19th Jan, 2020
Although there were a few impressive batting performances, it was the bowlers, who largely dominated the proceedings on the opening day of the sixth round of the Ranji Trophy 2019-20 on Sunday.
Here’s how the action unfolded:
Spinners shared the spoils before Abhinav Mukund scored a ton as Tamil Nadu secured a first-innings lead after bundling out Railways for 76. R Ashwin and R Sai Kishore, who had helped Tamil Nadu secure a draw in their last game against Mumbai, picked up four wickets each. Abhinav Mukund, who was playing his 100th Ranji Trophy game, then scored a hundred while and L Suryapprakash and Dinesh Karthik scored 50 and 57 not out respectively as Tamil Nadu ended the day at 236/4, leading Railways by 160 runs.
In a Group C clash, Arup Das and Ranjeet Mali picked up four wickets each as Assam bowled out Maharashtra for 175 after electing to bowl. In response, Assam scored 77/1 before stumps.
In Mangaldai, 17 wickets fell on the opening day during the Meghalaya versus Manipur match. Batting first, Meghalaya scored 235 after D B Ravi Teja and Punit Bisht scored 90 and 66 respectively. Meghalaya then struck with the ball as Sanjay and Abhay Negi reduced Manipur to 18/7 at stumps.
Bihar, meanwhile, bowled out Nagaland for 166 and before stumps, posted 115 runs on the board for the loss of two wickets. In Kalyani, Bengal recovered from 40/3 to score 366/5 at the close of play against Hyderabad. While former skipper Manoj Tiwary scored an unbeaten 156, Anustup Majumdar and Shreevats Goswami scored 59 and 95 respectively.
In Ranchi, Uttarakhand scored 213/6 against Jharkhand before the bad light stopped the proceedings earlier than the scheduled close of play. While Ajay Yadav and Ashish Kumar picked up three wickets each for Jharkhand, Saurabh Rawat and Tanmay Srivastava scored 66 and unbeaten 48 respectively for Uttarakhand.
Meanwhile, as many as 13 wickets fell on the opening day of the Odisha versus Jammu and Kashmir game in Cuttack. Bowling first, Odisha were bowled out for 161 as Auqib Nabi picked up five wickets. Odisha, however, scalped three Jammu and Kashmir wickets, conceding 38 runs before stumps.
In Raipur, skipper Milind had to retire hurt as Chhattisgarh did not Tripura go past 53-run mark on the back of Pankaj Rao’s five-wicket haul. In response, Chhattisgarh scored 137/5, securing a first-innings lead of 84.
If it was Pankaj Rao for Chhattisgarh, it was Diwesh Pathania who registered a five-wicket haul as Services managed to limit Haryana to 176. The Harshal Patel-led side was reduced to 22/5 but Rohit Sharma and Sumit Kumar’s fifties helped Haryana cross 170-run mark. Ajit Chahal and Harshal Patel then led Haryana’s charge, scalping three wickets each, to help reduce Services to 63/6 before stumps.
In a Plate Group clash, Pondicherry managed a solid recovery after being reduced to 80/7 against Arunachal Pradesh as Sagar Trivedi scored a brisk 79 not out off 72 balls. While Akhilesh Sahani picked up four wickets, Tempol completed a five-wicket haul. Arunachal Pradesh ended the day 109/3 on the back of Samarh Seth’s unbeaten 64.
In Porvorim, Goa did a remarkable job of recovering from 26/6 to post 251 runs on the board against Chandigarh. While Suyash Prabhudessai missed out on a hundred, his 90 in addition to Darshan Misal’s 54 and Vijesh Prabhudesai’s unbeaten 40 helped Goa cross the 250-run mark. For Chandigarh, who ended the day at 3/0, Jagjit Singh Sandhu picked up five wickets.
In the Sikkim versus Mizoram tie, Taruwar Kohli scored 113 but Iqbal Abdulla’s five-wicket haul helped Sikkim bowl out Mizoram for 201. However, Mizoram managed to keep the game in the balance, restricting Sikkim to 107/4.
In New Delhi, 14 wickets fell on the opening day of the Delhi versus Vidarbha game. While Wasim Jaffer scored 83, Simarjeet Singh and Ishant Sharma shared the spoils, scalping 4 and 3 wickets each, as Delhi bowled out Vidarbha for 179. However, the defending champions fought back on the back of Aditya Thakare’s four wickets to reduce Delhi to 41/4.
Facing Punjab, Gujarat posted 277 runs on the board, losing nine wickets on the opening day. While Siddharth Kaul and Baltej Singh picked up four wickets each, Bhargav Merai held the innings together for Gujarat, scoring 130.
In Trivandrum, Kerala’s decision of electing to bat did not pay dividends as Shubham Sharma’s five-wicket haul helped Rajasthan bowl Kerala out for 90. Yash Kothari, who scored an unbeaten 66, and Rajesh Bishnoi, who scored a quickfire 67 helped Rajasthan end the day at 173/4.
Himachal Pradesh, playing in Dharamsala, made a solid start on the opening day against Baroda, posting 314/5 on the board for the loss of five wickets. While Akash Vashist scored 86, Amit Kumar scored an unbeaten 55.
In Indore, Sheldon Jackson scored an unbeaten 143 while Cheteshwar Pujara and Chirag Jani scored 47 and 40 respectively as Saurashtra ended the opening day at 295/8 against Madhya Pradesh. Jackson, who faced 186 deliveries, hit 20 fours and a six.
In Mumbai, meanwhile, Aksh Deep Nath’s unbeaten 113 and Rinku Singh’s unbeaten 71 guided Uttar Pradesh to 281/4 against Mumbai. While Mumbai made a good start, reducing Uttar Pradesh to 48/3, Aksh Deep Nath and Mohammad Saif added 96 runs together to steady the ship before the latter perished for 42. Aksh Deep Nath was then joined by Singh and the two put up 137 runs together before stumps on the opening day.
