17 wickets fell in Lahili on the first day of the match between Gujarat and Railways as bowlers dominated the proceedings. Left-arm pacer Deepak Bansal (6 for 46) dismantled Gujarat with his maiden five-wicket haul, Mehul Patel had claimed four until the end of day’s play to tip the balance in Gujarat’s favour.
A Shrivastava and Rajat Patidar helped MP to a comfortable position against Mumbai. While Samarth Singh helped UP to a good position with an unbeaten century, S Mondal kept Bengal in a advantegous position with 135.
Group A, Round 3 – Day 1 Round-up:
Mumbai vs Madhya Pradesh in Raipur: MP 1st inn 239/2 in 90 overs (A Shrivastava 87, R Patidar 83*, V Gohil 1/28)
Playing their third game of the season in Raipur, Mumbai were kept at bay by Madhya Pradesh after electing to bat. While Shardul Thakur, BS Sandhu and Tushar Deshpande went wicketless while Anhishek Nayar and Vijay Gohil picked a wicket each. The senior campaigner accounted for Mukul Raghav to end the opening stand for 54 in the first session. Aditya Shrivastava and Rajat Patidar built a solid partnership to take the team to 180 until the spinner struck later in the day to send back the opner.
With the veteran batsman, Devendra Bundela, Patidar (83*) saw the team through to the end of day’s play. In an unbroken 59-run partnership the pair had taken the team to 239 for two until stumps.
Bengal vs Punjab in Bilaspur: Bengal 1st inn 332/5 in 89 overs (S Mondal 135, A Pan 70, S Chatterjee 51, V Choudhary 2/66, S Sharma 2/70)
Powered by Sayan Monda’s 135 Bengal posted 332 for five on the first day of the third round match after Yuvraj Singh elected to field. While the opener scored a century, Sudip Chatterjee (51) and A Pan (70) complemented the effort with useful half-centuries. Skipper Manoj Tiwary too chipped in with 45 before being sent back by Sandeep Sharma in the penultimate over of the day.
P Shaw and Pragyan Ojha then took the team to stumps on a 332 for five.
Railways vs Gujarat in Lahili: Gujarat 1st inn 187/10 in 56.4 overs (P Patel 61, D Bansal 6/46, A Singh 2/55); Railways 1st inn 63/7 in 26 overs (K Sharma 22*, M Patel 4/22, RP Singh 2/11) Trail by 124 runs.
Deepak Bansal picked six for 46 as he ran through the Gujarat lineup after Railways elected to field. While the attack looked to dominate in Lahili, Parthiv Patel made 61 runs off 82 balls to keep the innings in fray as wickets crumbled around him. Useful double-digit contributions from the lower-order helped Gujarat to 187 runs in the first innings.
RP Singh then led Gujarat’s charge and accounted for Saurabh Wakaskar and Mrunal Devdhar off successive deliveries in the seventh over to leave Railways on 20 for two. Mehul Patel then ran through the middle-order to finish the day with four wickets in the bag.
With Railways reeling on 63 for seven, Karn Sharma (22*) was toiling to hold the fort when play ended for the day with Gujarat in a commanding position.
Uttar Pradesh vs Tamil Nadu in Dharamsala: UP 1st inn 207/1 in 90 overs (S Singh 115*, U Sharma 36*, MS Washington Sundar 1/15)
Remaining unbeaten on 115, Samarth Singh took UP to 207 for one at stumps. After laying a solid 109-run opening stand with Tanmay Srivastava, the opener was batting with Umang Sharma (36*) when play ended for the day.
