13 wickets fell at the Eden Gardens on the first day of the third round of the ongoing Ranji Trophy. While the Sreenath Arvind (four-for)-led attack dismantled Delhi, Karnataka too lost three wickets later in the day.
While Sheldon Jackson slammed a century to tip the balance in Saurashtra’s favour, Cheteshwar Pujara held the innings together with a patient 79 not out against Maharashtra. Pankaj Singh claimed a five-for to bowl Jharkhand out on the first day.
Group B, Round 3 – Day 1 Round-up:
Maharashtra vs Saurashtra in Vizianagaram: Saurashtra 1st inn 285/3 in 90 overs (S Jackson 105, C Pujara 79*, M Sayyad 1/50)
Saurashtra are boosted by the presence of Cheteshwar Pujara in the third round of the ongoing tournament. Asked to bat, the Jaydev Shah-led team were left on 67 for two but Cheteshwar Pujara anchored the innings with an unbeaten 79 until stumps.
Sheldon Jackson, who joined the No.3 batsman in laying a solid foundation for the side made a century until the partnership was broken on 164 by Akshay Darekar. Pujara continued to hold the innings together and was batting with the captain at the end of day’s play.
Delhi vs Karnataka in Kolkata: Delhi 1st inn 90/10 in 35.5 overs (R Pant 24, D Shorey 24, A Sreenath 4/12, Gowtham K 3/26, A Mithun 2/29); Karnataka 1st inn 131/3 in 52 overs (M Agarwal 56, R Samarth 53, V Tokas 2/35) Lead by 41 runs
After Karun Nair elected to field, Abhimanyu Mithun trapped Unmukt Chand lbw in the first over, while Sreenath Arvind sent back captain Gautam Gambhir for two to set the tone of the innings. The pacer rattled the Delhi lineup in Kolkata to bundle them out for a paltry 90-run total. While Mithun picked two, Aravind claimed four for 12 as he ran through the lineup. Spinner K Gowtham accounted for three wickets while Shreyas Gopal wrapped-up the innings with the wicket of Vikas Tokas.
R Samarth and Mayank Agarwal then got Karnataka off to a decent start with a 87-run opening stand. However, Tokas, who ended the stand with the wicket of Samarth also claimed Agarwal a while later and Pawan Suyal picked the key wicket of Robin Uthappa for five.
Nair, who is leading the side in absence of Vinay Kumar then saw the team through to the end of day’s play with Mithun.
Vidarbha vs Assam in Trivandrum: Vidarbha 1st inn 254/3 in 90 overs (G Satish 93*, SR Ramaswamy 83, F Fazal 44, S Purkayastha 3/86)
Sarupam Purkayastha accounted for all the three wickets that fell during the day. After ending the openings stand for 68 with the wicket of Faiz Fazal earlier in the day, he later claimed Ramaswamy and A Shanaware in the same over to leave Vidarbha on 199 for three. Ganesh Satish, who came in at No.3, held the innings together and was unbeaten on 93 at stumps. Having taken Vidarbha to a respectable 254 for three, he was batting with R Jangid at the end of day’s play.
Jharkhand vs Team Rajasthan in Vadodara: Jharkhand 1st inn 209/10 in 73.5 overs (K Singh 56, I Jaggi 49, Pankaj Singh 5/60); Team Rajasthan 1st inn 26/0 in 12 overs. Trail by 183 runs
Rajasthan captain Pankaj Singh registered his 25th five-wicket haul in first-class cricket as he helped bowl Jharkhand out for 209. While he claimed Virat Singh in the first over, A Choudhary claimed Anand Singh to leave the opposition two down without a run on the board. While middle-order bat Ishank Jaggi made 49 and Kaushal Singh contributed 56 as the rest of the line-up succumbed to the Rajasthan attack.
At the end of day’s play, openers – M Singh and Vineet Saxena had taken Rajasthan to 26 without loss.
