Ranji: Gritty Verma takes Assam to 268/6 vs Karanataka

Mumbai, Oct 27 (IANS) Amit Verma's unbeaten century (125 not out) helped Assam recover from early jolts to post 268/6 against Karnataka at stumps on the first day of a Ranji Trophy cricket match here on Thursday.

Pacer S. Aravind scalped three wickets in the first 10 overs to reduce Assam to 16 for 3, before Verma played an unbeaten 125-run knock to take Assam out of trouble.

Verma forged a 76-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Arun Karthik and 54 with Tarjinder Singh for the fifth wicket.

Aravind did the bulk of the damage for Karnataka, taking five wickets in his 21 overs while Abhimanyu Mithun picked up a groin strain after bowling only 1.4 overs, and did not bowl more in the day.

In other matches, Delhi bowled out Odisha for 237 , before their openers swiftly moved on to 43 by the close of first day's play in Mohali.

Odisha started off on a poor note as their openers departed for single-figure scores and the side slid to 59 for 4.

Subhranshu Senapati (76) and Biplab Samantray (62) however resurrected the innings with a 141-run fifth-wicket stand.

But spinner Varun Sood (6 for 37) dismissed Samantray to break the partnership and precipitate a collapse. Openers Unmukt Chand and Gautam Gambhir then saw out the day for Delhi.

Debutant Vikash Singh took four-for as Jharkhand skittled Vidarbha out for 105 before scoring 146/1 to round out their dominant first day in Wayanad.

Vikash and fellow pacers, Ajay Yadav and Ashish Kumar picked up nine wickets. Jitesh Sharma was the only Vidarbha batsman to cross 20-run mark.

In reply, after an early wicket, Pratyush Singh (80 not out)and Anand Singh (58*) took Jharkand to a 41-run lead by stumps.

Maharashtra's Naushad Shaikh (118*) and Ankit Bawne (83) stitched together a 177-run partnership for the third wicket against Rajasthan in Hyderabad, as the side ended the day at 280 for 3.

--IANS

gau/sam/dg