Ranji Trophy | Elite Group C - Haryana and Assam ahead in race, Uttarakhand and Tripura keep fighting
A new season with a new set of action, Ranji Trophy 2019-2020 is alive and kicking on Day 1 of the 86th edition. All 10 teams of Elite Group C fought out on the season opener day, and some teams have already taken advantage over their opponent by Stumps, while others maintained balance.
Arup Das' four-wicket haul hands a backlog to Services
Brief scores: Services 124/10 (Vikas Hathwala 34, Arup Das 4/39) lead Assam 81/3* (Gokul Sharma 32*, Diwesh Pathania 2/21) by 43 runs
As Assam started their Ranji Trophy campaign at their home venue, in Guwahati, they made sure to utilize it at the utmost level. The hosts won the toss and opted to bowl and their pacer Arup Das bagged four wickets, handing the advantage to his team. As the Services team were bowled out for only 124 runs, with only two batsmen scoring in the 30s, Assam ended up ahead at Stumps Day 1. They will step into Day 2 with Gokul Sharma and Riyan Parag on strike, and trailing only 43 runs behind with seven wickets at hand.Â
Chhattisgarh balance it out with Odisha after a shaky start
Brief scores: Chhattishgarh 134/10 (Ajay Jadav Mandal 47, Rajesh Mohanty 6/47) lead Odisha 48/3* (Puneet Date 2/5) by 86 runs
It was all the magic from Odisha fast bowler Rajesh Mohanty who completely dominated the stage at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur. His 6/47 helped the away team bundle up the hosts for just 134 runs. Barring Ajay Jadav Mandal’s 47, no other Chhattishgarh batsman even scored beyond 20 runs. In response, the local bowlers at Raipur were able to dismantle Odisha’s top order, hence maintaining some balance. Meanwhile, Sandeep Pattanaik was retired hurt, and Biplab Samantray and Govinda Poddar will continue the batting on Day 2.
Twin centuries help give Haryana massive edge over Maharashtra
Brief scores: Haryana 279/3* (Shivam Rohilla 117*) vs Maharashtra (Samad Fallah 1/42)
Having won the toss, the home team Haryana chose to bat first and made the most of it. Despite losing a couple of early wickets, opener Shubham Rohilla and Shivam Chauhan put up a 221-run third-wicket partnership that completely rattled the Maharashtra bowlers. As Shivam was only dismissed towards the end of the day at 117, Shubham Rohilla stayed unbeaten for the same number of runs. Meanwhile, Samad Fallah, Pradeep Dadhe, Anupam Sanklecha have bagged one wicket each.Â
Tripura still fighting ft. Harmeet Singh after loss of eight wickets
Brief scores: Tripura 263/8 ( Milind Kumar 59, Harmeet Singh 55*) vs Jharkhand (Ashish Kumar 2/32)
Having won the toss, Jharkhand decided to let the home team bat first at Agartala. While Jharkhand did keep bagging wickets at regular intervals, half-centuries from captain Milind Kumar, who was the highest run-scorer of Ranji Trophy season 2018-19, and Harmeet Singh, have kept Tripura fighting. With Ajay Yadav, Asish Kumar and Anukul Roy bagging two wickets each, the hosts have been reduced to 263 for the loss of eight wickets. However, with Singh and Rana Dutta(24*) still on strike, there are some runs to be added to the total on Day 2.
Uttarakhand find themselves in deep trouble after J&K bowlers' day out
Brief scores: Jammu & Kashmir 182/10 (Shubham Khajuria 47, Rahil Shah 3/18) lead Uttarakhand 64/7 (Mohammed Mudhasir 3/11) by 118 runs
Having won the toss, the home team in Dehradun opted to bowl first and were, in fact, able to bowl out Jammu & Kashmir for 182/10. J&K’s No.3 Shubham Khajuria top-scored with a 47, whilst Suryansh Raina(35), Ahmed Banday(24) added some more runs on the board and helped the team reach a half-decent total. However, that total of 182 now looks gigantic when compared to Uttarakhand's 64/7 and looking at their situation right now, even the three figures seem unattainable. J&K bowlers Mohammed Mudhasir and Ram Dayal bagged three wickets each.
