Ranji Trophy | Elite A : Round 2 - Gujarat dominate Chhattisgarh on Day 1

11/12/2018

2016-17 Champions, Gujarat, took a complete control of their Ranji Trophy match against Chhattisgarh, ending the day with an impressive score of 260/3 in Valsad. The match between Vidarbha and Karnataka lived upto its billing with the day ending with the former putting up a score of 245/8 in Nagpur.

Gujarat vs Chhattisgarh

Brief Scores : Gujarat 260/3 (Manprit Juneja 102*, Bhargav Merai 60; Sumit Ruikar 1/47, Vishal Kushwah 1/56) against Chhattisgarh.

Winning the toss, Gujarat got off to a good start with both openers going after bad deliveries. Even though they lost Samit Gohel in the eighth over, Priyank Panchal and Bhargav Merai ensured that they reached a comfortable score before the former was dismissed for 50. The incoming Manprit Juneja forged a 103-run partnership with Merai, who was undone Sumit Ruikar for a well made 63. Juneja kept going and by the end of the day, not only had he completed his century, but guided his side to commanding 260/3 at stumps on Day 1. For Chhattisgarh, only Vishal Kushwah and Sumit Ruikar were able to add something to the wickets column by the end of the day.

Baroda vs Maharashtra

Brief Scores : Baroda 322/9 (Yusuf Pathan 99, Swapnil Singh 79; Satyajeet Bachhav 4/81, Anupam Sanklecha 2/88) against Maharashtra.

After suffering an embarrassing loss to Gujarat in the first round of matches, Baroda found themselves batting first following Maharashtra’s win at the toss. They got off to the worst possible start as Kedar Devdhar was dismissed on only the third ball of the match. Aditya Waghmode and Vishnu Solanki consolidated the innings and got their side to 59 before the latter was caught plumb in front by SS Bachhav. Any hopes of a big score for Baroda went out the window as Waghmode and Deepak Hooda followed Solanki back with the score at 70. It was upto the duo of Swapnil Singh and Yusuf Pathan to rescue the innings and so they did. A 160-run partnership, that saw Yusuf score 99, brought Baroda back into the game but with wickets falling at regular intervals after that, they could only manage a score of 322/9 at stumps.

Saurashtra vs Railways

Brief Scores: Railways 200/10 (Mahesh Rawat 46, Pratham Singh 45; Ravindra Jadeja 4/58, Kamlesh Makvana 3/55) lead Saurashtra 82/4 (Ravindra Jadeja 33*, Jaydev Shah 19; Anureet Singh 2/19, Avinash Yadav 2/24) by 118 runs.

After winning the toss, Railway’s skipper Mahesh Rawat decided to bat first. However, his side failed to deliver from the get go as they found themselves reeling at 25/2 within the first ten overs. It didn’t get much better as Pratham Singh and Arindam Ghosh were back in the hut with the score at just 66 runs. Rawat and Faiz Ahmed added 69 runs before the skipper was dismissed four runs short of his half century. At 179/9, it appeared that Saurashtra, led by Ravindra Jadeja’s four-fer, had done the job by a run a ball 27 by Anureet Singh ensured that Railways managed to get to 200. With a below par first innings score, Railways knew that they needed something special from their bowlers and Anureet Singh and Avinash Yadav were only too happy to oblige. The managed to send the Saurashtra top-four packing with just 32 runs on the board to put their team in control of the game. However, Jadeja managed to score an important 33* before the umpires called stumps on Day 1.

Vidarbha vs Karnataka

Brief Scores: Vidarbha 245/8 (Ganesh Satish 57, Wasim Jaffer 41; Jagadeesha Suchith 3/25, Abhimanyu Mithun 3/32) vs Karnataka

The first battle of the marquee clash of the second round of matches was won by Faiz Fazal, who decided to bat first after winning the toss. However, he, along with opening partner Sanjay Ramaswamy, failed to give Vidarbha a solid start with both openers back in the dressing room with the scoreboard reading just 31. Wasim Jaffer and Ganesh Satish too the score into triple digits before the veteran star was bowled by Stuart Binny. Satish and Akshay Wadkar added another 63 runs, by the 58th over, to swing the momentum back their favour but that is as good as it got for them. In the next 12 overs, the Defending Champions lost five more wickets while adding just 22 runs. But all was not lost for them as Shrikant Wagh added a cool 37* to end the day with the scoreboard reading 245/8. Abhimanyu Mithun and Jagadeesha Suchith were the chief tormentors on the day claiming six of the eight wickets between them.