2017-18 Ranji Trophy, Quarterfinal, Day 1: Vinay Kumar's hat-trick sinks Mumbai
Discarded Indian pacer Vinay Kumar made a big statement as he picked up six wickets including a hat-trick to restrict Mumbai for just 173 in his side's quarter-final clash in Nagpur. Choosing to field first on a wicket that looked green, Vinay sent back the dangerous Prithvi Shaw for just two off the last ball of the first over.
He then returned to dismiss Jay Bista for one off the first ball of the third over, thanks to a brilliant reflex catch by Karun Nair in the slip cordon and trapped Akash Parkar plumb in front off the next ball to complete his second hat-trick in Ranji Trophy. He took three more wickets and reduced Mumbai to 103/9 before Dhawal Kulkarni's 75 took the 41-time champions to 173. Vinay ended with figures of 6/34.
In return, Karnataka ended day one at 115/1, with the tournament's leading run scorer Mayank Agarwal, unbeaten on 63.
In Vijayawada, on a flat deck, Delhi have Madhya Pradesh on the mats at 223/6 when the stumps were drawn on day one. Vikas Mishra ended with 3/40 for Delhi while Ankit Dane scored 59 for MP.
Kerala and Vidarbha lost two sessions of play on day one in Surat but Sachin Baby and co. made early inroads as they got Vidarbha's go to men this season, Faiz Fazal, Sanjay Ramaswamy and Wasim Jaffer early on in their innings.
Defending champions Gujarat bounced back after Bengal's Abhimanyu Easwaran and Anustup Majumdar frustrated them for over 55 overs and had the upper hand by the end of day.
After Chintan Gaja and Ishwar Chaudhary join hands to reduce Bengal to 59/4, Easwaran and Anustup put on a 175-run partnership for the fifth wicket before the latter perished for 94. Easwaran stayed at the wicket and reached his century before being dismissed by Gaja for 129. Bengal end day one at 261/6.
Brief scores:
Nagpur: Karnataka 115/1 (Mayank Agarwal 63*) trail Mumbai 173 (Dhawal Kulkarni 75, Vinay Kumar 6/34, Sreenath Aravind 2/45) by 58 runs.
Vijayawada: Madhya Pradesh 223/6 (Ankit Dane 59, Harpreet Singh Bhatia 47*, Vikas Mishra 3/40) vs Delhi.
Surat: Vidarbha 45/3 in 23.6 overs (Sanjay Ramaswamy 17, KC Akshay 2/14) vs Kerala.
Jaipur: Bengal 261/6 (Abhimanu Easwaran 129, Anustup Majumdar 94, Ishwar Chaudhary 3/49, Chintan Gaja 2/75) vs Gujarat.