A roundup of Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy matches on Thursday.
Ashwin made to toil on opening day
Dindigul: Rajat Patidar scored a patient 110 not out to help Madhya Pradesh reach 214 for three against Tamil Nadu on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match on Thursday.
The visitors, who elected to bat, lost an early wicket when opener Ankit Dane (4) was dismissed in the second over.
Dane was caught by TN captain Baba Aparajith off M Mohammed's bowling.
Opener Aryaman Vikram Birla (51) and Patidar forged a 124-run partnership for the second wicket to keep Tamil Nadu bowlers at bay.
India Test spinner R Ashwin pegged away but the two defied his skills to help Madhya Pradesh forge ahead.
Ashwin had one wicket to show for his efforts even as he kept the runs down. He conceded 49 runs in his 21 overs.
MP captain Ojha, who joined Patidar after Birla's exit, displayed a lot of intent as he looked for runs.
He hit two fours and two sixes in his 45 before falling to Vijay Shankar towards the end of the day's play.
Patidar and Shubham Sharma were at the crease at stumps on Day 1.
Brief scores: Madhya Pradesh 214 for 3 in 89 overs (Rajat Patidar 110, Aryaman Vikram Birla 51) vs TN.
At Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala 231 for 4 in 85 overs (Sachin Baby 57 batting, Jalaj Saxena 58, Sanju Samson 53) vs Hyderabad.
At Amtar: Bengal 266 for 6 in 90 overs (Manoj Tiwary 55, Anustup Majumdar 53, Abhishek Kumar Raman 48, RR Dhawan 2 for 34) vs Himachal Pradesh.
At Vizag: Punjab 261 for 6 in 90 overs (Sanvir Singh 63 batting, Mandeep Singh 68, Shubman Gill 56, B Ayyappa 3 for 64) vs Andhra Pradesh.
Lad, Surya boost Mumbai on opening day
New Delhi: Suryakumar Yadav and Siddhesh Lad hit dogged half-centuries to propel Mumbai to 278 for five on the opening day of their Group A Ranji Trophy encounter against Railways.
While Suryakumar (83) missed out on a hundred, Siddesh, who wore an anti-pollution mask to combat the toxic Delhi air, finished the day unbeaten on 80 with 11 boundaries to his credit.
Apart from their partnership, a number of Mumbai players wearing anti-pollution mask attracted attention at the Karnail Singh Stadium.
The Suryakumar-Siddhesh combination added 129 runs for the fourth wicket before Anureet Singh struck with the old ball, removing the former.
Siddhesh, who has been in good form for the past couple of seasons, batted till stumps despite having some breathing problems. He played 165 balls, hitting 11 boundaries in the process.
Suryakumar's innings had five boundaries and a six in 144 balls before Anureet forced him to edge one to skipper Mahesh Rawat behind the stumps.
All-rounder Shivam Dubey (35) hit three boundaries and two sixes during a whirlwind 48-run stand for the unbroken sixth wicket with Siddhesh as play was called off after 80 overs due to bad light.
The highlight of the day was the partnership between Suryakumar and Siddhesh as they came together at 98 for 3.
For Railways, their most successful bowler was veteran Anureet Singh (3/55 in 22 overs).
"He was having problems while breathing and felt a bit dizzy and that's why he wore the anti-pollution mask. Now he is okay," Siddhesh's father Dinesh Lad, who is a Railways observer, said.
Suryakumar on his part said that he didn't need anti-pollution mask because he played Deodhar in Delhi only a few days ago and was better adjusted to the weather.
Brief Scores:
Group A: Mumbai 1st Innings 278/5 (Siddhesh Lad 80 batting, Surykumar Yadav 83, Anureet Singh 3/55 in 22 overs) vs Railways.
At Rajkot: Saurashtra 1st Innings 282/3 (Cheteshwar Pujara 30, Harvik Desai 78, Snell Patel 91) vs Chattisgarh
At Vadodara: Baroda 1st Innings 290 (Deepak Hooda 63, Siddharth Desai 5/109) vs Gujarat 15/0.
At Pune: Maharashtra 1st Innings 284/6 (Chirag Khurana 89) vs Vidarbha.
Bist hits century to boost Rajasthan
Jaipur: Wicketkeeper batsman Chetan Bist scored an unbeaten 146 in Rajasthan's 300 for three against Jammu and Kashmir in a Ranji Trophy Group C encounter.
Chetan hit 22 boundaries in his 246-ball knock adding 87 for the third wicket with elder brother Robin Bist (39). The junior Bist also added 86 for the unbroken fourth wicket stand with former skippe Ashok Menaria (45 not out).
For Jammu and Kashmir, pacer Umar Nazir got two wickets while Parvez Rasool also picked up a wicket.
Former India fast bowler Irfan Pathan, who has signed up as player-cum-mentor for Jammu and Kashmir, failed to pick up a wicket in 13 overs in his first game.
Brief Scores:
At Jaipur: Rajasthan 300/3 (Chetan Bist 146 batting, Ashok Menaria 45 batting, Umar Nazir 2/74) vs Jammu and Kashmir.
At Ranchi: Jharkhand 266/6 (Nazim Siddiqui 72, Utkarsh Singh 63 batting) vs Assam
At Bhubaneswar: Odisha 232/6 (Anurag Sarangi 114, Mohit Sharma 2/44) vs Haryana
At Kanpur: Uttar Pradesh 153/1 (Madhav Kaushik 83 not out, Mohammed Saif 54 not out).
Ignored by Delhi, Milind hits double ton for Sikkim
Kolkata: Ignored by his former team Delhi, Milind Kumar made a strong statement in his Sikkim debut with an unbeaten 202 against Manipur in their Ranji Trophy Plate Group match.
Batting at number five, Milind accounted for more than 67 percent runs to take Sikkim to 299 for nine as they recovered from a horror start after they were reduced to 15 for five at the Jadavpur University Salt Lake Campus ground.
Milind's knock came off 248 balls and was laced with 29 boundaries and two sixes. He waged a solitary battle after his 107-run partnership with Bipul Sharma, who got run-out for 45 after a mix-up.
The 27-year-old, who played the Vijay Hazare one-dayers for Delhi before being sidelined for Ranji Trophy, chose to deal in boundaries to guard the lower order.
He was also seen mentoring his inexperienced partners on a regular basis.
Milind shared a 62-run partnership with Lee Yong Lepcha (25) while he stood in a 83-run stand with Padam Limboo, who had a share of just nine runs.
Earlier, another Delhi boy, Shelley Shaurya, who is born in Manipur but grew up in Delhi, left Sikkim in tatters, ripping apart the top order to end with figures of four for 39.
The Manipur medium pacer used the early morning moisture to maximum effect but only to sustain a hamstring injury as he could not bowl after 11.4 overs.
"My foot got stuck, injuring the hamstring. I hope to be fine tomorrow," Shaurya said as he forged a fine attack with left-arm pacer Rex Singh (3 for 65).
Sikkim, who lost all their matches in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, however did not mind as they made full use of the depleted attack to race to safety.
In another match, debutants Uttarakhand made a strong start to their first Ranji season by bowling out Bihar for 60 inside one session in Dehradun, with pace bowler Deepak Dhapola taking six for 13 in 8.1 overs.
By stumps, Uttarakhand led by 141 with fifties to Karanveer Kaushal (91) and Saurabh Rawat (64).
At the Nagaland Cricket Stadium in Soviam, hosts Nagaland dominated Mizoram who lost their last five wickets for 14 runs to be bowled out for 106 in 47.2 overs. At stumps, four wickets down, Nagaland led by 83 runs.
The Plate group features nine new teams including eight debutants -- Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Puducherry -- and Bihar who are back after a gap of 18 years.
Brief Scores:
At Kolkata: Sikkim 299/9 (Milind Kumar 202 not out, Bipul Sharma 45; Shelley Shaurya 4/39, Rex Singh 3/65) vs Manipur.
At Dehradun: Bihar 60; 22.1 overs (Deepak Dhapola 6/13). Uttarakhand 201/7 (Karanveer Kaushal 91, Saurabh Rawat 63).
At Shillong: Arunachal Pradesh 166; 64.3 overs (Samarth Seth 50; Gurinder Singh 5/50, Lakhan Singh 3/38) vs Meghalaya 87/6; 23 overs.
At Dimapur: Mizoram 106; 47.2 overs (Taruwar Kohli 49; Abar Kazi 4/16, Imliwati 2/0, Pawan Suyal 2/42) vs Nagaland 189/4; 40 overs (Rongsen Jonathan 70 not out).
