Mayank Agarwal and Manish Pandey posted centuries as they helped revive Karnataka after losing early wickets. Centuries by Shreevats Goswami and Anustup Mujumdar helped build Bengal’s innings against Goa. Avi Barot shaped Saurashtra’s innings with an unbeaten century as they play a must win game against Team Rajasthan. Shubhman Gill and Anmolpreet Singh too post centuries to put Punjab in an advantageous position against Services.
Akash Parkar claimed his maiden five-for in first-class cricket as he helped Mumbai bowl Tripura out on Day 1.
Here are the highlights of the Ranji Trophy 2017-18, Round 7 – Day 1:
Group AHyderabad vs Delhi: Delhi were 336 for five at Stumps on Day 1 against Hyderabad.
Opening the innings with Gautam Gambhir, Kumar Chandela scored 64 until he was sent back by Mehdi Hasan leaving the side on 143 for three. Rishabh Pant then chipped in with 16 runs until he was sent back by K Rayudu leaving the visitors on 177 for four. Himmat Singh, who was the top-scorer for Delhi on the first day with 99 runs was run out by B Sandeep leaving the team on 295 for five. Lalit Yadav (62*) and Manan Sharma (16*) then saw the team through to the end of day’s play.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/82 Maharashtra vs Assam: Maharashtra were trailing by 215 runs with seven wickets in hand when play ended for the day.
After putting Assam in to bat, Maharashtra bowled the visitors out for 279. Gokul Sharma top-scored for the side with 87 while Sibsankar Roy made 80. While rest of the line-up caved in to the hosts attack, Pritam Das - lower down the order - contributed 45 while Arup Das chipped in with 33 runs. N Dhumal claimed a five-for as Maharashtra ran through the visitors lineup.
Ruturaj Gaikwad (41*) then anchored Maharashtra to Stumps at 64 for three.
Scorecard -
http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/83
Railways vs Karnataka: Karnataka who have booked themselves a place in the quarter-finals were comfortably placed on 355 for six at Stumps on Day 1.
Although Karnataka were left on 19 for three, in-form top-order bat, Mayank Agarwal and Manish Pandey ensured the side a solid total. The pair stitched a 229-run partnership to shift the momentum in Karnataka’s favour. Agarwal made 173 while Pandey scored 108 before returning to the pavilion. When play ended for the day, CM Gautam was batting on 25.
Scorecard -
http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/84
Group BJharkhand vs Gujarat: Asked to bat, Gujarat were 262 for four at stumps on Day 1 in Ranchi with Manprit Juneja (51*) and R Bhatt (51*) in the middle.
Earlier, Ajay claimed Priyank Panchal to end the opening stand for 57 while 31 runs later B Merai was trapped lbw by Shahbaz Nadeem. Parthiv Patel then joined S Gohil in taking the innings forward. However, with the team on 134, the Gujarat skipper was castled by Nadeem for 33. A while later Gohil too departed for 64; sent back by Varun Aaron leaving the side on 179 for four.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/80Team Rajasthan vs Saurashtra: In their must-win game, Avi Barot anchored Saurashtra to 286 for three in Jaipur on the first day. With Saurashtra on 36 for two after losing KM Parmar and Snell Patel early in the innings, Barot helped shape the innings. He was involved in a 126-run stand for the third wicket with Robin Uthappa, who came in to bat at No 4 in the innings. While 59, Uthappa was trapped lbw by TM Ul Haq leaving the side on 162 for three.
Barot then stitched a partnership with Sheldon Jackson to take the innings forward. The pair were involved in an unbroken 119-run stand when play ended for the day. Barot was batting on 128 with Sheldon on 54 at Stumps.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/79 Haryana vs Kerala: As they look to book a place in the knock-outs, Kerala are battling Haryana in Lahli. The visitors had reduced the hosts to 206 for eight when play ended for the day. Warrier claimed three wickets while Vinod Kumar CV picked two. Nidheesh MD, Basil Thampi and Jalaj Saxena picked a wicket each to keep the Haryana lineup in check.
When play ended for the day, Amit Mishra was batting on 31.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/81Group CMadhya Pradesh vs Odisha: In the must-win game against Odisha, MP were in a commanding position at the end of first day’s play. The hosts bowled out Odisha for 147 and were 96 for one at stumps on the first day.
Puneet Datey set the tone of the day by dismantling Natraj Behera’s stumps to leave Odisha on 12 for one. Ten runs later Ishwar Pandey bowled Ranjit Singh. With the side on 41, Chandrakant Sakure then followed up with the wicket of Subhransu Senpati and a while later Govind Podder’s resistance was ended by Ankit Sharma leaving the side on 85 for four. Continuing to strike at regular intervals, the MP attack wrapped up the Odisha innings in 52.2 overs.
Sakure claimed 4/42 while Datey took 3/34 and Ishwar claimed 2/33.
In reply, Rajat Patidar (72*) took MP to stumps with Devendra Bundela (7*).
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/74 Tamil Nadu vs Baroda: With a determined display, Swapnil Singh (94* off 182) fought to keep Baroda in the fray even as TN struck at regular intervals. The middle-order bat took the team to Stumps at 254 for eight with R Vaghela.
While the rest of the lineup returned without substantial contributions, Swapnil found an ally in lower-order batsman K Kakade (42). The duo had added 69 runs to the tally when Kakade was run out leaving the side on 245 for eight. Earlier, Swapnil was involved in a 71-run partnership with Deepak Hooda (24) until the skipper was caught by Sai Kishore off his own bowling.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/73Mumbai vs Tripura: In their must-win match against Tripura, Mumbai bowled the visitors out for 195 after electing to field at the Wankhede Stadium.
Dhawal Kulkarni claimed S Singha and U Bose to leave Tripura on 51 for two, Akash Parkar ran through the middle-order to tip the balance in Mumbai’s favour. Back into the side, the medium pacer maintained a tight line to keep the batsmen on their toes. Parkar, who claimed B Gosh in his first over bowled a miserly first spell which read 9-5-5-2 as he dominated the batsmen. The pacer returned with his maiden five-for (5/32) as he helped wrap-up Tripura in 60.4 overs. Kulkarni claimed three while Karsh Kothari picked one wicket.
Skipper MB Murasingh, who top-scored for his side with 43 runs then returned to test the Mumbai batsmen. While Rana Datta knocked Prithvi Shaw’s stumps for one, the Tripura captain forced and edge from Shreyas Iyer through to the wicketkeeper to leave the team on 18 for two. 50 runs later, Abhijit Sarkar accounted for Suryakumar Yadav leaving Mumbai on 68 for three.
Jay Bista, who held one end up was batting on 43 with Karsh Kothari on one as he took Mumbai to stumps at 77 for three.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/78Group D
Punjab vs Services: Shubhman Gill (129) and Anmolpreet Singh (129*) helped Punjab to a respectable total on Day 1 with centuries.
After Jiwanjot Singh retired hurt for 54, Manan Vohra returned to the dressing room leaving Punjab on 155 for one. Gill then forged a 99-run stand with Anmolpreet until he was sent back by Nitin Tanwar leaving the team on 254 for two.
Anmolpreet then took the team to Stumps with Gurkeerat Mann (68*).
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/75Vidarbha vs Himachal: Himachal were 287 for six at the end of first day’s play after being asked to bat by table-toppers Vidarbha.
After A Sarvate claimed P Chopra, Gurbani dealt a double blow four runs later to leave Himachal on 70 for three. The bowler claimed P Khanduri and N Gangta off successive overs to peg back the visitors back.
With SL Verma, A Bains then took the team to 142 until he was sent back by Faiz Fazal. 48 runs later Verma was trapped lbw by Sarvate while Gurbani accounted for A Kumar in the next to leave the side on 190 for six.
R Dhawan and A Vashishth were involved in a 97-run unbroken stand when play ended for the day.
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http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/76Bengal vs Goa: Centuries by Shreevats Goswami and Anustup Mujumdar lifted Bengal to 305 for five after being left on 20 for three.
Asked to bat, the visitors lost Abhishek Kumar Raman with just one run on the board and 19 runs later Sudip Chatterjee was sent back by Lakshay Garg. In his next over, the bowler also removed Manoj Tiwary. A while later Amulya Pandrekar accounted for A Eswaran to live Bengal on 79 for four. Majumdar then joined Goswami in rebuilding the innings. The pair added 213 runs for the fifth wicket to seize the advantage from Goa until Pandrekar ended the flourishing stand. The bowler claimed Goswami for 139 to leave Bengal on 292 for five.
Majumdar (107*) and Writtick Chatterjee then saw the team through to stumps.
Scorecard -
http://www.bcci.tv/ranji-trophy-2017-18/match/77 
