Batsmen dominated the game on the first day of round five in Ranji Trophy 2017-18. Saurashtra skipper Cheteshwar Pujara, Snell Patel, TN’s M Vijay, Karnataka’s Mayank Agarwal, Vidarbha’s Faiz Fazal, SR Ramaswamy, Shubham Khajuria and Punit Bisht for J & K, Andhra’s DB Prashanth Kumar, UP’s Saurabh Kumar and Upendra Yadav scored centuries on the opening day of the round.
Mumbai, who are playing their 500th Ranji Trophy match at Wankhede Stadium, were skittled out for 171 by Baroda pacers – Atit Sheth and Lukman Meriwala.
Here are the highlights of the day:Group A Assam vs Uttar Pradesh: Electing to field in Guwahati, Assam had left UP reeling on 74 for six. However, Upendra Yadav and Saurabh Kumar batting lower down the order revived the innings with a 246-run partnership for the seventh wicket. The stand ended with Saurabh being sent back by Gokul Sharma for 133. Yadav was later trapped lbw by Dhiraj Goswami for 127.
R Ahmed picked three wickets while Goswami, Abu Nechim Ahmed and Gokul picked two wickets apiece to bowl UP out for 349.
Assam were 25 without loss at stumps and trailing by 324 runs.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/58Maharashtra vs Railways: Maharashtra were 249 for five at stumps on Day 1 in Pune. Ankeet Bawane top-scored for the team with 92 runs on the first day to help them to a respectable total. When play ended for the day R Motwani was batting on 52 with C Khurana on 1.
Amit Mishra and Karan Thakur picked two wickets each for Railways while Anureet Singh claimed one.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/59Karnataka vs Delhi: Mayank Agarwal carried on from where he had left in the previous innings. After hitting a triple ton in the previous game, the Karnataka batsman, had helped the team to 348 for four until Stumps on the first day.
Coming in to bat at 21 for one after KL Rahul (9) was sent back by Kulwant Khejroliya, Agarwal anchored the innings to a solid position. 112 runs later, R Samarth was removed by Vikas Mishra. Karun Nair, who then came to the crease added 15 runs until he was trapped lbw by Manan Sharma leaving the side on 181 for three. Manish Pandey then joined Agarwal in building the innings further. The pair had added 136 runs for the fourth wicket when the middle-order bat was sent back by NV Saini.
When play ended for the day, Agarwal was batting on 169 with Stuart Binny on 14.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/60Group B Jharkhand vs J & K: Centuries by opener Shubham Khajuria and Punit Bisht lower down the order boosted J & K to 357 for six on Day 1 after electing to bat in Jamshedpur.
Khajuria held one end up even as the Jharkhand attack struck at regular intervals. After Sonu Kumar Singh sent back Ahmad Omar Banday with 45 runs on the board, the opener carried the innings forward with Bandeep Singh. Sunny Gupta ended the third wicket stand for 66 runs with the wicket of the No 3 bat while Shahbaz Nadeem followed up with the wicket of Ian Chauhan to leave the team on 114 for three. 27 runs later Aquib Nazar was dismissed by Varun Aaron.
Sonu Kumar then accounted for Parvez Rasool to leave the side on 150 for five. Khajuria continued to hold fort and had taken the team past the 200-run mark when he was trapped lbw by Sunny Gupta for 101. With the team on 208 for six, Bisht joined hands with Owais Shah.
Bisht was batting on 101 with Shah on 79 when play ended for the day.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/56
Haryana vs Team Rajasthan: Haryana were tottering at 99 for seven at Stumps on Day 1. The Pankaj Singh-led attack ran through the hosts lineup after opting to field in Lahli. During the 44 overs of play possible, Team Rajasthan pushed the home team on the back-foot. Pankaj Singh claimed three wickets while AV Choudhary picked two and M Lomror and T Dhillion chipped in with a wicket each.
When play ended for the day RP Sharma was batting on 10 with H Patel.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/55Saurashtra vs Gujarat: An unbroken 252-run partnership for the second wicket between Snell Patel and Cheteshwar Pujara put Saurashtra in an advantageous position in Rajkot after electing to bat.
After Robin Uthappa was removed by Piyush Chawla leaving the team on 52 for one, the Saurashtra captain joined the opener in keeping the opposition at bay.
Snell was batting on 156 with Pujara on 115 when play ended for the day.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/57Group CTripura vs Andhra: DB Prasanth Kumar anchored table-toppers Andhra to 252 for two on the first day. The opener was batting on 120 off 279 balls with Ricky Bhui (49* off 126) when play ended for the day.
Put in to bat, Andhra lost KS Bharat with 23 runs on the board. Prasanth Kumar and Hanuma Vihari then added 108 runs for the second wicket until the Andhra skipper was sent back for 62 by Gurinder Singh.
The third wicket partnership between the opener and Bhui was unbroken on 121 when play ended for the day.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/49Odisha vs Tamil Nadu: Although skipper Abhinav Mukund was run out for 12 leaving the team on 19 for one, Murali Vijay took Tamil Nadu to a comfortable position with a solid 140-run knock. The opener built a 145-run partnership with N Jagadeesan followed with a 118-run stand with Baba Indrajith until he was caught by Suryakant Pradhan off his own bowling.
When play ended for the day, TN were 292 for three with Indrajith was batting on 41 and Vijay Shankar on eight.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/50 Mumbai vs Baroda: Mumbai were bundled out for 171 in the first innings by Lukman Meriwala and Atit Sheth after being asked to bat. The Baroda pacers claimed five wickets each to bowl the hosts out at stroke of tea. While Prithvi Shaw and Ajinkya Rahane were sent back for naught by Sheth, Shreyas Iyer departed edging Meriwala to the slips. While the pacers made most of the conditions at the Wankhede, the Mumbai batsman perished without offering much resistance. Skipper Aditya Tare, who had opened the innings in the absence of Akhil Herwadkar was the top-scorer for the side with 50 runs.
Sheth picked 5/50 while Meriwala claimed 5/52.
Roystan Dias then forced an edge from A Pathan through to the wicketkeeper to leave Baroda on 25 for one. Aditya Waghmode and Vishnu Solanki then saw the visitors to the end of day’s play at 63 for one.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/54Group D
Bengal vs Vidarbha: A 259-run opening stand between Faiz Fazal and SR Ramaswamy helped Vidarbha to a comfortable position on Day 1 after being asked to bat. Batting patiently, the pair chipped away at the Bengal attack to lay a solid foundation.
After Fazal was sent back by Ashok Dinda; trapped lbw for 142, Ramsawamy saw the team through to stumps. Vidarbha was 285 for one, with the opener on 117 and Wasim Jaffer on 18 when play ended for the day.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/51Himachal vs Chhattisgarh: HP were bowled out for 175 by the Pankaj Rao-led attack. The bowler claimed three wickets while S Ruikar also claimed 3/20. Mohammed Shahnawaz picked two wickets while Abhimanyu Chauhan and Vishal Singh took a wicket each.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/52Services vs Goa: Services were 228 for eight at the end of day’s play at the Palam Ground in New Delhi. Left on 18 for three, the hosts’ innings was kept afloat by the middle-order batsman. Nakul Verma made 64 while Nitin Tanwar made 43. No 8 batsman, V U Yadav was batting on 61 with Sachidanand Pandey when play ended for the day.
Heramb Parab, who had claimed Vikas Mohan off the third ball of the day without a run on the board finished with three wickets in the bag on the first day while Felix Alemao picked two.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/53
