An unbeaten 200-run partnership between Subramaniam Badrinath (123 not out) and C Ganapathy (70 not out) helped Tamil Nadu post 251 for five by close of play on Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy Super League match against Mumbai at the MCA Ground, in Mumbai, on Tuesday.
The defending champions made early inroads, reducing the visitors to 51 for five inside 16 overs - with five wickets falling in the space of just 32 balls (16 runs) - before the Badrinath-Ganapathy combine stemmed the rot.
The duo's sixth wicket stand came of 448 balls and nullified the advantage the hosts had early on.
Badrinath's 123, his second century this season, came of 242 balls and comprised 10 hits to the fence and four huge ones over it.
Ganapathy's laboured 70 took 212 balls coming and contained 10 boundaries and a six.
Usman Malvi (19-2-67-3) and Dhaval Kulkarni (18-5-46-2) were the pick of the Mumbai bowlers who made hay while the sun shone in the early hours.
Thereafter, it was a tiring day in the field for them.
Brief scores:
Tamil Nadu: 251 for five (90 overs) ((S Badrinath 123 not out, C Ganapathy 70 not out; Usman Malvi 3 for 67)
Bowlers make hay in Vadodara
Vadodara: On a day dominated by bowlers, and marked by the tumbling of 20 wickets, Saurashtra eked out a wafer-thin four-run first innings lead over Baroda in their Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match.
Munaf Patel was Baroda's star with the ball as he took five for 48, and captain Irfan Pathan took three for 41, as the hosts made the most of winning the toss and bowling first on a lively pitch to dismiss Saurashtra for a paltry 127.
Baroda's reply turned out to be even weaker and the hosts were shot out for 123 runs in 40.5 overs with in-form Jayesh Odedra (5/28) emerging the wrecker-in-chief, while Sandip Maniar (3/65) and Sandeep Jobanputra (2/30) also chipped in.
For Baroda, Azhar Bilakhia (22), Jacob Martin (22) and Pinal Shah (21) got starts but could not convert them.
In their second essay, Saurashtra were four for no loss from two overs with Chirag Pathak (4) and Sagar Jogiyani (0) in the middle at stumps.
Put into bat, Saurashtra were in for early trouble with Munaf removing Chirag Pathak (11) in the sixth over to trigger a batting collapse, which the visitors could not recover from.
The other opener Sagar Jogiani (36) could only watch helplessly as wickets kept tumbling at the other end.
Munaf castled the scoreless Jaydev Shah, Cheteshwar Pujara (9) edged Irfan to perish caught behind and then Firdaus Bhaja trapped Ravindra Jadeja (8).
Brief scores:
Saurashtra (1st innings): 127 (Jogiyani 36; Munaf 5-48, Irfan 3-41)
Baroda (1st innings): 123 (Bilakhia 22; Odedra 5-28, Maniar 3-65)
Saurashtra (2nd innings): 4 for no loss
Ganguly hits 66, UP dismiss Bengal for 193
Kanpur: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly's well-compiled 66 could not rescue Bengal, who were shot out for a paltry 193 by Uttar Pradesh on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match.
Batting at number five after UP captain Mohammad Kaif inserted Bengal, Ganguly steadied his innings after they were reduced to 20 for three in the first hour.
Opener Deep Dasgupta was out in the first over for a duck while wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha and Manoj Tiwary fell for seven and one respectively in quick succession.
Ganguly, who hit nine fours and a six from the 123 balls he faced, shared an 81-run partnership for the fourth wicket with opener Arindam Das (46) to raise hopes of a revival.
Later, captain Laxmi Ratan Shukla made a useful 64-ball 39, inclusive of three fours and two sixes, to swell Bengal's total.
For Uttar Pradesh, leg-spinner Piyush Chawla and pacer Praveen Kumar shared the spoils with seven wickets among them.
Chawla returned figures of four for 51 while Kumar took three for wickets for 54 runs. R P Singh chipped in with 2 for 37.
In reply, Uttar Pradesh could not open their account in the four balls they face before stumps.
Tanmay Srivastava and Shivakant Shukla were at the crease.
Brief scores:
Bengal: 193 all out in 78.1 overs (Sourav Ganguly 66, Arindam Das 46; Piyush Chawla 4/51, Praveen Kumar 3/54).
Uttar Pradesh: 0 for 0 in 0.4 overs.
Manhas century boosts Delhi
New Delhi: Mithun Manhas's unbeaten century helped Delhi recover from a shaky start and take control against Maharashtra on Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match at the Roshanara Club Ground, Delhi, on Tuesday.
Manhas stroked a magnificent 166 from 248 deliveries, helping Delhi end the opening day on 344 for four, from 90 overs.
The 30-year-old, who hit 19 boundaries in his 248-ball knock, added 256 runs for the fourth wicket with Rajat Bhatia, who was unlucky to be dismissed on 99, when he was caught behind off fast bowler Samad Fallah.
Fallah took two for 91 in 25 overs including the prized wicket of captain Virat Kohli for four as Delhi were struggling at 88 for three at one stage before Manhas put the hosts on sound footing.
Brief scores:
Delhi: 344 for 4 in 90 overs (M Manhas 166*, R Bhatia 99, S Fallah 2-91)
Railways' slow crawl in Hyderabad
Uppal: It turned out to be one of the worst and most boring batting displays in the Ranji Trophy, as Railways crawled their way to a meagre 211 for five against Hyderabad on the opening day of their Super League Group A match against Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi stadium in Uppal, on Tuesday.
Faiz Fazal was the only batsman to show some initiative as he hit a brisk 69 from 116 deliveries, inclusive of nine boundaries, but the rest of the batsmen struggled to get the ball off the square.
At stumps, veteran Yere Goud was unbeaten on a sedate knock of 70 from 196 deliveries, inclusive of eight boundaries.
Even Marripuri Suresh struggled to make an impact in an unbeaten 24 from 127 balls, inclusive of three boundaries.
Goud and Suresh consumed nearly 44 overs for their unbroken stand of 83 for the sixth wicket at under two runs per over.
Put in to bat, Railways started at a brisk pace, with Fazal hitting nine fours in his 116-ball knock, but once he was out in the post-lunch session, with the score 117 for four, the scoring rate took a dip.
Railways kept losing wickets at regular intervals and Hyderabad kept piling on the pressure with some disciplined bowling after lunch.
For Hyderabad, Alfred Absolem and Munagala Arjun took two wickets apiece, conceding 61 and 53 runs respectively.
Hyderabad are strengthened by the return of star India middle order batsman V V S Laxman, who took over the reigns of the team.
Brief scores:
Railways 211 for 5 in 90 overs (Faiz Fazal 69, Yere Goud 70 not out; Alfred Absolem 2-61, Munagala Arjun 2-53).
Love Ablish claims five to restrict Orissa
Chandigarh: Pacer Love Ablish claimed five wickets as Punjab restricted Orissa for 232 for 7 on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match.
Ablish, who conceded 86 runs from 22.1 overs, ran through the Orissa middle order after his captain Pankaj Dharmani opted to field after winning the toss at Sector 16 cricket stadium.
Opener Bikas Pati scored a quickfire 63-ball 52 at the top of the Orissa order, inclusive of 10 fours, while Niranjan Behera, coming at number three, hit 72.
Orissa were nicely placed at 175 for four and looked good for a bigger total but that did not happen as Ablish dismissed the last four visitors' wicket that fell today for the addition of just 23 runs.
Alok Sahoo and Debasis Mohanty, who were batting on 29 and seven respectively when the stumps were drawn, shared 34 runs for the unbroken eighth wicket to take the score past 230.
Pacers Gagandeep Singh (1/41) and Manpreet Gony (1/46) were the other Punjab bowlers among the wickets.
Brief scores:
Orissa: 232 for 7 in 82.1 overs (Bikas Pati 52, Niranjan Behera 72; Love Ablish 5/86).
Parthiv Patel props Gujarat
Surat: Captain Parthiv Patel's (57) half century was the highlight as Gujarat dished out a poor performance in posting 144 for 5 on the first day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match against Himachal Pradesh.
Himachal won the toss and asked Gujarat to bat first. It turned out to be a good decision by captain Ashok Thakur.
The hosts lost opener Jay Desai early in the game, the batsman caught behind off Vikramjeet Malik after scoring just four runs.
Timil Patel was the next to go after scoring 25 runs. He too was caught behind by wicketkeeper Ajay Manu off Kuldeep Diwan in the 29th over.
Gujarat were two wickets down with just 49 runs on the board. Parthiv and Neeraj Patel were left with the task of saving them from disaster. Their 79-run partnership for the third wicket was cut short by Mukesh Sharma in the 51st over when Neeraj was caught by Manu for 27 runs.
But Gujarat's troubles had just begun as Malik stuck twice to claim the wickets of Parthiv and Rujul Bhatt (0) in the next over.
Parthiv's half century took Gujarat's total to 130 for five.
At stumps, Bhavik Thakar (1) and Sunny Patel (11) were at the crease.
Brief scores:
Gujarat (1st innings): (Parthiv Patel 57, Vikramjeet Malik 3 for 22).
