Medium-fast bowler Tushar Deshpande (four-for) assisted senior partner Dhawal Kulkarni (four-for) to skittle Tamil Nadu for 87 in the opening game of the Ranji Trophy 2016-17. 14 wickets fell in Lahili on first day where the wicket is traditionally known to help the bowlers.
In Jaipur, Aditya Waghmode starred for Baroda with a century while Shivakant Shukla helped Railways to a comfortable first day total against Punjab with an unbeaten 117. Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav struck for UP while HS Bhatia’s unbeaten century kept Madhya Pradesh innings in reckoning.
Group A, Round 1 – Day 1 Round up:
Mumbai vs Tamil Nadu in Lahili: TN 1st inn 87/10 in 45.3 overs (T Deshpande 4/25, D Kulkarni 4/31, BS Sandhu 2/14, B Indrajith 28*); Mum 1st inn 85/4 in 32 overs (K Pawar 26*, A Tare 22*, Vignesh K 2/5) Trail by 2 runs
Debutant Tushar Deshpande partnered Dhawal Kulkarni in bundling Tamil Nadu out for 87 in their opening game at Lahli. Both pacers claimed four wickets each while Balwinder Singh Sandhu picked two wickets in the innings. Three TN batsmen returned to the pavilion without opening their accounts, three others posted double-digit scores while top-scorer Baba Indrajith was stranded on 28.
Mumbai, who are without the services of Shreyas Iyer and Siddhesh Lad, lost opener Jay Bista to Aswin Crist with 22 runs on the board. Vignesh K followed up with the wickets of Akhil Herwadkar and Armaan Jaffer off successive deliveries to leave the opposition on 45 for three. On the wicket traditionally known to aid pacers, Suryakumar Yadav was the next to be sent back; bowled for three by J Kousik.
Aditya Tare then joined Kaustubh Pawar in stitching a stand to carry the innings forward. With an unbroken 32-run partnership, they closed in on TN’s first innings total.
Baroda vs Gujarat in Jaipur: Baroda 1st inn 285/2 in 80 overs (A Waghmode 103*, D Hooda 76*, K Devdhar 65, J Bumrah 1/25)
Aditya Waghmode led Baroda to a healthy 285 for two on the first day with an unbeaten century after Parthiv Patel asked the team to bat at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. The opener got the team off to a good start with Kedar Devdhar. The duo’s 117-run opening stand was ended by Jasprit Bumrah, who had Kedar caught by Parthiv behind the stumps.
Waghmode continued to anchor the innings and was involved in a 50-run partnership for the second wicket until P Panchal accounted for K Pandya. The opener then saw the team through to the end of day’s play with Deepak Hooda in an unbroken 118-run stand.
Punjab vs Railways in Palam (New Delhi): Railways 1st inn 257/5 in 90 overs (S Shukla 117*, A Yadav 65*, S Kaul 2/53, Y Singh 1/29)
While his opening partner, Saurabh was sent back for naught by Manpreet Grewal, Shivakant Shukla anchored Railways to 257 for five on the first day with an unbeaten century. Railways were pushed further on the back foot by Siddharth Kaul who picked two wickets to leave the side on 57 for three. Vinay Choudhary then followed up with the wicket of Arindam Gosh.
Shukla continued to hold fort and had taken the team to 133 when Yuvraj Singh accounted for Mahesh Rawat to end the stand. The opener then found an able partner in Ashish Yadav and the pair took the team to stumps without further hiccups.
Madhya Pradesh vs Uttar Pradesh: MP 1st inn 292/7 in 89.5 overs (HS Bhatia 112*, D Bundela 52, A Rajpoot 2/53, P Chawla 2/64, K Yadav 2/94)
Harpreet Singh Bhatia helped MP to a respectable 292 until the end of day's play with an unbeaten 112 runs on the first day. After Ankit Rajpoot claimed Aditya Shrivastava in the first over, Rajat Patidar stabilised the innings with Mukul Raghav with a well compiled 42. Devendra Bundela too contributed a useful 52 while Bhatia held the innings together with a watchfully compiled century even as the UP bowlers struck at regular intervals. Ankit Rajpoot claimed two while spinners Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav too picked two wickets each.
