Ranji, Day 1: Sarfaraz hammers ton; Saurashtra take honours

Dalal smashes maiden first-class hundred on day one of Delhi vs Rajasthan Ranji match

Opener Hiten Dalal smashed his maiden first-class hundred before Himmat Singh and Jonty Sidhu shared a 147-run stand to propel Delhi to 389 for six on day one of their final Ranji Trophy league match against Rajasthan in New Delhi.

Dalal (102 off 93) and Anuj Rawat (45 off 70) took control of the proceedings with an opening stand of 142. After their dismissal, Jonty Sidhu (92 off 137) and Himmat Singh (90 off 128) anchored the innings to put Delhi in a strong position.

It was an ordinary bowling effort from Rajasthan who allowed Delhi to score at 4.37 runs per over after electing to bowl at the Feroz Shah Kotla grounds.

It was a memorable knock from Dalal, who is playing his 12th first-class match, comprising 18 fours and a six.

Tanveer Ul-Haq was the pick of the bowlers for Rajasthan, taking two wickets for 78 runs in 17 overs.

All but out of the quarterfinal race, Delhi need other results to go their way and a big win over Rajasthan to remain in the hunt for a knockout berth.

With just 18 points from seven games, Delhi are currently languishing at the 10th spot in the 18-team Group A and B cross pool and are virtually out of the reckoning, but a bonus point win over Rajasthan and some favourable results can still keep them in the fray.

In Patiala, Punjab bowled out Bengal for 138 on day one with left-arm spinner Vinay Choudhary taking six wickets. In response, Punjab were 93 for three at stumps with skipper Mandeep Singh unbeaten on 29.

Brief Scores: Delhi 389/6 in 89 overs (Dalal 102, Sidhu 92, Himmat Singh 90).

Half-centuries from Pundir, Khajuria lift J&K to 340

A late strike by Abid Mushtaq helped Jammu & Kashmir reduce Haryana to 2 for 1 after the home team was 340 all out on the first day of the Ranji Trophy Group C match in Jammu.

Electing to bat, J&K rode on half-centuries from Shubham Singh Pundir (84) and Shubham Khajuria (62) besides useful contributions from captain Parvez Rasool (49) and Ram Dayal (43) to post a good total.
For the visiting team, leg-spinner Rahul Tewatia did a good job, picking up seven wickets.

Medium-pacer Ajit Chahal struck an early blow for Haryana, dismissing opener Suryansh Raina (14) before some substantial partnerships helped J&K's cause.

After the second wicket fell at 64 when Jiyaad Magrey got out for 18, Khajuria and Pundir were involved in a 66-run stand for the third wicket. The left-handed Pundir then added 80 runs with the skipper Rasool (49).

However, Haryana hit back strongly to reduce the home side to 249 for 7 before Pundir and the lower-order including Ram Dayal (43) and Abid Mushtaq (29 not out) ensured that the total went past 350-mark.

Pundir hit 10 fours in his 183-ball knock and looked set to get a ton before Haryana captain Harshal Patel bowled him.

When Haryana batted, Abid Mushtaq struck with his fourth ball, having Himanshu Rana got by Suryansh Raina for a duck.

Brief scores (At end of day 1): Jammu & Kashmir 340 all out in 87 overs (Shubham Singh Pundir 84, Shubham Kajuria 62, Parvez Rasool 49, Ram Dayal 43; Rahul Tewatia 7/98) vs Haryana 2 for 1 in 1.4 overs.

At Guwahati: Tripura 387 for 7 in 89 overs (AA Sinha 90, M B Mura Singh 82 batting, Pratyush Singh 63, Milind 53; Ranjeet Mali 4/91) vs Assam.

At Baramati: Maharashtra 207 all out in 49.4 overs (A Palkar 60, V V More 59, N S Shaikh 47; Agrim Tiwari 3/49, Pradeep Chamoli 3/52) vs Uttarakhand 112 for 3 in 38 overs (Kamal 51 batting, Vaibhav Bhatt 33; SS Bachhav 2/26).

At Cuttack: Odisha 205 for 4 in 89 overs (Debasish Samantray 67 batting, Anurag Sarangi 65; Ashish Kumar 3/41) vs Jharkhand.

At Raipur: Chhattisgarh 179 all out in 52.1 overs (Amandeep Khare 97; Raushan Raj 4/53) vs Services 81 for 3 in 25.3 overs (Mumtaz Qadir 31; Puneet Datey 2/31).

Saurashtra take honours on Day 1

Saurashtra bowlers led by skipper Jaydev Unadkat dished out a clinical show to restrict Tamil Nadu to 250/7 in their last Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match in Rajkot.

While the result of the game would not affect Saurashtra, as they have qualified for the knockouts already, it would have a bearing on Tamil Nadu's prospects as nothing short of a win would help the side.

For Tamil Nadu, the experienced Abhinav Mukund (86) and N Jagadeesan (61 not out) scored fifties.

Jagadeesan's knock ensured that the visitors reached the 250-run mark.

Tamil Nadu openers Mukund (86 off 112 balls) and L Suryaprakash (10) added 49 runs for the first wicket, before Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (1-72) removed the latter at the SCA Stadium in Khandheri.

One-down M Kaushik Gandhi (17) also failed to convert his start even as left-handed Mukund continued his good form and notched up his 50 in 67 balls.

However, Tamil Nadu slipped to 132/4 from 102/2, as Undakat (3-25) took two quick wickets.

First the left-arm pacer trapped V Ganga Sridhar (13) in front of the wicket and then removed a well-set Mukund in a similar fashion to put Tamil Nadu in a spot of bother.

Then skipper Baba Aparajith (20) and wicket-keeper Jagadeesan tried to rally the Tamil Nadu innings with their 42 run stand for the fifth wicket.

But as the two were looking good, Chirag Jani (2-44) broke the stand sending Aparajith back to the pavilion. Tamil Nadu took tea at 181/5.

After tea, Unadkat took his third wicket, as Tamil Nadu were reeling at 181/6. Then Jagadeesan played a responsible knock and he first got able support from R Sai Kishore (27). Jagadeesan and M Mohammed (1) were at the crease when stumps were drawn.

Meanwhile, at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Sarfaraz Khan and Aakarshit Gomel hammered hundreds to take Mumbai to a commanding 352/4 in an inconsequential game against Madhya
Pradesh.

Gomel made his first-class debut. Both the teams are already out of the tournament.

For Mumbai, Sarfaraz (169 not out) and Gomel (122) steadied the ship with their 275-run stand after the top order failed once again.

This season belonged to Sarfaraz, who has hit a triple hundred, double hundred and now a hundred.

In Bengaluru, Karnataka bowlers shot out Baroda for paltry 85 and then took the first innings lead.

Brief scores: In Rajkot: Tamil Nadu 250/7 (Abhinav Mukund 86; N Jagadeesan 61 not out; Jaydev Undakat 3-25 ) vs Saurashtra.

In Mumbai: Mumbai 352/4 (Sarfaraz Khan 169 not out, Aakarshit Gomel 122; Kuldeep Sen 3-67) vs Madhya Pradesh.

In Bengaluru: Baroda 85/10 (A A Pathan 45; K Gowtham 3/25, Abhimanyu Mithun 3/26) vs Karnataka 165/7 (Karun Nair 47; Soyeb Sopariya 3-40). Karnataka lead by 80 runs.

In Lucknow: Himachal Pradesh 220 (N R Gangta 49; Aaqib Khan 5/42, Ankit Rajpoot 3/57) vs Uttar Pradesh 23/1. UP trail by 197 runs.