Ranji Trophy 2016-17, Ninth Round Day 1 Round-Up: Gambhir, Dhawan fail for Delhi; Vinay Kumar shines for Karnataka

Day one of the ninth round of the 2017-17 Ranji Trophy began today across various venues in the country. Before the start of today’s fixtures, Mumbai is at the top of Group A, followed by Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. In Group B, Jharkhand lead the way, with Karnataka closely on their heels.

In a Group A match held at Rajkot, Punjab ended day one at 216 for the loss of 4 wickets against Mumbai. Gurkeerat Mann is leading Punjab in the fixture which was skipped by Yuvraj Singh due to his wedding. Uday Kaul and Mandeep Singh led the way for Punjab, scoring 86 and 78 respectively, and forming a 138-run stand for the second wicket. For Mumbai, Shardul Thakur, who has been given a call-up to the Indian team as a backup for Mohammed Shami, and Suryakumar Yadav picked two wickets each.Scores: Punjab 216/4 vs Mumbai (Kaul 86, Mandeep 78; Suryakumar Yadav 2/3)

In another Group A game at Nasik, Uttar Pradesh batted aggressively against Baroda to post 360 for the loss of 7 wickets at stumps. UP were in a spot of bother at one stage when they were 7 down for just 207, but a fine eighth wicket stand between Kuldeep Yadav and Saurabh Kumar boosted their total to 360. Yadav and Kumar ended the day on unbeaten scores of 77 and 85 respectively. For Baroda, Babashafi Pathan took 3 wickets.

Scores: Uttar Pradesh 360/7 vs Baroda (K Yadav 77*, Saurabh Kumar 85*; B Pathan 3/84)

In a vital Group B match, Delhi bowled out Saurashtra for a paltry 93 in their first innings. Sumit Narwal and Pradeep Sangwan were at the top of their games, taking four wickets each. In their reply, Delhi failed to capitalise the advantage and ended day one at 194 for the loss of 8 wickets. Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan failed to deliver once again, both getting out cheaply on the score of 16. The young sensation, Rishabh Pant tried to bring Delhi back on track through a quick fire 40 of 28, but got out to Kushang Patel, who took 4 wickets for Saurashtra.

Scores: Saurashtra 93 all out; Delhi 194/8 (P Mankad 33; Sangwan 4/25; Rishabh Pant 40)

In Belgavi, Priyank Panchal scored a superb 113 for Gujarat in a Group A game against Tamil Nadu. Gujarat ended day one at 267 for the loss of 7 wickets, For Tamil Nadu, Baba Aparajith and T Natarajan took two wickets each. No other batsman provided a major contribution for Gujarat apart from Panchal, and got out after getting starts.

Scores: Gujarat 267/7 vs Tamil Nadu ( Priyank Panchal 113; Aparajith 2/29)

In a Group B match at Noida, Rajasthan was blown away for 140 in their first innings against Vidarbha. In reply, Vidarbha are 14 for no loss. No batsmen got going for Rajasthan, as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

Scores: Rajasthan 140 all out; Vidarbha 14/0 (Manender Singh 27;Aditya Sarwate 3/22)

In another Group B match, Maharashtra was bundled out for 163 after an inspired spell of fast bowling by Karnataka’s captain R Vinay Kumar. On a fast-paced wicket in Mohali, Vinay Kumar was at the top of his game, taking wickets at regular intervals. Another India discard, Stuart Binny bowled well, dismissing the two Maharashtra openers.

Scores: Maharashtra 163 all out: Karnataka 67/1 (Motwani 32, R VInay Kumar 5/46)

Other scores:

In New Delhi (Palam): Bengal 185/4 vs Madhya Pradesh

In Kolkata: Tripura 70/4 vs Haryana 231

In Mumbai (BKC): Goa 260/6 vs Himachal

In Lucknow: Andhra 190 vs Hyderabad 10/0

In New Delhi: Kerala vs Services 103/4

In Gwalior: Chhattisgarh 90/3 vs Jammu & Kashmir

For all the latest news and happenings in the world of cricket, visit Sportskeeda Cricket.