Ranji Roundup: Openers Easwaran & Padikkal hit centuries, Delhi's horrific run continues

Veteran Bengal batter Anustup Majumdar (95) gave a fine support at the other end as the duo put on a potential match-decisive 193-run partnership to rebuild Bengal innings from being 42 for 2 in the opening hour's play.

Bengal lie on top of the group B table (12 points) with back-to-back wins.

Put in to bat, Bengal had a familiar shaky start with rookie opener Sudip Gharami getting out for a successive zero.

Gharami, who had scores of 14 and 0 in their last match against Hyderabad, was cleaned up by Jagjit Singh Sandhu in the fourth ball of the day.

But the skipper steadied the proceedings, rebuilding their innings with Ritwik Roy Chowdhury who gave a fine support in his resolute display of 12 from 44 deliveries.

For Chandigarh, Jagjit was their best bowler of the day, returning with 23-7-53-3 as he had Bengal at 42 for 2 before Abhimanyu and Anustup turned the tide in favour of Bengal.

Struggling to convert his starts, Abhimanyu, who had scores of 4 and 79 and 0 and 24, in the previous two matches finally got to his 15th first class century.

The skipper, however, seemed unhappy after getting out for 114.

Abhimanyu slammed 12 fours in his 172-ball knock before becoming Jagjit Singh's second victim as the Chandigarh new ball bowler finally gave a much-needed breakthrough.

Bengal lost another wicket in addition of just 11 runs as the 37-year-old Anustup was trapped lbw by Gaurav Gambhir to miss out on his 10th first class century by five runs.

The in-form duo of Abhishek Porel (0) and Shahbaz Ahmed (6), who were instrumental in Bengal's dramatic wins against Baroda and Hyderabad, got out cheaply as Bengal were soon reduced to 268/8.

But the former skipper Tiwary resisted collapse with a solid unbeaten 42 from 80 balls with one six and two fours, while Mondal looked at his fluent best in his 33 from 43 balls .

Murasingh’s fifer helps Tripura make comeback

Medium pacer Manisankar Murasingh picked up a five-wicket haul as Tripura bounced back after being shot out for 127 to reduce Punjab to 79 for seven at stumps on day one of their Ranji Trophy Group F match here on Thursday.

Murasingh was the wrecker-in-chief, registering impressive figures of 9.3-2-25-5 as Punjab ended the day 48 runs behind with three wickets in hand.

Murasingh took two wickets in successive deliveries before the close of play to remain in contention for a hat-trick.

Earlier, Tripura skipper KB Pawan top-scored with a fighting 59 off 128 balls before Punjab bowlers wrecked havoc, dismissing their opponents inside 55 overs after opting to field.

Punjab new ball bowler Baltej Singh returned with 5 for 33, while Siddharth Kaul and Vinay Choudhary took two wickets each.

In reply, Punjab batters could not withstand Murasingh's fiery spell who dismissed Prabhismaran Singh with his fifth ball.

Anmolpreet Singh (29 from 53 balls) put up some fight in a 44-run partnership with Mandeep Singh but Murasingh was on a roll as he took three wickets in two overs to trigger the collapse.

Shashank, Amandeep help Chattisgarh pile on Delhi's misery

Virtually out of quarterfinal race, Delhi's disappointing campaign in the Ranji Trophy continued as Chhattisgarh posted 290 for four on the opening day of their elite Group H match here on Thursday.

Electing to bat, Chhattisgarh rode on half-centuries from Ajay Mandal (63 off 90 balls), Amandeep Khare (68 not out) and Shashank Singh (75 not out) to pile up a big score in 90 overs and take their side to a strong position in the four-day contest.

Mandal and Singh stitched 147 runs for the unconquered fifth wicket to take Chhattisgarh forward.

Besides, Sanidhya Hurkat (44) and skipper Harpreet Singh (21) also made useful contributions with the bat.

Left-arm spinner Vikas Mishra (2/65) was the pick of the bowlers for Delhi.

Delhi are languishing at the last spot in the four-team Group H with just one point from two games and for the Pradeep Sangwan-led side, the tournament is as good as over and only seven points (including a bonus) in the ongoing match against Chhattisgarh will give them a slim chance in theory.

Chhattisgarh, on the other hand, are leading the group with seven points from two games.

Baba, Kishore help Tamil Nadu post 256/7 against Jharkhand

Meanwhile in the second Group H match here, Baba Indrajith smashed a quick century, while Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore made 81 as Tamil Nadu ended Day 1 on 256 for seven against Jharkhand.

Indrajith played an aggressive knock, scoring 100 off 132 balls with the help of 11 boundaries and two sixes.

Indrajith and Sai Kishore shared 171 runs for the fifth wicket after Tamil Nadu found themselves in a spot of bother at 32 for four after electing to bat.

Sai Kishore struck 11 fours during his 179-ball knock.

Rahul Shukla (3/57) picked up three wickets for Jharkhand, while Anukul Roy (2/29) accounted for two dismissals.

With six points apiece from two games each, both Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand are still in the reckoning for a quarterfinal berth.

Bawane’s unbeaten 114 helps Maharashtra dominate

Skipper Ankit Bawane’s responsible 114 not out powered Maharashtra to 298 for 4 on the first day of their last Ranji Trophy Elite Group G league game against Uttar Pradesh here on Thursday.

Electing to bat at the Gurugram cricket ground, Maharashtra lost openers Pawan Shah (19), who was cleaned up by right-arm medium pacer Ankit Rajppot (1/59), and Avdhoot Dandekar (20) cheaply.

Maharashtra were struggling at 70 for 2 then.

But experienced campaigner Rahul Tripathi, who was in search of runs, made a crucial 56, hammering nine boundaries and a six in the process.

He first added 48 runs with Dandekar and then shared a 41-run stand with skipper Bawane before lobbing off a return catch to rival skipper and off-spinner Karan Sharma (1/77).

Then Bawane, who paced his innings well, found an able partner in Naushad Shaikh (53 off 83 balls), as they frustrated the UP bowlers.

Bawane struck 18 fours in his 211-ball knock, while Shaikh also hit seven boundaries, as the duo forged a 99-run stand for the fourth wicket.

But when it looked like the duo would score big, Shaikh fell to Jasmer Dhankhar (1/49) at Maharashtra’s score of 210.

Bawane and Azim Kazi (33 not out off 73 balls; 4x4) then shared an unbroken 88-run stand as they took the Uttar Pradesh bowlers to task. Courtesy their partnership, Maharashtra inched closer to the 300-run mark.

For UP, Rajpoot, Shivam Sharma, Dhankar and Karan Sharma took a wicket each.

Uttarakhand, Rajasthan suffer batting collapse

Pacers Bandaru Ayyappa and Prithvi Raj shared seven wickets between them as table-toppers Uttarakhand were dismissed for 194 in their first innings by Andhra Pradesh in a Ranji Trophy Elite Group E match here on Thursday.

Electing to bat after winning the toss, Uttarakhand kept losing wickets at regular intervals and the lack of big partnerships hurt as they collapsed to 194 in 69.1 overs.

Medium-pacers Ayyappa (4 for 37) and Prithvi (3 for 27) did the bulk of the damage, claiming seven wickets between them to trigger the slide.

Skipper Jay Bista, a mainstay of the Uttarakhand batting line-up, was the first to go, caught by Ricky Bhui off Ayyappa for 11.

Though the other opener Kamal Singh (42, 116 balls, 3 fours) battled hard and forged a 46-run partnership for the third wicket with Kunal Chandela (52), the top-scorer, the others failed to make an impact.

Ayyappa and Prithvi Raj kept picking up wickets to stymie the Uttarakhand innings.

Andhra lost opening batter Uppara Girinath (6) in the fifth over but managed to see through the rest of the day without any further losses to finish at 42 for 1.

In the other match of the group, Services gained the upperhand by bundling out Rajasthan for 92 in 45.2 overs and ending the day at 101 for 1 in 42 overs.

Chirag, Jackson help defending champions assert dominance

Chirag Jani hit a superb 140 while Sheldon Jackson smashed an unbeaten 96 as Saurashtra reached 343 for 7 at stumps on day one of their Ranji Trophy group D match against Goa here on Thursday.

Chirag slammed 22 fours and two sixes in his 190-ball knock, while Jackson struck six fours and five maximums during his 119-ball unfinished innings after Saurashtra decided to bat first at the Narendra Modi stadium here.

Saurashtra lost opener Snell Patel for a duck but Chirag and Harvik Desai (14) steadied the innings with a 75-run stand.

Test discard Cheteshwar Pujara's (28) struggle to convert the starts continued and once again he was back in the pavillion after being trapped in front following a 47-ball stay.

Jackson then joined hands with Chirag and the duo stitched together 102 runs to take Saurashtra close to 250.

Once Chirag was caught by AS Desai off Suyash Prabhudessai's bowling, Arpit Vasavada (12) too couldn't stay long and Saurashtra slipped to 297 for 7 following the wickets of Prerak Mankad (28) and Parth Bhut (0).

At stumps, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (23) was giving company to Jackson.

Lakshay Garg (2/74) and Prabhudessai (2/36) snared two wickets each, while Shrikanth Wagh (1/34), Shubham Ranjane (1/30) and Darshan Misal (1/69) also accounted for one wicket apiece.

Padikkal hits maiden Ranji ton

Devdutt Padikkal slammed his maiden first-class hundred, an unbeaten 161, as Karnataka ended day one of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match against Pondicherry here at 293 for 3.

Sent in to bat by Pondicherry captain D Rohit, Karnataka were reduced to 39 for 2 in the 19th over, losing opener R Samarth (11) and Karun Nair (6) to Ashith Rajiv (2 for 37).

Padikkal did the rescue act and moved to 47 as Karnataka recovered to 88 for 2 at lunch. The big-hitting batter was in full flow in the second session as he and K V Siddharth (85) put the opposition bowlers to the sword.

It was a toil for the Pondicherry bowlers after medium-pacer Ashith Rajiv struck two early blows to remove the consistent Samarth and Nair.

None of the bowlers could make an impression as the stylish Padikkal and Siddharth got going and took the score to 204 for 2 in 61 overs at tea. Padikkal in the meanwhile had reached his maiden first class ton. His knock so far has come off 277 balls, and included 20 fours and two sixes.

He continued to score and stitched a 223-run stand in 357 balls for the third wicket with Siddharth, which put Karnataka in control.

Skipper Manish Pandey, who replaced Siddharth at the crease, is batting on 21 and has so far added 31 runs with the left-handed Padikkal.

In the group's other match, Jammu & Kashmir were bowled out for 258 against Railways with Qamran Iqbal top-scoring with 83.

For the Railways, captain and leg-spinner Karn Sharma led from the front with 6 for 76.