Ranji Trophy: Kaul helps Punjab dismiss Delhi for 107, Rajasthan end day 1 at 221/5 against Uttar Pradesh

Punjab seamer Siddarth Kaul returned with an impressive six-wicket haul to dismiss Delhi for 107 in their first innings on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Group B match here on Wednesday.

The 28-year-old Kaul wrecked havoc with figures of 12.5-4-32-6 and he was well-supported by V I Choudhary (3/34). Arpit Pannu (1/12) also took a wicket.

Delhi skipper Nitish Rana's decision to bat first backfired with their batting line-up, including former India skipper Gautam Gambhir (1), failing to put up a fight against some quality bowling at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium here.

More than half the side failed to reach double-digit figures with K Bidhuri (27) emerging as Delhi's highest scorer.

Punjab then took a first inning lead of 29 runs after reaching 136 for 3 with skipper Mandeep Singh (54 batting) producing an unbeaten fifty and opener Jiwanjot Singh (39) and Anmolpreet Singh (22) also chipping in with useful contributions.

At stumps, veteran batsman Yuvraj Singh (16 batting) was giving Mandeep company at the crease.

Vikas Mishra (2/27) and Simarjeet Singh (1/17) were the wicket-takers for Punjab.

Brief Scores: 

Delhi: 107 in 42.5 overs (K Bidhuri 27; Siddhart Kaul 6/32) 

Punjab: 136/3 in 45 overs (Mandeep Singh 54 batting; Vikas Mishra 2/27).

In the group C match Opener Amitkumar Gautam struck a patient 93 as Rajasthan ended the opening day against Uttar Pradesh at a decent 221/5.

Rajasthan came into the game after winning their first three encounters on the trot and are placed at the top in the points table for the Group.

Asked to bat, the visitors lost two early wickets and were reduced to 17-2.

But No 4 Robin Bist (68 retired hurt off 138 balls) joined forces with Gautam, a promising right-handed batsman, as the duo steered the side out of trouble.

Gautam paced his innings well as he and Bist took the UP bowlers to task at the Green Park Stadium. During his 232- ball stay at the crease, the 23-year-old hit 10 fours and three sixes to compile 93.

But he was unlucky to miss out on what could have been his fifth first-class hundred, falling short of the three- figure mark by just seven runs.

Rajasthan skipper Mahipal Lomror also chipped in with a valuable 36, but his team, which was once at 214/3, lost two quick wickets to end the day at 221/5 as the UP bowlers later made a comeback of sorts.

At stumps, Rajesh Bishnoi Junior (2) and T M Ul Haq (0) held the fort.

For the hosts, right-arm medium pacer Ankit Rajpoot was the star bowler as he returned with figures of 4-31.

Meanwhile, at Cuttack, Odhishas right-arm medium pacer bowler Suryakant Pradhan wreaked havoc on the Tripura side, picking up seven wickets.

Tripura were bowled out for a meagre 122.

At Palam in New Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir batsmen yet again put up a disastrous show as they were bowled out for just 95 against Services.

Services are 131/3 in their first essay as they lead J&K by 36 runs.

At Guwahati, Assam finished the day one at 215/6, with Gokul Sharma unbeaten on 51, against Haryana.

At Porvorim, Goa rode on Amit Vermas unbeaten 131 to end the opening day at 237/2 against Jharkhand.

Brief scores: At Kanpur: Rajasthan 221/5 (A V Gautam 93, Robin Bist 68 retired hurt, Ankit Rajpoot 4-31).

At Guwahati: Assam 215/6 (Gokul Sharma 51 not out, Sibsankar Roy 49, Jayant Yadav 2-37) versus Haryana.

At Cuttack: Tripura 122 all out (Pratyush Singh 43, Rana Dutta 24, Suryakant Pradhan 7-40) versus Odisha 101/3 (Subranshu Senapati 36 not out, Rajesh Dhuper 31, Manisankar Murasingh 2-9). Odisha trail by 21 runs.

At Porvorim: Goa 237/2 (Amit Verma 131 not out, Sumiran Amonkar 84 not out, Ajay Yadav 1-42) versus Jharkhand.

At New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir 95 all out (Shubham Khajuria 44, Irfan Pathan 12, Arun Bamal 5-13, Diwesh Pathania 4-30) versus Services 131/3 (Aanshul Gupta 59, Navneet Singh 58, Parvez Rasool 3-35). Services lead by 36 runs.

While in the elite group A All-rounder Shivam Dubey struck a brisk 110 as Mumbai fought back to post a modest 297 against Gujarat on the opening day.

Dubey, who got a life on 14, made most of it to bring up his second first-class hundred at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday.

The left-handed batsman was dropped by Rujal Bhatt in the slips and he did not look back after that.

Dubey had hit his maiden first-class hundred against Railways in New Delhi.

In his 128-ball knock, Dubey struck eight fours and six towering sixes as he bailed Mumbai out of trouble after the hosts were teetering at 74-5.

Dubey first joined hands with Siddesh Lad (62 in 141 balls) and then captain Dhawal Kulkarni (23 in 66 balls).

He forged a 74-run sixth wicket stand with Lad and added 84 runs for the seventh wicket with Kulkarni.

Earlier, put into bat on a greenish wicket, Mumbai had a disastrous start as they lost both their openers Akhil Herwadkar (0) and Jay Bista (8) cheaply.

Then experienced Surya Kumar Yadav (40) and Siddesh Lad rallied the innings with a 53-run stand for the third wicket. But Yadav threw his wicket away soon, with Mumbai in a spot of bother at 74-3.

Then Armaan Jaffer, who made a comeback to the Ranji team, got a reality check. Jaffer (0) and experienced Aditya Tare (0) fell in quick succession as Mumbai slumped to 74-5.

However, after that Dubey build the innings.

After Dubey fell to Piyush Chawla, debutant Dhurmil Matkar made a valiant 47 in 53 balls to take Mumbai near the 300-run mark. Mumbai's innings folded up in 80.3 overs.

For Gujarat, left-arm medium pacer Arzan Nagwaswalla was the pick of bowlers as he returned with figures of 5-78.

He was supported by Rush Kalaria (3-80) and Piyush Chawla (1-53).

At Mysuru, Karnataka bowlers led by J Suchith bundled out Maharashtra for 113.

At Raipur, Chhattisgarh ended day one at 188/6, with Harpreet Singh Bhatia scoring 63 against Vidarbha.

And at Rajkot, Aarpit Vasavada hit a century as Saurashtra ended the opening day at 266/6 against Baroda.

Brief Scores: At Mumbai: Mumbai 297 all out (Shivam Dubey 110, Siddesh Lad 62, Arzan Nagwaswalla 5-78) versus Gujarat.

At Mysuru: Maharashtra 113 all out (Ruturaj Gaikwad 39, Rohit Motwani 34, J Suchith 4-26, Ronit More 2-16) versus Karnataka 70/3 (Dega Nischal 32 not out, Rahul Tripathi 1-7). Karnataka trail by 43 runs.

At Raipur: Chhattisgarh 188/6 (Harpreet Singh Bhatia 63, Manoj Singh 41 not out; Aditya Thakare 3-41) versus Vidarbha.

At Rajkot: Saurashtra 266/6 (Aarpit Vasavada 120, Prerak Mankad 85, Atit Sheth 2-44) versus Baroda.

In the Group B match in Chennai a fighting knock of 81 not out by Baba Aparajith and a half-century by M Kaushik Gandhi helped Tamil Nadu post 218 for 7 on the opening day against Bengal.

Batting first after winning the toss, the home team got off to a slow start with openers Gandhi and Abhinav Mukund negotiating the Bengal new ball attack cautiously.
However, Mukund fell for 9 to a catch by Kousik Ghosh off Ishan Porel's bowling.

Aparajith, who joined Gandhi added 73 runs as Tamil Nadu looked to consolidate.

Bengal struck two quick blows, dismissing Gandhi (51) and captain B Indrajith (0).

Jagadeesan and Aparajith put on a half-century partnership to steady Tamil Nadu.

Aparajith held firm even as wickets fell around him to see the day through.

The talented young Porel was the best bowler for Bengal with three wickets.

Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 218 for seven in 90 overs(M Kaushik Gandhi 51 (128b, 6x4s), B Aparajith 81 batting (231b, 5x4, 1x6), N Jagadeesan 39, IshanPorel three for 29, Pradipta Pramanik two for 69, Aamir Gani two for 66) vs Bengal.

Kerala 63 all out in 35 overs (Avesh Khan 4 for 8) vs Madhya Pradesh 161 for 2 in 52.6 overs(Rajat Patidar 70 off 141, Naman Ojha 53 off 99).