A round-up of the first day’s play of the fourth round of the Ranji Trophy Super League matches
Cricinfo staff17-Dec-2006
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A cracking 161 from opener Robin Uthappa propelled Karnataka to 299 for 3 at the end of a one-sided day against Delhi at Feroz Shah Kotla. Electing to bat first, Karnataka lost two early wickets but were rescued by an excellent 200-run stand between Uthappa and Chandrashekar Raghu. Uthappa smashed 23 fours in his 219-ball knock while Raghu, who was dropped by Shikhar Dhawan at slip when on 47, matched him with 15 fours during his stay. Raghu fell 13 short of his hundred but Uthappa carried on to his third hundred of the season.
Sreedharan Sharath celebrated his 100th Ranji Trophy game with a steady century as Tamil Nadu moved to 293 for 3 at the end of the opening day at Rajkot. Sharath, who became the first Tamil Nadu player to play a century of Ranji games, entered at 61 for 2, after both the openers were dismissed cheaply, but his 160-run stand with Ramaswamy Prasanna revived the innings. Sharath produced 14 fours and a six in his 240-ball knock while Prasanna, in his second game for Tamil Nadu, cracked 10 fours and two sixes. Prasanna’s dismissal brought in Rajagopal Sathish, who helped himself to a breezy half-century that included eight fours.
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Mumbai were done in by a pair of greenhorn medium-pacers as their horror season continued at Hyderabad. Praneet Arjun, on first-class debut, and Alfred Absolem snared seven wickets between them to shoot Mumbai out for a paltry 115 on the opening day. Vindicating their captain’s decision to field first, Hyderabad’s medium-pacers reduced Mumbai to 0 for 2 before picking up wickets at regular intervals. Arjun ended with 4 for 21 while Absolem finished with an impressive 3 for 38. Hyderabad responded with a confident 66 for 1, with Ravi Teja leading the charge with a cautious 39.
ScorecardJoginder Sharma continued his scintillating form this season as his seven-wicket haul humbled Uttar Pradesh for just 71 at Rohtak. Only two batsmen – Suresh Raina and Ravikant Shukla – managed to get past double figures as Haryana wrapped up the innings in under 25 overs. Joginder started the collapse in his second over, removing Amir Khan and the in-form Mohammad Kaif. Raina and Shukla added 30 for the fourth wicket, before Joginder wreaked havoc, as UP lost their last seven wickets for just 20 runs. Haryana made a strong reply to UP’s paltry score, ending the day at 227 for 3, with Sumit Sharma and Sachin Rana looking set to score centuries.
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Parthiv Patel was unbeaten on 97 as Gujarat lost seven wickets for 276 at end of the first day’s play against Bengal at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.Patel came to the crease at the fall of the second wicket with the score on 79. His previous highest score this season was 57 in Gujarat’s opening match against Rajasthan. After the fall of opener Nilesh Modi for 40, Patel added 56 runs for the fourth wicket with Timil Patel. Timil was bowled for 14 by Ashok Dinda, Bengal’s 22-year old right-arm medium-fast bowler, who got 2 for 55 in his 16 overs in the day.Patel and Bhavik Thaker then added 108 runs for the fifth wicket before three quick wickets fell in the space of four runs. Thaker scored nine fours in his 73-ball 52 before being caught behind off Ranadeb Bose, the right-arm fast-medium bowler. Bose took 2 for 53 while Eklak Ahmid and Laxmi Ratan Shukla took a wicket each.
ScorecardHalf centuries by Ravneet Ricky, Karan Goel and captain Pankaj Dharmani helped Punjab end the day in a good position at 278 for 5 against Maharashtra at Kolhapur. Goel was unlucky to fall short of his maiden ton yet again – he scored 95 against Gujarat recently – falling for 91 to offspinner Rohit Jadhav. Goel and Ricky were involved in an opening stand of 112, before Sairaj Bahutule, the legspinner, got the first breakthrough, dismissing Ricky in the 34th over. Goel struck 11 fours and a six in his knock while Dharmani was just as fluent, scoring ten fours and a six in his 71, before retiring hurt. All five wickets were shared by the spinners, with Jadhav taking three wickets in 26 overs.
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A patient opening act from Prasad Reddy, grinding out a hard-fought 270-ball 72, helped Andhra end on the relative comfort of 170 for 4 at the end of the opening day at Vadodara. Sent in to bat, against an attack that had shot Karnataka out for just 85 on the same ground a few weeks back, Andhra were guided by Reddy’s graft. ASK Varma chipped in with a painstaking 35 as Andhra edged ahead on an attritional day.