Mumbai surrender initiative against TN

Former champions Mumbai held the upper hand for a while, having dismissed Tamil Nadu for 182 in their first innings, but then surrendered the initiative, losing three wickets for 16 runs by close on the first day in the five-day pre-quarter-final Ranji Trophy tie in Chennai on Wednesday.

Medium pacer L Balaji, among the wickets during the session, turned the tide in the hosts' favour, scalping three Mumbai top order batsmen for a mere five runs.

alaji's victims were Vinayak Mane (6), mainstay Wasim Jaffer (5) and wicketkeeper-batsman, Abhijit Shetye (0).

Amol Mazumdhar (5) was at the crease when stumps were drawn at the fall of Shetye's wicket.

With skipper Sameer Dighe opting out due to injury, Paras Mhambrey led Mumabai effectively, rotating his five bowlers, including three spinners.

Electing to bat, Tamil Nadu's woes began as Sadagoppan Ramesh failed miserably, making just two runs before snicking to Shetty off Robin Morris.

Soon they were in dire straits, losing three more wickets with the score at 59 for 4.

Left-handers Sharath and Robin Singh added 50 runs, the only highlight of the home team's batting.

Sharath was caught at short leg by Mane off Rajesh Pawar for 31 (5x4) and Robin Singh (26) was run-out to a direct throw from mid-off by Pawar. The last four wickets added only 22 runs.

For Mumbai, Rajesh Pawar (4/41) was the main wicket-taker.

Mhambrey and Ramesh Powar grabbed two wickets each.

Ishan Malhotra restricts Assam to 170

Punjab were 130 for three in reply to Assam's first innings total of 170 thanks to a fine spell of bowling by Ishan Malhotra, who returned with a haul of seven wickets for 59 on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy match at the Punjab Cricket Association stadium in Mohali on Wednesday.

The hosts won the toss and elected to field. The visitors kept losing wickets at regular intervals, with the opener Parag Das (8) returning to the pavilion with the total only eight, caught behind by Pankaj Dharmani off Malhotra.

After the addition of six runs new batsman Dinesh Mohanta (0) too fell to Malhotra. The other five batsmen claimed by Malhotra were Subhrajit Saikia (19), Polashjyoti Das (0), Sumit Ranjan Das (15), Sukhvinder Singh (5) and Gautam Dutta (13).

Two wickets, that of Zakaria Zuffi (44), who was the top scorer, and D.J.Gokulkrishnan (33), the second highest scorer, were claimed by Harish Puri, while Navdeep Singh dismissed Mark Ingly (7).

Punjab started their innings on a confident note, with Ravneet Rickey (batting 46) and Munish Sharma (50) adding 64 runs for the opening wicket. Rickey and Kailash (batting 3) were at the crease at close.

Gagan Khoda hits century for Rajasthan

A fine century by opener Gagan Khoda (114) and a fighting half century (64) by skipper P Krishna Kumar helped Rajasthan reach 242 for 5 against Bengal on the first day of the five-day Ranji Trophy pre-quarter-final match in Jaipur on Wednesday.

Kuldeep Singh (23) and Rohit Jhalani (0) were at the crease when stumps were drawn for the day.

Earlier, Rajasthan skipper Krishnakumar had no hesitation in electing to bat on the placid wicket. Openers Khoda and Vineet Saxena put on 33 runs for the first wicket before Laxmiratan Shukla got the breakthrough for Bengal when he trapped Saxena (16) plumb in front.

Bengal's hopes soared high when Shukla struck again to have Rahul Kanwat caught by Nikhil for a naught. Veteran Utpal Chatterji then scalped Nikhil Doru (7) to send shock waves in the host camp.

ut Rajasthan, who were struggling at 51 for 3 at that stage, were rescued by some resolute batting by Khoda and Krishnakumar, who together took the team to 87 for three at lunch.

Gagan Khoda reached his 50 (5x4) off 112 balls in 169 minutes.

Krishnakumar, who got a reprieve when he was dropped by A Lehri off Sabir Ali on three, reached his half century in 166 minutes off 145 balls with five fours.

They added 143 runs for the fourth wicket.

For Bengal, Laxmi Ratan Shukla (2/41), Utpal Chatterji (1/65) and S Lahiri (1/70) were the successful bowlers.

Railways sitting pretty against Delhi

A brilliant 132 by Amit Pagnis put Railways in a commanding position against Delhi as they amassed 291 runs for the loss of five wickets on the first day of the four-day Ranji Trophy pre-quarter final in Delhi on Wednesday.

Electing to bat, Railway openers J P Yadav and Amit Pagnis struggled against Delhi seamers Ashish Nehra and Amit Bhandari, who utilised the early morning dew to bowl a nagging off-stump line.

Bhandari, bowling a lively opening spell, drew first blood as he dismissed Yadav in the fifth over of the match when the Railway opener edged him to Akash Chopra at second slip.

Pagnis, soon found his rhythm as he played delightful strokes all over the ground, particularly scorching drives through the covers which left hapless Delhi fielders rubbing their eyes in sheer disbelief.

The diminituve Pagnis, who reached his fifty with a sweetly timed sweep off Harender Choudhry, in company with Tejinde Pal Singh scored runs at a fast clip to put his team at 132-1 at lunch.

The post lunch session, witnessed Tejinder in a punishing mood as he swept, cut and pulled at will to compile fifty off 73 balls.

Delhi, lacking sting in bowling due to the absence of Sarandeep Singh, were given the much needed breakthrough by off-spinner Harender Choudhry, who castled Tejinder with a viciously spunned off-cutter for 84.

Gujarat openers in record opening partnership

Hem Joshipura's maiden century and a brilliant 92 by Nilesh Modi in a record 224-run partnership placed Gujarat in a commanding position at 247 for two on the opening day of the Ranji rophy pre-quarter-final match against Andhra at the Sardar Patel Motera stadium in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

Gujarat skipper Mukund Parmar (7) and Niraj Patel (11) were at the crease at the draw of stumps.

Electing to bat, Gujarat openers Hem Joshipura and Nilesh Modi batted fluently to amass 224 runs -- a record in the host team's Ranji Trophy history.

The placid wicket offered little help to Andhra and captain M S K Prasad used as many as eight bowlers to stem the flow of Gujarat's runs. Luck eventually smiled on Prasad in the last session of the game.

Joshipura, playing his third Ranji match, essayed a beautifully crafted maiden century, studded with 11 hits to the boundaries before he was out at 113.

His partner, Modi, was a little unfortunate to have missed out on his century. He was scalped on 92 which included nine boundaries.

Modi and Joshipura had no problems against spin and pace attack of Andhra and confidently despatched the balls to the well-spread boundary.

They were going great guns until Joshipura was snared by L N Prasad Reddy off the bowling of offie H Vatekar, when his individual score was 113 and that of the team was 224.

Two runs later, Modi who looked good for a century was out leg before to medium pacer K Shahbuddin after compiling a solid 92.

Hyderabad in command

Hosts Hyderabad bundled out Himachal Pradesh for 192 in the first innings and were 69 without loss at close on the opening day of the five-day Ranji Trophy pre-quarter final at the Gymkhana grounds on Wednesday.

Electing to bat, the vistors were troubled by Hyderabad's medium pacer N P Singh, who claimed five wickets for 27 runs while opener Nischal Gaur deftly handled the Hyderabad bowling attack to score a sterling 99.

Nishal's patient knock of 99 came off 208 balls he faced, in which he struck 17 fours and lofted Hyderabad skipper Venkatapathi Raju's flighted delivery over the ropes.

While Raju and N P Singh were demolishing the Himachal Pradesh batting line-up, Nischal stood his ground with composure and received some support from skipper Veerender Sharma (24) before he was trapped leg before by Raju.

The visitors folded up 20 minutes after tea for 192 in 67.1 overs with Raju claiming two wickets while Vishnu Vardhan and Shivaju Yadav taking one wicket apiece.

Incidentally middle order batsman A T Rayudu became the youngest Ranji player for Hyderabad at the age of 16 years and four months.

Hyderabad, in reply, ended the day at 69 without losing a wicket. Opener Daniel Manohar (28) and Nanda Kishore (39) were at the crease.

Mail Cricket Editor