Sanyal ton helps Bangal recover; Laxman props Hyderabad

Young Sanjib Sanyal hit a maiden unbeaten century as Bengal recovered from early jolts to reach 277 for seven at close on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Gujarat at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Tuesday.

Electing to bat after captain Rohan Gavaskar won the toss, the hosts lost their top order batsmen in quick succession but a valiant 176-run sixth wicket partnership between Subhomoy Das (77) and Sanjib Sanyal (109 not out) pulled the team out of the pits.

Sanyal, who came to the middle with Bengal precariously placed at 91 for five, showed good temperament as he mixed caution with aggression to notch his maiden Ranji Trophy century and take Bengal to a far more respectable position at close.

India captain Sourav Ganguly's hopes of finding his batting form ahead of the Test series against Zimbabwe did not bear fruit as the stylish left-hander perished for 36 though he looked quite comfortable in the middle.

Ganguly, who came in to bat at number five, fell prey to off-spinner Bhavin Mehta as he mistimed his drive and offered a simple catch to Kirat Damani at extra cover.

But Das and Sanyal stemmed any further setback as they played cautiously in the initial stages and then unleashed some delightful shots on both sides of the wicket in the post-tea session.

Laxman's century helps Hyderabad to 290

A sparkling 101 by captain V V S Laxman helped Hyderabad score 290 runs in their first innings on the opening day of their Ranji trophy quarter-final against last year's champions Baroda in Baroda on Tuesday.

In reply, Baroda were 20 without loss at close of play.

Baroda's decision to field after winning the toss paid dividends and Hyderabad lost three vital wickets, that of Daniel Manohar, Ananda Kishor and Arjun Singh, with the score at 74.

Then it was Laxman and Vinay Kumar, who steadied the innings and added 90 runs for the fourth wicket.

After Kumar's departure, the remaining batsmen found it difficult to face the pace attack of Zaheer Khan and Shekhar Joshi.

However, Laxman piled 101 runs, including 15 fours and stayed at the wicket for 231 minutes while facing 151 balls.

Zaheer Khan produced a fine spell, claiming five wickets for 115 runs, while Joshi took three wickets, conceding 45 runs.

Orissa 49 for 3 in reply to Punjab's 207

Despite posting a modest total of 207, Punjab finished the opening day of their Ranji Trophy quarter- final well in control, having reduced Orissa to 49 for three by close, at Mohali, on Tuesday.

Star-studded Punjab failed to click after being put in to bat, and it was only due to the efforts of opener Munish Sharma and Pankaj Dharmani that they were able to reach the total that they eventually put up.

Punjab were reduced to 83 for four, before Sharma and Dharmani added 83 for the fifth wicket. Dharmani fell for 41 and Munish Sharma, who waged a lone battle for most of the innings, was unfortunate to miss his century by just one run. He struck 16 boundaries in his 99-run knock.

As many as four of Punjab batsmen, including Dinesh Mongia, who impressed with his gritty performance in the one- day series against England, failed to open their accounts. The others out for nought were Ishan Malhotra, Vineet Sharma and Harish Puri.

Ravneet Rickey (5), Ankur Kakkar (5) and Navdeep Singh (3) also fell cheaply.

Orissa speedster Debasish Mohanty was the most successful Orissa bowler with figures of four for 35 while Ajay Barik (2-53) and Sanjay Satpathy (2-37) claimed two wickets each.

However, Vineet Sharma (3-17) fought back for Punjab with three wickets, including that of opener Shiv Sunder Das, who could manage only 10, when Orissa began their innings.

At close, Sanjay Raul (2) and P Mullick (0) were at the crease.

TN struggle against Railways

The much-touted Tamil Nadu batting line-up struggled against an accurate Railways attack as they crawled to 215 for the loss of seven wickets on the first day of their Ranji Trophy quarter-final in Dalhi on Tuesday.

Electing to bat, Tamil Nadu lost both their openers - Sadgopan Ramesh (4) and Sridharan Sriram (0) - to the fast and spot-on Harwinder Singh - in quick succession.

Ramesh, playing in front of national selector Madan Lal, messed up a golden chance to stake his claim for his return to the Indian side for the upcoming Zimbabwe series as the shuffling Chennai southpaw was caught plumb in front by Harwinder in the very first over of the match.

The nippy Harwinder, who exploited the early morning dew in the pitch to telling effect, struck again in his second over as R Sriram's off stump went cartwheeling.

J Madanagopal (60) and Hemang Badani (40) tried to bring Tamil Nadu innings back on track with a precious 79-run third wicket stand. Madanagopal exhibited nimble footwork against Murali Kartik as he belted the left-arm offie for two consecutive boundaries - first a flashing drive through covers and then a lofted shot over long-on.

Badani, cautious at the beginning, opened up after lunch and struck some sweetly timed shots but the constant jeers by the crowd, which blamed him for India's loss to England in the final one-dayer on Sunday, seemed to affect his concentration.

Kartik (3-69), the best bowler of the day, deceived Badani with his flight and Sudhir Wankhede stumped the left- hander as he attempted a big heave over mid-wicket.

Mail Cricket Editor