A total of 13 wickets fell on the first day in Ranchi as debutants Chhattisgarh bowled Tripura out for 118 in their opening game of Ranji Trophy 2016-17. In the match against Jammu & Kashmir, former Kerala captain, Sanju Samson helped his team to a modest score on the first day with an unbeaten 129. Centuries by Prashant Chopra and Sumeet Verma helped Himachal seize the advantage back from Andhra after the top half of the line-up collapsed earlier in the day.
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 77/3 in 28 overs (Ashutosh Singh 31*, R Tiwari 31, R Dutta 2/9) Trail by 41 runs
In their first ever Ranji Trophy match, Chhattisgarh bowled Tripura out for 118 in the first innings and were trailing by 41 runs with seven wickets in hand at the end of day’s play. While A Mandal picked three wickets including the wicket of Yashpal Singh for 26, Abhuday Singh, P Sinha and S Ruikar claimed three wickets each to keep the lineup in check.
Although they were left reeling on six for two by Rana Dutta, opener Rishabh Tiwari made 31 as he took the team to 49 before being sent back. Middle-order bat Ashutosh Singh was batting on 31 with captain Mohd. Kaif (5*) as he took the team to stumps in the first innings of their opening game.
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 28/1 in 10 overs (A Reddy 18*, T Agarwal 10, H Gadekar 1/2) Trail by 136 runs
Md. Siraj claimed four for 14 as Hyderabad bundled out Goa for 164 in their opening game of the season. S Bandekar top-scored for the team with a well compiled 144-ball 59 while Snehal Kauthankar made 38 off 140 balls to keep the innings afloat even as the rest of the lineup caved in.
In reply, Hyderabad had posted 28 for one with Akshath Reddy and Vishal Verma at the crease.
Haryana vs Services at Brabourne Stadium (Mumbai): Services 1st inn 143/6 in 57.4 overs (A Gupta 69, R Paliwal 2/11, H Patel 2/35
After a delayed start to the match due to a wet outfield in Mumbai, Services posted 143 for six after being asked to bat by Mohit Sharma. The Haryana captain gave his side their first breakthrough with the wicket of Soumik Chatterjee with 40 runs on the board to set the ball rolling. Harshal Patel then followed up with the wickets of Nakul Verma and Ravi Chauhan to leave the opposition on 123 for three and keep the innings hanging in balance. Rajat Paliwal then castled Aanshul Gupta to end the opener's resistance for 69 and accounted for Rahul Gahlaut a bit later. S Yadav and V Yadav were at the crease when stumps were called.
Kerala vs Jammu & Kashmir in Kolkata: Kerala 1st inn 263/7 in 89 overs (S Samson 129*, J Saxena 69, S Beigh 4/68, R Dayal 2/58)
After J & K elected to field, Samiullah Beigh and Ram Dayal left Kerala reeling on nine for two. However, Sanju Samson kept the side in fray with a well compiled century. He helped revive the innings with the newest addition to the Kerala side, Jalaj Saxena. The pair added 97 runs for the third wicket until Beigh returned to claim the opener.
Sanju, however, continued to hold up one end even as the Beigh-led J & K attack continued to deal blows at the other. While the Kerala batsman was unbeaten on 129 with Manu Krishnan (6*) at stumps, Beigh finished the day with a four-for.
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)
While four of Himachal's top five batsmen were unable to reach the double-digit scores, centuries by opener Prashant Chopra and Sumeet Verma batting at No 7 helped the team to 318 for seven on the first day. Siva Kumar, who set the ball rolling with the wicket of Ankush Bains on eight, claimed Rishi Dhawan for 10 later while Stephen picked two and Ayyappa Bandaru accounted for Paras Dogra to leave HP struggling in 103 for five.
Chopra, who had stoically stood at other end then found an able ally in Verma to rebuild the innings. They addex 89 for the sixth wicket until the opener was sent back by Ashwin Hebber. Remaining unbeaten on 116, the lower middle-order bat then took the team to stumps with R Singh.
