Ranji: Kanitkar hits captain's knock to put Rajasthan on top

Mumbai: Hrishikesh Kanitkar played a captain’s knock as defending champions Rajasthan reached a commanding 309 for four against hosts Mumbai on the first day of the four-day Elite Group A Ranji Trophy match today. The southpaw stroked powerfully off his back foot to score an unbeaten 129 off 227 balls with 17 hits to the fence on a placid Brabourne Stadium wicket. [caption id=“attachment_128461” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Rajasthan’s Hrishikesh Kanitkar celebrates his century during Ranji Trophy match against Mumbai at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday. PTI”]  [/caption] Things would have looked bleaker for Mumbai, who are gunning for their 40th title, had not Rashmi Ranjan Parida departed on the third ball of the day’s last over for a well made 67 off 112 balls with 12 fours. Medium pacer Dhawal Kulkarni grabbed couple of wickets but more importantly struck in the last over to break the fourth wicket stand of 137 between Kanitkar and Parida. The former Orissa batsman impressed with his cover and straight drives. Earlier, Kanitkar had forged a stand of 77 runs for the second wicket with Vineet Saxena, who made 53 off 114 balls with nine fours before falling to Kulkarni, and 61 for the third wicket with Ashok Menaria (32), who played attractively before being dismissed by part-timer Suryakumar Yadav. Mumbai used as many as nine bowlers on first day, a clear indication of the toothlessness in their attack as well as the benign quality of the wicket at the Brabourne Stadium. Mumbai had an early success this morning when opener Aakash Chopra was trapped leg before by Murtuza Hussain for 19 in the 13th over. Thereafter, Rajasthan batsmen took firm control of the proceedings with Saxena and Kanitkar first steadying the ship. After the former had been bowled off pads soon after lunch, it was Kanitkar, who cut and drove square off the wicket on the off side to get a major portion of his runs, and Menaria who put on another half century stand to keep up the tempo. Mumbai captain Wasim Jaffer kept ringing changes and his idea of bringing in Yadav to bowl his fast leg spin paid dividends as the left-handed Menaria drove one slightly up to short extra cover fielder Rohit Sharma to depart at 172. This brought together Kanitkar and Parida who feasted on the wayward Mumbai attack on the good batting track almost till the end before Kulkarni got the important breakthrough with his third ball, a full length one, in the last over to send back the latter. Brief scores: Rajasthan 309 for 4 in 89.3 overs (Vineet Saxena 53, Hrishikesh Kanitkar batting 129, Rashmi Parida 67; Dhawal Kulkarni 2 for 61) v Mumbai. Parthiv, Niraj’s ton give Gujarat upperhand against Delhi Valsad (Gujarat): Captain Parthiv Patel (100) and Niraj Patel (111 not out) scored centuries each to amass hosts Gujarat to 358 for six against Delhi at stumps on the opening day of their second Group B Ranji Trophy Elite division match here today. Opting to bat, Parthiv led from the front, scoring his ton off just 120 balls, while Niraj remained unbeaten on 111 that came off 203 deliveries to guide Gujarat to a comfortable position. However, Gujarat’s start to the innings was far from rosy as they lost opener Priyank Panchal early, with the scoreboard reading seven. Brief Scores: Gujarat: 358 for six in 90 overs (Parthiv Patel 100, Niraj Patel 111 batting; Vikas Mishra 4/67)   Punjab pacers reduce Orissa to 246/9 on day 1 Mohali: Though out-of-favour India spinner Harbhajan Singh managed just one wicket, rookie seamers Sandeep Sharma and Brainder Sran made up for that by sharing seven between them, which reduced Orissa to 246 for nine on day one of their Ranji Trophy match against Punjab here today. After Harbhajan elected to field, right-arm medium pacer Sharma and left-arm seamer Sran — both aged 19 — vindicated their skipper’s decision by reducing Orissa to 152 for seven at one stage. While Sharma finsihed the opening day of the Group A Super League encounter with impressive figures of four for 52, Sran had three for 62. Brief scores Orissa 246 for nine in 83 overs (Mohanty 58 not out, Sahoo 56, Behera 47; Sharma 4/52, Sran 3/62)   Baroda in command against Madhya Pradesh Vadodara: Baroda shot out Madhya Pradesh for a paltry 63 with their pacers accounting for nine wickets as the home side took control of their Ranji Trophy Elite Division match on the opening day here today. India discard Irfan Pathan claimed three wickets while his Firdaush Bhaja and Murtuja Vahora bagged four and two respectively as Madhya Pradesh were all out in just 27.3 overs after being put into bat. Just two Madhya Pradesh batsmen — captain Devendra Bundela (10 not out) and Anand Rajan (14) — could reach double digits as they perished one after another at the Moti Bagh Stadium. Brief scores: Madhya Pradesh 63 all out in 27.3 overs (Bhaja 4/19, Irfan 3/23, Vahora 2/16). Baroda 207 for four in 55 overs (Waghmore 99, Rayudu 80 not out).   Karthik checks Karnataka after Uthappa’s blazing ton Robin Uthappa scored a blazing century before suffering cramps as Karnataka finished the first day’s play against Railways on 284 for 7, in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group match at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi on Thursday. Brief scores Karnataka 284-7 in 99 overs (Robin Uthappa 117, Stuart Binny 68, R Vinay Kumar 43 batting, Murali Karthik 5-76).   Haryana 264/7 against TN as Priyank Tehlan hits 95 Chennai: Priyank Tehlan’s solid 95 helped Haryana avoid a middle-order collapse and end the opening day against Tamil Nadu at 264 for seven in their Elite division Group-B Ranji Trophy match. Tehlan’s steady batting helped Haryana recover after the hosts captain Lakshmipathy Balaji rocked the visitors with three wickets in 11 deliveries just before lunch.  Opting to bat, Haryana openers Nitin Saini 43 (97b, 3x4) and Rahul Dewan 22 (57b, 3x4) provided the platform, making 48 runs between them when the latter was dismissed off Sunny Gupta.