It was a miserable day for the majority of marquee Indian stars as they marked their return to domestic cricket during phase two of the ongoing Ranji Trophy on Thursday, with high-profile names like Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant and Yashasvi Jaiswal failing to make an impact.
In the clash between Mumbai and Jammu and Kashmir in Mumbai, with both teams placed in Group A, a star-studded Mumbai team struggled against the pace of Umar Nazir (4/41) and Yudhvir Singh (4/31).
The opening pair of Yashasvi and Rohit failed to make a mark, scoring four and three respectively after Mumbai elected to bat first. The star-studded middle order of skipper Ajinkya Rahane (12), Shreyas Iyer (11) and Shivam Dube (0) also failed to leave any impact. Mumbai was in tatters at 47/7. An admirable rescue act from Shardul Thakur (51 in 57 balls, with five fours and two sixes) and Tanush Kotian (26 in 36 balls, with five fours), which was a 63-run partnership, took Mumbai to 120 in their first innings.
J-K ended the first day at 174/7, leading by 54 runs thanks to a half-century from Shubham Khajuria (53 in 75 balls, with four boundaries and three sixes). Mohit Avasthi (3/34) was the top bowler for Mumbai, Shams Mulani got two scalps while Shardul and Shivam got one.
The Group D clash between Delhi and Saurashtra at Rajkot was also a star-studded affair, with Pant, Ravindra Jadeja and Cheteshwar Pujara being a part of it. Delhi won the toss and opted to bat first.
Delhi did get fine contributions from skipper Ayush Badoni (60 in 78 balls, with five fours and two sixes) and Yash Dhull (44 in 76 balls, with eight fours), but Pant failed to make an impact, scoring just one run in 10 balls. Delhi was skittled out for 188 in 49.4 overs.
Ravindra Jadeja was the only senior who impressed on his Ranji return, taking 5/66. Dharmendrasinh Jadeja was also impressive, taking 3/63, which also included Pant’s prized wicket.
Saurashtra ended the day at 163/5, trailing by 25 runs. Notable contributions came from wicketkeeper-batter Harvik Desai (93 in 120 balls, with eight fours) and Ravindra (38 in 26 balls, with two fours and three sixes). Pujara fell to Badoni for just six runs in 21 balls.
Shivam Sharma ended the day as a standout bowler for Delhi, with figures of 2/36.
Meanwhile, at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswammy Stadium, where Punjab and Karnataka were in action in their Group C clash, there was some heavy one-sided domination by the hosts, who skittled out Punjab for just 55 runs in 29 overs. Punjab skipper Shubman Gill could manage just four runs in eight balls, with a four. The top-scorer was Ramandeep Singh, who made 16 in 35 balls.
Vasuki Koushik (4/16) and Abhilash Shetty (3/19) were the top bowlers for Karnataka. Prasidh Krishna also managed to get two wickets.
Karnataka ended the day at 199/4, leading by 144 runs. An unbeaten 83 in 100 balls (with 12 fours and a six) from Smaran Ravichandran, Mayank Agarawal’s 44-ball 20, with two fours, and Devdutt Padikkal (27 in 45 balls, with five fours) delivered notable contributions.
In another clash between Gujarat and Uttarakhand in Group B at Ahmedabad, the headline performance was delivered by spinner Siddharth Desai (9/36), the best spell by a Gujarat bowler in the tournament’s history, to skittle out Uttarakhand for just 111 runs after they had chosen to bat first. Shashwat Dangwal (35 in 49 balls, with five fours and a six) and Avneesh Sudha (30 in 47 balls, with four boundaries) top-scored for Uttarakhand.
Gujarat ended the day with a 79-run lead at 190/4, with standout half-centuries from Manan Hingrajia (66* in 181 balls, with seven fours) and Urvil Patel (53 in 80 balls, with four boundaries and three sixes). (ANI)
