Ranji Trophy | Elite A : Siddharth Desai steals the show with the ball; Siddesh Lad shines for Mumbai

11/01/2018

Gujarat’s left-arm orthodox bowler Siddharth Desai picked up a fifer on the first day of Round one of Ranji Trophy 2018-19 season against Baroda at the Moti Bagh Stadium. In another group A game, Siddhesh Lad and Suryakumar Yadav shone with the bat for Mumbai against Railways in Delhi.

Baroda vs Gujarat

Brief scores: Gujarat 15/0 (Samit Gohel 8, Priyank Panchal 7 ) trail Baroda (Yusuf Pathan 69, Deepak Hooda 63; Siddharth Desai 5/109 ) by 275 runs

Being put into bat first, Baroda was off to a poor start as Kedar Devdhar was picked up by Rush Kalaria in the third over of the game. Vishnu Solanki and Aditya Waghmode (46) then added 80 runs for the third wicket before Siddharth Desai joined the party to get rid of Solanki (30). No other Baroda batsman could get to a good start apart from Yusuf Pathan (63) and Deepak Hooda (63) and the Baroda side was bowled out for 290 in 81.2 overs with Desai claiming five wickets in 27 overs. Piyush Chawla also bowled well and ended up with three to his name. Gujarat batted only for four overs scoring 15 runs and both their openers Samit Gohel and Priyank Panchal are at the crease at stumps on day 1.

Maharashtra vs Vidarbha

Brief scores: Maharashtra 284/6 (Chirag Khurana 89; Akshay Wakhare 2/47) vs Vidarbha

Swapnil Gugale and Chirag Khurana started off brilliantly for Maharashtra against Vidarbha in Pune after they were asked to bat first. They added 120 runs for the opening wicket before Gugale got out for 47. Chirag was their highest scorer with 89 runs while Ruturaj Gaikwad also scored 47 before getting out to Aditya Thakare. Naushad Sheikh scored a quick-fire 40 in the middle order while Rahul Tripathi was unbeaten on 36 off 38 balls alongside Nikit Dhumal when stumps were drawn on the opening day. For Vidarbha, Aditya Sarwate and Akshay Wakhare picked up two wickets each.

Mumbai vs Railways

Brief scores: Mumbai 278/5 (Suryakumar Yadav 83, Siddhesh Lad 80*; Anureet Singh 3/55) vs Railways

Mumbai dominated the game against the Railways in the smog-affected encounter after losing three wickets below 100 runs. Suryakumar Yadav and Siddhesh Lad added 129 runs for the fourth wicket to recover Mumbai from troubled waters after they lost the wickets of Jay Bista (47), Akhil Herwadkar (9), and Ashay Sardesai (19). Yadav departed for 83 in the final session while Lad was unbeaten on 80 before stumps on the first day at Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi. Aditya Tare was the last man to get out for 2. Pacer Anureet Singh ended the day with impressive figures of 3/55 in 22 overs while the other two wickets were pocketed by Avinash Yadav.

Saurashtra vs Chhattisgarh

Brief scores: Saurashtra 282/3 (Snell Patel 91, Harvik Desai 78; Sahil Gupta 1/27) vs Chhattisgarh

Saurashtra is in the driver’s seat against Chhattisgarh with a score of 282 in their first innings on day 1. Openers Snell Patel and Harvik Desai gave them a solid start with a 149-run stand for the first wicket. Desai was the first to go for 78 and then Cheteshwar Pujara got retired hurt on 30 because of a sore neck. Sheldon Jackson also looked good and he is still in the middle on 49 after Patel was picked up for 91 by Omkar Verma. Skipper Jaydev Shah could contribute only 21 runs with the bat before getting out to Sahil Gupta. Arpit Vasavada was at the crease along with Jackson at the end of the day’s play in Rajkot. Verma, Gupta and Sumit Ruikar have picked up one wicket apiece for Chhattisgarh so far in this game.