Harsh Dubey created history on day one of the fourth round of the Ranji Trophy, taking a nine-wicket haul against Madhya Pradesh. Across the country, batters and bowlers produced plenty more headlines on the opening day.
Group A
Dubey’s 9-53 dominated the opening day of the match against Madhya Pradesh, which saw Madhya Pradesh post 209 with Atharva Mahajan making 85. Vidarbha were 56-4 at the close, with Kumar Kartikeya taking 3-23.
Snehal Kauthankar struck a brilliant unbeaten 116, guiding Goa to 288-6 at the close against Bihar.
Dhruv Patel scored 124 for Baroda, who finished on 269-6 against Uttar Pradesh. Karan Sharma claimed 3-39 for Uttar Pradesh.
Pondicherry’s batters kept defending champions Jammu & Kashmir at bay, finishing on 261-6. Mohit Kale made 73 and Neyan Kangayan added 70.
Group B
Karnataka took control early, skittling Assam for just 135. Ritesh Bhatkal (5-35) and Shikhar Shetty (5-53) each took five-wicket hauls. Karnataka responded with 180-2 by the close, holding a lead of 45 runs, with Rohan Patil on 89.
Punjab recovered from a precarious 71-5 to finish on 276-5 against Andhra. Salil Arora (111 not out) and Sanvir Singh (100 not out) both smashed timely centuries.
Elsewhere, Tripura reached 219-7 against Saurashtra, with Sridam Paul making 86. Chhattisgarh posted 279-7 against Hyderabad, led by Anuj Tiwary (72) and Vikalp Tiwari (69).
Group C
Bengal and Maharashtra produced a tightly contested opening day, with 12 wickets falling. Maharashtra bowled Bengal out for just 143, and Mohammed Shami then took both of the wickets that fell to Maharashtra’s batters, who were 21-2 at the close. Abishek Porel top-scored for Bengal with 54, while Tanay Sanghvi took 3-30.
Gujarat dominated Kerala, reaching 300-5. Aarya Desai made 95, Urvil Patel finished on 63 not out, and Vishal Jayswal was unbeaten on 50.
Only 25 overs were possible in the match between Jharkhand and Odisha, with Jharkhand reduced to 37-3 by the Odisha bowlers. Rajesh Mohanty took 2-15.
Services were bowled out for 266 against Delhi. Their captain, Rajat Paliwal, struck an unbeaten 111, while Aman Chaudhary took 4-79.
Group D
Mayank Mishra ran through the Haryana batting order with a six-wicket haul, finishing with 6-57 as Haryana were dismissed for 153. Uttarakhand were 59-0 in reply at the close.
Mumbai were 247-6 against Railways, with Angkrish Raghuvanshi scoring 78 and Sarfaraz Khan making 55.
Tamil Nadu made the most of the conditions against Chandigarh, reaching 320-4. Pradosh Paul remained unbeaten on 138.
The clash between Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh saw 20 wickets fall. Rajasthan were bowled out for just 78, with Abhishek Kumar taking 5-14, before Himachal Pradesh were dismissed for 153. Ankush Bains made 56 for Himachal Pradesh, and Sahil Diwan took 5-50. Rajasthan finished day one on 8-0 in their second innings.
Plate Group
Salil Malhotra starred again for Arunachal Pradesh, smashing 146 and guiding his side to 285 before they were bowled out. Mizoram were 35-0 in reply at the close, with Kuldip Yadav taking 4-44.
Sikkim finished the day on top, reaching 301-5 against Manipur. Ashish Thapa struck a brilliant century (107), and Parth Palawat added 86.
In Nagaland’s match against Meghalaya, Nagaland reached 244-8, with Rongsen Jonathan (69), Nagaho Chishi (68) and Manish Sharma (4-64) prominent. Nagaland’s batters were unable to turn their starts into a big knock, leaving Meghalaya in contention after the opening day.