidence and was on the lookout for runs. However, the dismissal of Siddharth sparked a mini collapse as Karnataka slipped from 164/2 to 190/5 and then 209/7 after losing Shreyas Gopal (7) and K Gowtham (2) to the veteran spinner Parvez Rasool (2 for 51).
In the other match in the group, Pondicherry ended the opening day at 284/5, riding on veteran Paras Dogra's unbeaten 107 (168 balls, 10 fours, 1 six) against Railways.
Ricky Bhui's ton helps Andhra score 277/3 vs Services
Ricky Bhui hit an unbeaten 109 to help Andhra score 277/3 on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group E match.
Electing to bat, Andhra got off to a horror start, losing opener C R Gnaneshwar for a duck to Diwesh Pathania.
Wicketkeeper-batter U M S Girinath (53) and S K Rasheed (23) put on 49 runs for the second wicket before the latter fell to P S Poonia.
Bhui joined Girinath in the middle and put on 70 runs for the third wicket in a little over 20 overs.
Poonia struck a second time to get rid of Girinath, who had showed a lot of resolve.
Bhui and Karan Shinde (71 batting, 187 balls) got together for the fourth wicket and denied Services any further breakthroughs.
The right-handed batter Bhui was the more aggressive of the two and did not waste any opportunity to put away the bad deliveries. He has so far hit eight fours and one six from 187 balls.
Shinde was more watchful and played a high percentage of dot balls. However, he made sure that he did not give any chances to the opposition bowlers.
The Bhui-Shinde stand made sure that Andhra ended the day at a strong 277/3.
In the other match of the day, Uttarakhand finished day one against Rajasthan at 228/5, thanks to half centuries by Kunal Chandela (89) and Swapnil Singh (69 batting).
Satish's unbeaten 146 steers Vidarbha to 270/3 against Maharashtra
'Crisis man' Ganesh Satish slammed an unbeaten 146 to propel Vidarbha to 270/3 in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group G match against Maharashtra.
Opting to bat, Vidarbha lost their openers - in-form skipper Faiz Fazal (14) and Sanjay Raghunath (3) -- cheaply, and were in spot of bother at 18 for 2.
Maharashtra's left-arm medium pacer Mukesh Choudhary (2/47) accounted for both the batters.
But then, one-down batter Atarva Taide (68) joined hands with Satish (146 not out off 282 balls) to not only resurrect the innings but also pummelled a pedestrian Maharashtra attack to submission.
While Satish, who was the more aggressive of the two, slammed 19 fours and a six, Taide hammered 10 fours in his 145-ball knock.
The duo conjured a crucial 177-run stand for the third wicket, which took the game away from their opponents at the Gurgaon cricket ground here.
In another match, Riyan Parag scored an impressive 91 to help Assam post a total of 265 against Uttar Pradesh. In reply, Uttar Pradesh are 10 for no loss at the end of Day 1.
Mandeep, Anmol tons put Punjab in command against Haryana
Mandeep Singh remained unbeaten on a majestic 130, while wicketkeeper-batter Anmol Malhotra also slammed a century as Punjab recovered from a poor start to post 368/5 against Haryana on day one of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group F match.
Put in to bat, Punjab lost their opener Prabhsimran Singh for a golden duck, while skipper Abhishek Sharma (24) also failed to convert his start.
The 30-year-old Mandeep then took charge of the proceedings en route to his 14th first-class century.
The Punjab veteran shared two fifty-plus stands with Anmolpreet Singh and Gurkeerat Singh Mann (48) but wickets kept falling at the other end.
But No. 6 Malhotra (100 from 128 balls; 14x4, 2x6) gave Mandeep a fine support as the duo stitched together 163 runs to take them past the 300-run mark.
In another match, Ankit Kalsi struck a blistering 114 (not out) to propel Himachal Pradesh to 304/6 against Tripura on Day 1. Raghav Dhawan (68) and Akash Vasisht (43) also contributed with the bat as Ajit Chahal (2/55) remained the pick of the bowlers for Tripura.
Ishant bowls only four overs but Saini takes three as Delhi bowl out Jharkhand for 251
Ishant Sharma bowled only one short spell of four overs but his Team India colleague Navdeep Saini along with the spinners dismissed Jharkhand for a below par 251 on the opening day of Delhi's second group H must-win Ranji Trophy match.
Ishant and Saini's entry made Delhi's attack stronger but the lanky fast bowler (4-1-14-0) after a gingerly first spell was never brought back for a second spell.
It didn't affect much as Saini (12-2-37-3) along with left-arm spinner Vikas Mishra (18-3-65-3) and two part-time off-break bowlers Lalit Yadav (13-0-46-2) and Nitish Rana (14-2-41-2) got wickets at regular intervals to deflate Jharkhand.
At stumps, Delhi were 28 for 1, losing Yash Dhull (5)'s wicket with Dhruv Shorey (15 batting) and Himmat Singh (5 batting) at the crease.
Jharkhand skipper Virat Singh (103 off 171 balls) and opener Nazim Siddiqui (52) were the only two significant contributors.
In fact, Delhi didn't need Ishant with the slow track aiding spinners and Saini also worked up decent pace to keep the batters in tight leash during his multiple spells.
Twin tons by Baba twins
Seasoned Tamil Nadu twins Baba Indrajith (127) and Baba Aparajith (101 batting) added 207 for the third wicket as the formidable outfit scored 308 for 4 against Chattisgarh in another match of the same group.
Indrajith hit 21 fours in 141 balls and was more attacking of the two while Aparajith had eight fours and two sixes in his kitty. Currently, hard-hitting M Shahrukh Khan is giving him company at 28.
MP's Gaurav bowls a fiery spell to bundle Meghalaya to paltry 61 as 5 batters dismissed for duck
The Elite Group A match between Meghalaya and Madhya Pradesh (MP) saw some unusual show of cricket in the ongoing Ranji Trophy tournament. Meghalaya has named an embarrassing record to their name as the entire team was bundled out for a paltry 61 on Thursday (February 24). Punit Bisht-led Meghalaya never looked settled from the word go as the Madhya Pradesh's bowlers kept the opponent in check. The bowler who wreaked havoc for Madhya Pradesh was Gaurav Yadav as he took Meghalaya's batters to cleaners and sent half of the team to pavilions single-handedly to return with a splendid figure of 5/11.
In reply, Madhya Pradesh batters are 141/2 at the close of Day 1, to take the upperhand in the match. Rameez Khan scored 38 off 74 but was soon removed by Akash Chowdhary. The other opener Ajay Rohera also contributed with 100-ball 26. Shubham Sharma is still at the crease with 57 off 100 with his apprentice Rajat Patidar who scored 16 off 39.
For Meghalaya, Akash and Aryan Bora has scalped one wicket each.
Rookie Abhishek slams successive fifty as Bengal gain upperhand over Hyderabad
Wicketkeeper-batter Abhishek Porel continued his fine form with a second half century on the trot as Bengal took an upper-hand on day one of their Ranji Trophy group B match against Hyderabad at the Barabati Stadium.
Abhishek, who scored a resilient second innings unbeaten half-century in their thrilling win over Baroda in the last match, once again provided the resistance for Bengal batting at No.8 with a quick 62-ball 73 (10x4) to take them to 242 in 70.2 overs after they were sent in.
Earlier, Bengal skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran was dismissed for zero by Ravi Teja while Sudip Gharami (14) also got out cheaply as the Hyderabad seam duo of Ravi Teja (3/48) and debutant B Punnaiah (2/32) rocked the top-order before left-arm spinner Tanay Thyagarajan (5/71) came into the act.
In another match, Chandigarh side was dismissed to a paltry 168 against Baroda for whome Abhimanyu Singh Rajput returned with a sensational figure of 5/47. At the end of Day's play, Baroda are 80/1.
Het Patel, Karan Patel, Chirag Jani wallop terrific tons
Gujarat twin brothers Het Patel (146 off 211) and Karan Patel (120 off 166) combined to wreak havoc on Kerala as they helped Gujarat to put together 334/6 at the end of Day's play. Meanwhile, Chirag Jani belted a sensational 125 off 186 as Saurashtra are now 325/4 at the first day's close playing against Odisha. Cheteshwar Pujara (8) hit two fours before being caught in slips by Biplab Samantray and bowled by Debabrata Pradhan.
In another match Lakshya Garg bowled a superb spell of 6/46 to bundle out Mumbai to a paltry 163. In reply, Goa are intact on 114/2 at the end of Day's play. Meanwhile Ajinkya Rahane after clinching a century in the first match, was sent to the pavilion for a duck continuing his rut with the willow.