Pandey and Bose star on opening day of Ranji season
Ranji trophy super league, 2009/10 got underway on 3rd of November, Tuesday. Here’s a round-up of what happened on day-one of the season…
Karnataka 372 for 5 (Pandey 194*, Dravid 97) v Uttar Pradesh
The 2009/10 edition of Ranji Trophy super league started off with an outstanding century from Karnataka batsman, Manish Pandey. The youngster bailed his team out from a precarious 27-3 with an impressive unbeaten knock of 194 on day one. This was Pandey’s maiden first-class hundred and it was even more special as it came at a very crucial time and against the bowling attack comprising of RP Singh, Piyush Chawla and Bhubaneshwar Kumar. Pandey was involved in a mammoth stand of 273 runs with his skipper, Rahul Dravid, who unfortunately got run-out for 97. Pandey’s 194 contained as many as 27 fours and one hit over the fence.
RP Singh and Chawla had a bad day at the office, as together they gave away 146 runs in 32 overs for a wicket between them.
Delhi 297 for 2 (Dhawan 122*, Bhatia 70*, Chabra 65) v Baroda
In Vadodara, Shikhar Dhawan came up with a mature knock of 122 not-out which included two handy partnerships with Gaurav Chabra and Rajat Bhatia. Chabra completed his second first-class fifty in as many matches while Dhawan scored his seventh hundred, as they put 134 runs together.
Dhawan continued after Chabra was dismissed by Murtuja Vahora and put another partnership with Rajat Bhatia. Bhatia and Dhawan finished day one with unbeaten scores of 122 and 70 respectively.
Bengal 52 for 2 trail Maharashtra 179 (Ansari 52, Bose 5-67, Dinda 3-65) by 127 runs
Bengal pacer Ranadeb Bose ripped through the Maharashtra batting line-up, as he registered his 22nd fifer in first-class cricket. No one apart from Azhar Ansari could stay in the middle for long, as Maharashtra were bowled out for 179 in the first innings. Bengal, at the stumps on day one were 52 for the loss of Deep Dasgupta and Arindam Das.
Punjab 242 for 9 (Ravi Inder 104, Agarkar 4-41, Zaheer 3-45) v Mumbai
Ravi Inder Singh’s determined 104 saved Punjab the embarrassment of folding up cheaply against the star studded Mumbai attack consisting of Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar and Ramesh Powar.
The defending Ranji champions kicked the new season off with picking up nine Punjab wickets on the first day. Zaheer, who is preparing himself for an international comeback after a long injury lay-off accounted for three Punjab batsmen while Ajit Agarkar and Dhawal Kuklarni ended the day with 4 and 2 wickets respectively.
Railways 242 for 4 (Bangar 111*, Fazal 70) v Tamil Nadu
After enjoying some success in the beginnings, it was a frustrating first day for Tamil Nadu, as Sanjay Bangar and Yere Gaud glued to the crease and denied them a wicket for a long time. While the Railways captain Bangar notched up his 10th first-class century, Faiz Fazal came up with a well-made 70. Gaud once again produced on of his most obstinate innings as he crawled to 14 runs from 100 deliveries.
Gujarat 237 for 7 (Parthiv 83, Dhiraj Singh 4-88) v Orissa
Gujarat struggled on the opening day of their match against Orissa, as they finished the day with 237 for 7. Parthiv Patel, with his resilient 83, steadied the Gujarat ship after they were reduced to 88-4. Dhiraj Singh, with his figures of 4-88 was the pick of the Orissa bowlers.
Hyderabad 237 for 6 (Abhinav 70*, Malik 2-58) v Himachal Pradesh
It was the day of many small but significant partnerships for Hyderabad in their tie against Himachal Pradesh. After T Suman departed for 45, wicketkeeper Abhinav Kumar helped Hyderabad consolidate with two partnerships of 47 and 77, with captain Arjun Jadav and Syed Qadri respectively. Himachal Pradesh managed to send six Hyderabad batsmen back in the hut by the end of day, as VS Malik took two wickets for 58.
