Ranji Trophy 2022: Delhi’s Yash Dhull shines on debut, Ajinkya Rahane returns to form with unbeaten ton

Shubham Sharma hit a patient 92 to guide Madhya Pradesh to 235 for 7 on the opening day of their Elite Group A Ranji Trophy match against Gujarat on Thursday. Gujarat pacer Arzan Nagwaswalla (3/50) wreaked havoc at the start, removing Madhya Pradesh openers Rameez Khan (20) and wicket-keeper Ajay Rohera (23) in quick succession to leave them teetering at 44/2. [caption id=“attachment_9120491” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Representational image. Getty[/caption] But then, the 28-year-old Sharma resurrected the Madhya Pradesh innings in company of experienced campaigner Rajat Patidar (54 off 113 balls), who hit nine boundaries, as the duo stitched a 92-run stand for the third wicket. While Sharma, who hit 11 boundaries and a six in his 206-ball knock, was the more aggressive of the two, Patidar played his role to perfection. He hit nine fours. But when it looked like the duo would take MP to a big score, left-arm medium pacer Roosh Kalaria (2/37) removed Patidar and MP skipper Aditya Shrivastava (14) too fell cheaply becoming Nagwaswalla’s third victim. MP were in spot of bother at 166/4. A determined Sharma kept on hammering the Gujarat attack but missed a deserving hundred as he fell to pacer Chintan Gaja (2/47). The Gujarat bowlers then removed Yash Dubey (28) and Mihir Hirwani (0) quickly to bring their side back into contention. When the stumps were drawn, Kumar Kartikeya (0 not out) and Ishar Pandey (2 not out) were holding fort. CV Stephen’s five-wicket haul helps Andhra dismiss Rajasthan for 275 Left-arm pacer CV Stephen’s impressive five-wicket haul helped Andhra dismiss Rajasthan for 275 in the first innings on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group E match on Thursday. The 28-year old Stephen, who struck in the very first over by dismissing opener Yash Kothari for 4, ran through the Rajasthan batting line-up to give his side the advantage. Rajasthan batsmen got starts and Rajesh Bishnoi (54) did well to come up with a strokeful half-century (42 balls, 4X4, 3X6). Skipper Ashok Menaria and Aditya Garhwal contributed 40 and 49 respectively. Menaria and Garhwal added 63 runs for the fourth wicket to help steady the Rajasthan innings before Bishnoi and Anirudh Singh (39) came up with a 76-run stand for the sixth wicket to add to the total. The departure of Anirudh, caught and bowled by Stephen, led to three wickets falling in the space of six runs. Bishnoi’s attacking ways helped Rajasthan take the score past the 250-mark before Tanveer Ul-Haq and Aniket Choudhary added 22 runs for the last wicket as the team folded for 275 in 59.2 overs. In reply, Andhra suffered an early jolt, losing C R Gnaneshwar for just 1 off pacer Anikey Choudhary. U M S Girinath (36 batting) and Karan Shinde (23) were involved in a 58-run stand for the second wicket. Choudhary struck again by having Shinde caught by Garhwal. Manish Golamaru (2 batting) was the other not-out batsman. In the other match of the group, Uttarakhand bowled out Services for 176 in 78.4 overs and ended the day at 25 for 1, losing captain Jay Bista for a duck. Yash Dhull strikes ton on debut as Delhi score 291/7 against Tamil Nadu India’s U-19 World Cup-winning captain Yash Dhull made a seamless transition into senior cricket with a superbly crafted debut hundred as Delhi scored 291 for seven against Tamil Nadu on the opening day of their Group H Ranji Trophy game. Dhull, sent in an unfamiliar opening position in his first ever first-class game, struck 113 off 150 balls with as many as 18 boundaries, but more importantly, resurrected the innings after Sandeep Warrrier (2/69 in 16 overs) removed veteran Dhruv Shorey (1) and young Himmat Singh (0) in quick succession. First with IPL specialist Nitish Rana (25 off 21 balls), Dhull added 60 and then came a 119-run fourth wicket stand with another former India U-19 captain, Jonty Sidhu (71 off 179 balls). Displaying fine technique against the Tamil Nadu pace trio of Saravanakumar P (0/41 in 10 overs), Warrier and Mohammed Mohammed (2/40 in 12 overs), Dhull played some glorious shots square of the wicket. In fact, there were square cuts and square drives whenever he got width outside the off-stump and he would roll his wrists adequately to keep the pull shots down when peppered with short deliveries. While spinners — left-arm orthodox Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore (0/60 in 28 overs) and part-time off-break Baba Aparajith (21-2-63-2) — didn’t get much purchase from the track, Dhull did occasionally come out and hit them over in-field to get his quota of fours. Such was the ferocity of his attack that at one point, Tamil Nadu skipper Vijay Shankar deployed a deep point to just cut the boundaries and then the youngster milked the bowling for singles. He had a reprieve on 97 when Mohammed had him caught at short mid-wicket after he failed to keep a pull shot down but replays showed that the pacer had overstepped. Sidhu gave him good support with his steady defensive game. Once Dhull was trapped leg before by Mohammed and Sidhu also departed, Delhi slipped to 253 for seven before Lalit Yadav (45 batting) and Simarjeet Singh (16 not out) added 38 for the eighth wicket. Rahane hits century on return to Ranji, keeps himself in India contention His Test career at stake, beleaguered India batter Ajinkya Rahane compiled a much-needed century to keep himself in India reckoning while guiding Mumbai to 263 for three against Saurashtra in their Ranji Trophy opener on Thursday. Choosing to bat after winning the toss, Mumbai were also boosted by Sarfaraz Khan’s unbeaten 121 off 219 balls on the first day of their elite group D match. The focus was, however, firmly on Rahane who ended the day at an unbeaten 108 from 250 deliveries. The 33-year-old Rahane, who had a mediocre Test series against South Africa in the recently concluded tour of the Rainbow Nation, got to his ton in 212 balls, hitting 14 fours and 2 sixes along the way. The senior batter had managed just 136 runs in six innings in India’s 1-2 defeat in the Test series in South Africa earlier this year. With Test series against Sri Lanka set to be played from first week of March after the T20s starting February 24, this century will provide the confidence that he needs and could ensure that he retains his place in the Indian team. Another struggling India veteran, Cheteshwar Pujara, who is playing against Rahane in this match, will also look to get a big knock in the game to ensure the national selectors retain him for the series against Sri Lanka. With new ball bowlers Jaydev Unadkat and Chetan Sakariya operating well, Mumbai found themselves in trouble early on, losing openers Aakarshit Gomel (8) and Prithvi Shaw (1) with just 22 runs on the board. First-change Chirag Jani had Sachin Yadav trapped in front of the wicket as Mumbai slipped to 44 for three. However, Saurashtra failed to make any more inroads after that as Rahane and Khan added 219 runs for the fourth wicket to put their side in a comfortable position at stumps. Rahane took his time before starting to play freely and got to his 36th first-class hundred in 212 balls. The former India Test vice-captain got to 99 with a big six against left-arm spinner Dharmandrasinh Jadeja, before getting to the three-figure mark with a single. Rahane’s 479 Test runs in 2021 came at an average of 20.82, leading to his sacking from the vice-captain’s post ahead of the tour of South Africa. Tons from Manish Pandey, Siddharth put Karnataka in command vs Railways Skipper Manish Pandey’s blistering 156 and KV Siddharth’s unbeaten 140 helped Karnataka score an imposing 392 for 5 at stumps on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Group C match against Railways on Thursday. Sent in to bat, Karnataka saw India Test batter Mayank Agarwal fall early when he was run out for 16. The talented left-hander Devdutt Padikkal looked to be settling down before falling to Yuvraj for 21. One-drop batter R Samarth (47) and Siddharth (140 batting off 221 balls) added 60 runs before the former was dismissed by Avinash Yadav. The Railways bowlers did not know what hit them as Siddharth and Pandey went on the rampage. The experienced Pandey, in particular, was severe on the opposition bowlers, hitting 12 fours and 10 sixes during his 121-ball innings. He hammered three sixes in one over off Avinash Yadav. In fact, he reached his ton with a six off pacer Amit Mishra. The 267-run partnership between Pandey and Siddharth from 283 balls piled the pressure on the Railways bowlers. From 106 for 2 in 34 overs, the Karnataka batters raised the tempo with the captain toying with the opposition bowling. The final session of the day saw Karnataka rack up 140 runs before the Railways bowlers stemmed the flow by sending back Pandey and Sharath before stumps. Pandey, who was batting on 76 at tea, went after the bowling and moved to 156 and looked good for a mammoth score. However, spinner Shivam Chaudhary (2 for 22) got the prize wicket of the opposition captain, having him caught by Yuvraj. The right-handed Siddharth was batting on 140 at stumps and will hold the key to Karnataka swelling its total further on the second day. Shreyas Gopal (1 batting) is the other not-out batsman. Siddharth played a superb knock, which was overshadowed by Pandey’s all-out attack. Like his skipper, he too reached his century with a six, off left-arm spinner Avinash. He has so far hit 17 fours and two sixes. In the other match in the group, domestic veteran Paras Dogra made a workman-like ton as Pondicherry reached 309 for 6 at stumps against Jammu and Kashmir for whom new pace sensation Umran Mallik picked up 3 for 79. Himachal fight back to post 324/6 vs Punjab Himachal Pradesh overcame a shaky start with half centuries from skipper Ankit Kalsi, Akash Vasisht and Raghav Dhawan to notch up 324 for 6 on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group F match against Punjab on Thursday. Opting to bowl, Punjab reduced Himachal to 21 for 2 inside 10 overs with their new-ball bowlers Arshdeep Singh and Baltej Singh dismissing openers Prashant Chopra (13) and Abhimanyu Rana (3) in successive overs. Skipper Ankit Kalsi then steadied the Himachal ship with Raghav Dhawan as they negotiated Punjab bowlers at ease to see through the first session at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. The duo put together 139 runs for the third wicket with Raghav scoring a 125-ball 73 before being run out by Abhishek Sharma. Kalsi followed soon after, being trapped by Gurkeerat Singh in the 57th over but Himachal got going with Akash Vasisht remaining unbeaten on 78. He shared 95 runs with Nikhil Gangta (45) as Punjab got a strong resistance from Himachal lower-order batters. Brief Scores Madhya Pradesh 235/7 in 88 overs (Shubham Sharma 92, Rajat Patidar 54; Arzan Nagwaswalla 3/50, Roosh Kalaria 2/37) versus Gujarat. Meghalaya: 148 all out (Punit Bist 93, Kishan Lyngdoh 26; Edhen Tom 4/41, Unnikrishnan Manukrishnan 3/34) versus Kerala 205/1 (Rohan Kunnummal 107, Ponnan Rahul 91 not out; Chirag Khurana 1/44). Kerala lead by 57 runs. Services: 176 all out in 78.4 overs (Devender Lochab 76, Rajat Paliwal 30, Deepak Dhapola 4 for 24) vs Uttarakhand: 25 for 1 in 6 overs. Rajasthan: 275 all out in 59.2 overs (R K Bishnoi 54, Aditya N Garhwal 49, Ashok Menaria 40, A B Chouhan 39, Stephen 5 for 51) vs Andhra: 75 for 2 in 30 overs (U M S Girinath 36 batting). Delhi 1st Innings 291/7 (Yash Dhull 113, Jonty Sidhu 71, Mohammd Moahmmed 2/40) vs Tamil Nadu Jharkhand 1st Innings 169 (Kumar Deobrat 34, Ajay Mandal 4/47) Chattisgarh 135/4 (Shahshank Singh 37 batting, Ashish Kumar 2/26) Karnataka 392 for five in 90 overs (Manish Pandey 156, R Samarth 47, K V Siddharth 140 batting) vs Railways. Pondicherry 309 for six in 90 overs (Paras Dogra 108, S Karthik 63, Fabid Ahmed 32 batting; Umran Malik 3/79) vs Jammu & Kashmir. Himachal Pradesh: 324 for 6 in 90 overs (Ankit Kalsi 88, Akash Vasisht 78 not out, Raghav Dhawan 73, Nikhil Gangta 45) vs Punjab. Haryana 327 for 4 in 90 overs (Yashu Sharma 101 not out, Shubham Rohilla 61, Kapil Hooda 56) vs Tripura. Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram