Ranji Trophy: Elite B, Day-1: Mandeep-Shubman leads Punjab to comfortable position; Tamil Nadu toil hard against MP

11/01/2018

After getting rattled early, Mandeep Singh, alongside Shubman Gill, added a vital 92 runs for the third wicket to help Punjab finish with 261 for 6 at stumps against Andhra. On the other hand, Kerala finished with 231 for 4 at stumps with Sanju Samson and Sachin Baby scoring half-centuries.

Andhra vs Punjab

Breif Scores: Day 1: Stumps - Punjab 261/6 (Mandeep Singh 68, Sanvir Singh 63*; Bandaru Ayyappa 3/64) vs Andhra Pradesh.

It was not the kind of start that Punjab wanted in the first place, but Hanuma Vihari-led Andhra Pradesh inflicted some early damage. With just four runs on the board, the team had lost Jiwanjot Singh and Anmolpreet Singh to some terrific pace bowling of Bandaru Ayyappa, and they needed to be more patient in their approach. That calmness was provided by Shubman Gill and skipper Mandeep Singh, who added a vital 92-run partnership for the third wicket to resurrect Punjab's innings.

After P Vijayakumar got the better of Gill after the latter’s half-century, the Punjab skipper still managed to go string and was involved in a 64-run partnership with former skipper Gurkeerat Mann (41) to give the team a steady base. Sanvir Singh later struck an unbeaten half-century as the visitors ended the day with 261 for 6 at the Dr.Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.

Himachal Pradesh vs Bengal

Brief Scores : Day 1: Stumps - Bengal 266/6 (Manoj Tiwary 55, Anustup Majumdar 52; Rishi Dhawan 2/34, Pankaj Jaiswal 2/44) vs Himachal Pradesh.

A combined effort by the Bengal top and middle orders helped the team put up a total of 266/6 at the stumps of the first day of the Ranji Trophy match against Himachal Pradesh at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium in Nadaun. After opting to bat first, Abhishek Raman, who replaced Shreevats Goswami, used the opportunity brilliantly and alongside Abhimanyu Easwaran, put up a 64-run opening partnership. Raman’s 48 was the base on which middle order cashed in as Sudip Chatterjee, Manoj Tiwary and Anustup Majumdar scored 43, 55, and 52 respectively to give the team the pole position in the game.

While they can easily go on to make a score as good as 400 in this match, Pankaj Jaiswal and Rishi Dhawan were the pick of the bowlers for Himachal and secured a couple of wickets each to save the team from the blushes. How the North Indian state will bowl in the first session tomorrow would detect the course of the encounter.

Kerala vs Hyderabad

Brief scores : Day 1: Stumps - Kerala 231/4 (Sachin Baby 57; Mehdi Hasan 2/67) vs Hyderabad

In the days format of the game, the value of small yet crucial partnerships could never be overstated, and Kerala today proved the statement. After losing Arun Karthik for 25, Jalaj Saxena got into another crucial partnership with Rohan Prem to take the team to 110/1. However, Prem’s dismissal triggered a mini-collapse as Saxena was also dismissed to leave Kerala tottering for 122 for 3 against Hyderabad.

However, the experienced heads of Sanju Samson and Sachin Baby came to the team’s rescue and they stitched together a 90-run stand to help Kerala finish with 231 for 4 at stumps. Earlier, Hyderabad didn’t include Mohammed Siraj in their team and the attack was led by Ravi Kiran and Chama Milind. While the duo remained unsuccessful, Mehdi Hasan continued his good limited-overs form to the Ranji Trophy format as well and picked up a couple of wickets.

Tamil Nadu vs Madhya Pradesh

Brief scores : Madhya Pradesh 214/3 (Rajat Patidar 110; Vijay Shankar 27/1) vs Tamil Nadu

Apart from dismissing wicket-keeper Ankit Dane - one of the very few keepers in the world who dared to open the batting despite being in the charge of keeping - there was a day of little success for Tamil Nadu in the first day of the Ranji Trophy. Aryaman Birla got along with Rajat Patidar as the duo punished the toothless Tamil Nadu attack to score runs for fun. Ravichandran Ashwin also failed to make any sort of difference as he had a pretty long day at the office bowling 21 overs while returning with figures of 1 for 49.

Patidar kept on scoring runs even after Birla’s dismissal and in the company of skipper Naman Ojha, the duo took the total to 211 before Vijay Shankar had the wicket-keeper caught by Baba Indrajith. Madhya Pradesh ended the day 214/3 and will try to extend it to a big score.