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Ranji Trophy: Agarkar, Salvi rattle Hyderabad

December 01, 2009 21:25 IST

Ajit Agarkar and Aavishkar Salvi claimed five wickets between themselves as defending champions Mumbai reduced Hyderabad to 223 for 7 on the first day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match, at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium, in Hyderabad.

Agarkar ripped through the top order, removing both openers P Shanshank Nag (8) and D Rushi Raj (15), to leave the hosts struggling at 24 for 2 after nine overs.

Salvi then joined the party and got rid off Anirudh Singh (4), trapping him in front of the wicket.

Ambati Rayudu (27) and Abhinav Kumar (35) tried to steady the ship and put up a crucial 57-run partnership before Abhishek Nayar sent the former packing in the 31st over.

Agarkar then claimed his third wicket, dismissing Abhinav, to break the back of the hosts.

Ibrahim Khaleel (35) and Syed Quadri (48 not out) then joined hands and forged a 73-run stand, but Ramesh Powar broke the partnership when he had Khaleel trapped in front of the wicket.

When stumps were drawn, M Praneet Arjun (8) and Quadri (48) were unbeaten.

Karnataka eye big total

Vadodara: Manish Pandey and G Satish remained on course for individual centuries as Karnataka's top order fired in unison to guide them to a commanding 335 for 3 against Baroda on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match.

Put into bat, Karnataka's top order made merry on a batting beauty, with Robin Uthappa (58), G Satish (94 not out) and Manish Pandey (93 not out) helping themselves to easy runs.

Uthappa and K B Pawan (14) gave Karnataka a brisk start before Munaf Patel breached Pawan's defence when the score was 44.

The loss of his opening partner had no apparent effect on Uthappa, who played his natural aggressive game in Satish's reassuring company. The duo had raised 61 runs when Uthappa fell to Ketan Panchal.

Satish then added 55 runs with Amit Verma (33), who fell to Irfan Pathan in the 46th over. The hosts did not get another chance to celebrate.

Known for his hard-hitting batting, Manish batted with gay abandon while Satish was impregnable in his defence. Satish faced 238 balls for his unbeaten 94, which included 11 hits to the fence, while Manish needed just 147 balls and was seven runs from a century after hitting 10 fours and a couple of sixes.

Saurashtra make a strong start

New Delhi: Opener Chirag Pathak (138) struck a century before Pradeep Sangwan's three-wicket burst helped Delhi bowl out Saurashtra for 328 on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match.

In reply, hosts Delhi were 22 for no loss with Ankur Julka (7) and Aditya Jain (15) at the crease at stumps.

At one stage, Saurashtra were comfortably placed at 261 for four, with Pathak and run-machine Cheteshwar Pujara going great guns.

The duo added 160 runs for the fourth wicket before Rajat Bhatia broke the stand. Delhi fought back well and got itself into the match in the last session of the day, taking the remaining six wickets.

The dramatic collapse began when Bhatia scalped Pathak, whose 164-ball knock had 21 boundaries and one shot over the ropes.

Sangwan then produced a brilliant spell, taking the wickets of Pratik Mehta (8), Sandeep Jobanputra (4) and Jayesh Odedra (zero) in successive overs. Parvinder Awana (2/63) and Pawan Suyal (2/86) took two wickets each.

Arun Karthik leads Tamil Nadu's charge

Sambalpur: Tamil Nadu rode on an unbeaten 118 by Arun Karthik to pile 323 for five against Orissa on the first day of their four-day Ranji Trophy Super League match at the Vir Surendra Sai stadium.

In an undefeated sixth-wicket partnership, Arun and Chandrasekhar Ganapathy (52 not out) shared 103 runs as Tamil Nadu took the Day 1 honours after an erratic start.

With their opener Murali Vijay and former captain Subramaniam Badrinath busy with national duty, Tamil Nadu struggled to have a good partnership in the middle as Orissa kept taking wickets at regular intervals.

Former India seamer Debashish Mohanty gave Orissa the first breakthrough and went on to trouble the Tamil Nadu batsmen with his tidy spells. He finished with two for 41 from his 15 overs.

Spinner Dhiraj Singh also took two wickets and Pravanjan Mullick claimed one to put the brakes on Tamil Nadu before Ganapathy and Arun forged a fruitful stand.

Tamil Nadu skipper Dinesh Karthik could manage only one before being adjudged leg before wicket.

Arun, however, remained unruffled at the other end; his knock came off 230 balls and included 16 boundaries.

Ganapathy sizzled with three sixes and three boundaries in his 94-ball knock.

Five star Gony wrecks Himachal

Mohali: Manpreet Gony emerged the wrecker-in-chief with a 5 for 47 haul as Punjab bundled out Himachal Pradesh for a paltry 197 on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match.

The Punjab pace trio of Gony, Love Ablish (3/57) and Harmeet Singh (2/56) shared the spoils.

Punjab, however, fumbled in their reply and lost both openers before finishing on 37 for 2 at stumps, with Uday Kaul (15) and Taruwar Kohli (6) in the middle.

It was Ablish who knocked the daylights out of Himachal with his triple strikes that completely unhinged the visitors.

Gony then took over, running through the Himachal middle order, before Vinit Indulkar (60 off 139 balls) and Kuldeep Diwan (56 not out off 96 balls) put up some resistance with gritty half-centuries.

The team in dire straits at 77 for 6, both added 87 runs to give some semblance of respectability to the score.

Gony broke the partnership, dismissing Indulkar, and Himachal could add another 34 runs before their first innings folded.

Punjab openers Ravi Inder Singh (13) and Vishwas Bhalla (1) failed to give the hosts a good start and fell in the final session.

Gujarat shot out for 91

Valsad: Santosh Saxena, Sanjay Bangar and Shailender Gehlot shared eight wickets among them as Railways bundled out Gujarat for a paltry 91 runs on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match.

Saxena (3/19), Bangar (3/17) and Gehlot (2/21) produced an impressive mix of pace and aggression as the famed Gujarat batting line-up collapsed like a deck of cards in 58.2 overs at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel stadium.

In reply, Railways lost opener Faiz Fazal (13) to pacer Siddharth Trivedi before closing the day on 61 for 1.

V Cheluvuraj (10) and Bangar (31) were in the middle at stumps, as the visitors looked set for a huge first innings lead.

Earlier, put into bat, nine Gujarat players failed to touch double figures, Timil Patel (31) and Siddharth Trivedi (10) emerging the exceptions.

Saxena started the demolishing act, claiming the wicket of opener Jay Desai, who faced 82 balls for his seven runs. The Railway pacer struck again and sent back Niraj Patel (0) in his next over.

Gehlot then took over the reigns from Saxena and earned the prized scalp of captain Parthiv Patel (8) and Bhavik Thakur for nought in the same over.

Right-arm medium pacer Sanjib Sanyal also joined the party and cut short the stay of Rujul Bhatt (9) to leave Gujarat tottering at 64 for 5.

Saxena, in his second spell, ended the challenge of Timil (31), who was the team's highest scorer.

Once Timil departed, Bangar got the better off the Gujarat tailenders, scalping the wickets of Vimal Tandel, Siddharth Trivedi and Hitesh Majumdar.

Praveen Kumar scalps six

Pune: A six-wicket haul by Indian speedster Praveen Kumar helped visitors Uttar Pradesh dismiss Maharashtra for 292 on the first day of the Ranji Trophy Group B match at the Pune Club ground.

Praveen took over after medium pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar drew early blood, removing Maharashtra skipper Harshad Khadiwale for 26, to justify skipper Mohammad Kaif's decision to bowl first. He ended up with figures of 6 for 68 in 22.2 overs.

Left armer R P Singh took two wickets, while leg spinner Piyush Chawla and Kumar accounted for a wicket apiece.

For Maharashtra, G B Gaikwad top-scored with 63 and three others made scores of over 45 but failed to capitalise on their starts as the hosts crumbled from a comfortable 151-2 to 292 all out.

S Atitkar (55) and K Jadhav (49) added 106-runs for the third wicket after the hosts had lost two early wickets, while Gaikwad and wicketkeeper R H Motwani (57) added 107-runs for the seventh wicket.

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