Ashutosh Singh had his name etched in the history books by becoming the first batsman from Chhattisgarh to score a century in the team’s debut match in the Ranji Trophy. Playing in his first first-class game, the youngster who had earlier represented Madhya Pradesh in age-group cricket and a sole T20 game, played a vital knock to help his team seize first innings lead in opening game of the 2016-17 season. While weather and wet outfield led to delays and stoppages in Mumbai, Kolkata and Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad’s Akshath Reddy led his team to a first innings lead against Goa.
Group C, Round 1 – Day 1 Round-up:
Tripura vs Chhattisgarh in Ranchi: Tripura 1st inn 118/10 in 54 overs (A Dey 32, Y Singh 26, A Mandal 3/41, P Sinha 2/13, A Singh 2/20, S Ruikar 2/20); Chhattisgarh 1st inn 255/10 in 103.5 overs (Ashutosh Singh 140, Mohd. Kaif 27, A Dey 4/26); Tripura 2nd inn 10/0 in 3 overs (B Gosh 9*, U Bose 1*) Trail by 127 runs
Ashutosh Singh helped Chhattisgarh to a 137-run first innings lead with a well compiled 140-run knock even as he kept losing partners at regular intervals on the second day. A Dey, who finished with a four-for dealt the first blow of the day with the wicket of captain Mohd. Kaif to leave the team on 111 for four and followed up with the wicket of A Mandal a while later. However, the fifth wicket stand had helped the debutants seize a first innings lead.
P Vivek, who then joined Ashutosh stoically held up one end as he made a 86-ball 19 to help add to the lead until he was trapped lbw by Rana Dutta. Continuing to extend the lead, Ashutosh was the last to return to the dressing room caught by Dey off his own bowling to end the innings. When play ended for the day, Tripura were trailing by 127 runs with all wickets in tact in the second innings.
Hyderabad vs Goa in Nagpur: Goa 1st inn 164/10 in 74 overs (S Bandekar 59, Md Siraj 4/14, R Kiran 2/30, V Sharma 2/42); Hyderabad 1st inn 188/4 in 63 (A Reddy 105*, S Badrinath 41, RR Singh 2/35) Lead by 24 runs
After resuming his team’s innings on 28 for one, Akshath Reddy anchored Hyderabad to a 24-run first innings lead with an unbeaten century. While the opener held the fort, captain Subramaniam Badrinath too made a useful 41 to help the close in on Goa’s first innings total. When play ended for the day, the opener was batting on 105 with B Sandeep on eight.
Haryana vs Services at Brabourne Stadium (Mumbai): Services 1st inn 197/10 in 73 overs (A Gupta 69, SU Yadav 29, R Paliwal 3/14, Y Chahal 2/41); Haryana 117/3 in 38 overs (S Rohilla 62*, V Yadav 3/31) Trail by 80 runs
After the wet outfield led to a delay in the start of the play, Yuzvendra Chahal claimed the first two wickets of the day for Haryana to leave Services on 168 for eight in the afternoon. After resuming on 143 for six, the team were bowled out for 197 later in the day at CCI.
Opener SG Rohilla then anchored the Haryana innings as V Yadav struck at the other end. The batsman was batting on 62 with H Rana when play ended for the day.
Kerala vs Jammu & Kashmir in Kolkata: Kerala 1st inn 282/7 in 96.2 overs (S Samson 142*, J Saxena 69, M Krishnan 12*, S Beigh 4/68, R Dayal 2/58)
While only 7.2 overs could be bowled on the second day due to inclement weather, Sanju Samson (142*) and Manu Krishnan added 19 runs to Kerala’s overnight total until the day’s play had to be called off in Kolkata.
Himachal vs Andhra in Bhubaneshwar: Himachal 1st inn 318/7 in 80 overs (P Chopra 117, S Verma 116*, M Dagar 42, S Kumar 2/51, Stephen 2/56)
Bhubneshwar was another venue where weather played spoilsport. Due to rain and bad weather there was no play on Day 2 of the match.
