Ranji: Jadeja wicketless on return

A summary of Ranji matches played on Tuesday.

Jadeja bowls 17 overs on return; TN 183/4

Returning to competitive cricket after close to six months, India's premier all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja went wicket-less in his 17 overs on a slow Chepauk pitch, as Tamil Nadu made 183/4 against Saurashtra in their Ranji Trophy match in Chennai on Tuesday.

In the presence of national selector Sridharan Sharath, who was seen talking to Jadeja after the first day's play, the star left-arm spinner's fitness was put to test ahead of the Australia Test series.

He ended the day with none for 36.

Jadeja is leading Saurashtra in their last group league match with Cheteshwar Pujara and regular captain Jaydev Unadkat rested ahead of the marquee four-match rubber, beginning at Nagpur on February 9.

The all-rounder, who pulled out after injuring his knee during the Asia Cup last September, is also part of the Indian squad for the first two Tests but his inclusion in the 17-man squad is subject to fitness.

Opting to bat, Tamil Nadu lost the wicket of Narayan Jagadeesan in the second over of the day. But thereafter, opener Sai Sudharsan, twins Baba Aparajith and Baba Indrajith steadied the ship with identical scores of 45.

Indrajith remained unbeaten with Vijay Shankar giving him company on 11 at the other end.

At CCI, Maharashtra rode on Kedar Jadhav's second century in five innings to overcome an early scare and post 314 for six against Mumbai.

Maharashtra lost Pavan Shah before they could open their account while their No. 3, Naushad Shaikh, also fell cheaply for 12 with the team's score reading 23/2. But Jadhav salvaged his side with his 128 from 168 balls (18x4, 1x6) and a 105-run partnership with Siddhesh Veer (48).

Veer, however, could not get to his fifty and was dismissed by Shams Mulani before they lost Ankit Bawne for the addition of just one run. Jadhav, though, continued strongly at the other end.

After Jadhav's departure, Saurabh Nawale produced a fine rearguard action at No. 7, scoring a gritty 56 not out.

Brief scores:

In Chennai: Tamil Nadu 183/4; 90 overs (Sai Sudharsan 45, Baba Aparajith 45, Baba Indrajith 45; Chirag Jani 2/30). 

In Mumbai: Maharashtra 314/6; 87 overs (Kedar Jadhav128, Saurabh Nawale 56 batting, Siddhesh Veer 48; Tushar Deshpande 2/64, Mohit Avasthi 2/70, Shams Mulani 2/105) vs Mumbai.

In Vizianagaram: Assam 113; 37.5 overs (Rishav Das 30; M Madhav Rayudu 4/12, KV Sasikanth 3/34). Andhra 160/3; 47 overs (Hanuma Vihari 80, Abhishek Reddy 75).

In Hyderabad: Hyderabad 247/4; 90 overs (Rohit Rayudu 90, Chandan Sahani 67, Rahul Radesh 41; Divij Mehra 2/38) vs Delhi.

Damn conditions delay start of play in Kolkata

Odisha scored 96 for 2 against Bengal on a truncated day one that saw only 35 overs being bowled in a Ranji Trophy Group A match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Tuesday.

The match commenced at 1pm in place of the scheduled start at 8.45am start due to damp conditions.

Put into bat, Odisha began the proceedings on a cautious note as openers Shantanu Mishra (41 not out) and Anurag Sarangi (15) were not troubled much by the Bengal bowlers.

The home side was in search of much-needed breakthrough and finally tasted success in the 15th over when Akash Deep dismissed Sarangi to reduce Odisha to 26 for 1.

From there on, Shantanu and Sandeep Pattanaik (30) combined well to add crucial 57 runs for the second wicket.

Towards the fag end of the day, Sandeep played a rash shot off the bowling of Ishan in the 32nd over.        

But Shantanu and skipper Subhransu Senapati (9) stood firm to remain unbeaten at the end of the day's play.

Brief Scores:

At Kolkata: Odisha 96 for 2 in 35 overs (Shantanu Mishra 41 batting) vs Bengal.

At Rohtak: Haryana 158 for 6 in 53 overs (Kapil Hooda 42, Sumit Kumar 33 batting, Yuvraj Singh 34; Avneesh Sudha 5/45) vs Uttarakhand.

At Nadaun: Himachal Pradesh 15 for no loss in 4.4 overs vs Uttar Pradesh.

At Baroda: Baroda 420 for 5 in 90 overs (Vishnu Solanki 161 batting, Ninad Rathva 143, Atit Sheth 61 batting; Imliwati Lemtur 2/87) vs Nagaland.

Gowtham, Gopal shine as Karnataka bowl out Jharkhand for 164

Jamshedpur: Spinners K Gowtham (4/61) and Shreyas Gopal (3/18) helped Karnataka dismiss Jharkhand for 164 in the first innings on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group C match here on Tuesday.

Table-toppers Karnataka ended the day at 80 for 2, still trailing Jharkhand by 84 runs.

Mayank Agarwal (20) and R Samarth (31) were the visiting team batters to be dismissed.

After opting to bat first, the home team kept losing wickets at regular intervals.  Medium-pacer Vidwath Kaverappa (2/34) struck the first blow by removing opening batter Kumar Deobrat (18) in the ninth over. Five overs later, Gowtham removed the other opener Aryaman Sen (6).

Though Kumar Suraj (22) tried to dig in, Gowtham removed captain Virat Singh (8) and the experienced Saurabh Tiwary (0) in successive balls in the 20th over as Jharkhand slumped to 57 for 4.

Suraj and Kumar Kushagra (37), the top-scorer, put on 29 runs before Gowtham had the former caught by Agarwal.

A 38-run stand for the seventh wicket between Kushagra and Shahbaz Nadeem (22) saved Jharkhand from being bundled out for a low score.

Kushagra was one of Gopal's three scalps, caught by Manish Pandey.

Useful contributions from the lower order pushed Jharkhand past the 150-run mark.

In other matches, Kerala, which is aiming to qualify for the knockout phase, had to toil on day 1 against Pondicherry as Paras Dogra's ton helped the team score 253 for 4 in 87 overs while Rajasthan bowled out Services for 178 and replied with 58 for 2 at stumps in a must-win game.

Brief scores: Jharkhand 164 all out in 64.2 overs (Kumar Kushaagra 37; K Gowtham 4/61, Shreyas Gopal 3/18) vs Karnataka 80 for 2 in 27 overs (R Samarth 31).

At Puducherry: Pondicherry 253 for 4 in 87 overs (Paras K Dogra 117 batting 254 balls, K B Arun Karthick 75 batting, J S Pande 38) vs Kerala.

At Jodhpur: Services 178 all out in 56.4 overs (Rahul Singh Gahlaut 70, Pulkit Narag 38; MJ Suthar 4/56) vs Rajasthan 58 for 2 in 20 overs (Y B Kothari 34).

At Raipur: Chhattisgarh 273 for 4 in 88 overs (Shashank Chandrakar 101, A G Tiwary 86, Ashutosh Singh 55) vs Goa.

Tripura make 239/6 on Day 1 against holders MP

Indore: Half-centuries by Sridam Paul and Bikram Kumar Das helped Tripura make 239 for six on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group D match against defending champions Madhya Pradesh here on Tuesday.

Sent in to bat by the host team captain Aditya Shrivastava, Tripura saw their opening batters -- Bikram Kumar Das (61, 169 balls, 7 fours) and U U Bose (21) -- put on 30 runs before the latter fell to Gourav Yadav.

Medium-pacer Yadav (3/66) toiled hard for MP and picked up two more wickets including that of Das and the experienced Sudip Chatterjee (24). India pacer Avesh Khan ended the day with the wicket of top-scorer Paul, having him caught by Shubham Sharma.

A 137-run second-wicket partnership between Das and Paul (72, 143 balls, 9 fours, 1 six) helped Tripura mount a challenge to the varied MP attack. Their long partnership was ended by Yadav, who had Das caught behind by wicketkeeper Himanshu Mantri.

The MP bowlers appeared to be energised by the dismissal of Das and kept a tight leash on the scoring, which resulted in four more wickets by stumps.

Yadav claimed the key scalp of Chatterjee in the 77th over, having him caught by Mantri.

S S Ghosh (17) and M B Mura Singh (11) were not out when stumps were drawn.

In Ahmedabad, impressive knocks by Vivek Singh (97), Pratham Singh (96) and Shivam Chaudhary (83) helped Railways pile up 372 for five against Gujarat.

Meanwhile, two other matches in the group -- Vidarbha vs Punjab and Chandigarh vs Jammu & Kashmir -- saw the opening day's play being truncated due to rain and bad light.

Brief scores: Tripura 239 for 6 in 82 overs (Sridam Paul 72, Bikram Kumar Das 61, Gourav Yadav 3/66) vs Madhya Pradesh.

In Ahmedabad: Railways 372 for 5 in 89 overs (Vivek Singh 97 (109 balls, 6x4, 7x6, Pratham Singh 96 (157 balls, 13x4), Shivam Chaudhary 83 (100 balls, 11x4, 2x6), Upendra Yadav 46 batting) vs Gujarat.

In Mohali: Vidarbha 1 for no loss in 1 over vs Punjab.

In Chandigarh: Chandigarh 18 for no loss in 6 overs vs J & K.