Ranji Trophy Day 1 Round-Up: Uthappa & Agarwal tons propel Karnataka to big total; Sehwag's Haryana endure batting collapse
Robin Uthappa narrowly missed out on 150, but Karnataka largely dominated proceedings against Delhi, posting a massive 358/3 at stumps on day one in Hubli. Uthappa, who scored 148, was well-supported by opener Mayank Agarwal who scored 118, as the two were involved in a big partnership, to ensure the hosts gained upper hand at stumps.
Delhi’s captain Gautam Gambhir seemed to have misread the pitch, as he won the toss and put the opposition to bat first on a good batting wicket. The visitors were rewarded early on with the wicket of opener R.Samarth, but that turned out to be last piece of good news for Delhi, as Uthappa joined Agarwal in the center and completely streamrolled the opposition.
Brief Score: Karnataka 358 for 3 (Uthappa 148, Agarwal 118) vs Delhi (toss) in Hubli.
100s in 3 consecutive inns in this #RanjiTrophy season: Rajat Paliwal for Services and Robin Uthappa for Karnataka. @ranjiscores
— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) November 23, 2015
Uthappa's recent 3 innings in #RanjiTrophy this season: 148, 148, 160.
— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) November 23, 2015
In Lahli, Virender Sehwag-led Haryana endured a batting collapse, as they were dismissed for 112, in their Group A match against Rajasthan. Skipper Sehwag ended up as the top-scorer for the hosts with 29, while Rajasthan’s Pankaj Singh picked up 4 wickets.
In reply, Rajasthan were 75/1 at stumps, and they will look to further press the advantage going into day two. Rajat Bhatia too, played a useful hand for the visitors, picking up 3 wickets.
Rajasthan (toss) 75 for 1 vs Haryana 112 (Pankaj 4-10, Bhatia 3-41) in Lahli.
In Kalyani (West Bengal), 20 wickets fell in the day as hosts Bengal gained the upper hand against Odisha in the Group A encounter. Winning the toss and choosing to bat first, Bengal were bowled out for 142 in the first innings.
In reply, Odisha’s batting was even worse as they could only manage 107 in their first innings. Bengal were 23/0 in second innings at stumps on day one, with a lead of 58 and have three full days ahead of them to force victory.
Bengal (toss) 142 (Easwaran 88, Dhiraj 5-58) and 23 for 0 vs Odisha 107 (Gani 6-34) in Kalyani(WB).
Former champions Mumbai were reeling at 74/6, in their first innings, in reply to Madhya Pradesh’s first innings total of 240, in the Group B match in Indore. Jalaj Saxena and Ankit both provided breakthroughs for the hosts, with 3 wickets apiece, to push Mumbai on the backfoot on the very first day .
Mumbai 74 for 6 (Saxena 3-32, Ankit 3-39) vs Madhya Pradesh (toss) 240 (Bhatia 59, Jaiswal 4-63) in Indore.
Saurashtra, sans their star Ravindra Jadeja, had a forgettable day on the field, as they were reduced to 55/6, in reply to Kerala’s first innings total of 166, in the Group C match in Malappuram. Hosts Kerala made up to their poor batting display, to gain some advantage at stumps on the first day.
Saurashtra 55 for 6 vs Kerala (toss) 166 (D Jadeja 5-44) in Malppuram.
Meanwhile, rain prevented any chances of play in Pune between Maharashtra and Assam, and also in Tirunelveli between Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.
Other Results at the end of Day One:
Punjab 248 for 8 (Siddana 85, Khera 73*, Rajpoot 3-45) vs UP (toss) in Kanpur.
Andhra (toss) 62 for 4 vs Railways 182 (Kishore 5-76) in Delhi.
Jharkhand (toss) 306 for 4 (Gautam 122, Tiwary 79) vs Himachal Pradesh in Ranchi.
Hyderabad 203 for 2 (Vihari 67*) vs Tripura (toss) in Hyderabad.
Goa 263 for 1 (Desai 106, Asnodkar 74*, Kamat 57*) vs Jammu & Kashmir (toss) in Jammu.