Bowlers hog limelight on Day 1 of Ranji Trophy Round 3

New Delhi, Nov 20 - Pacer Varun Aaron's fifer helped Jharkhand restrict Rajasthan to a paltry 100 in their first innings in an Elite Group C clash at the JSCA stadium, Ranchi on Tuesday.

Varun impressed with figures of 5/22, while his teammate Ajay Yadav scalped three wickets for 35 runs before Jharkhand also witnessed a batting collapse to end the opening day at 92/5.

Jharkhand were also off to a poor start as the home side was tottering at 24/3 at one stage before Ishank Jaggi showed some fight and was batting at 44 when the day ended.

In an Elite Group B encounter in Kolkata, Kerala opted to bowl against West Bengal and went on to wrap up the home side's first innings at 147 runs.

Five Bengal batsmen failed to open their account as the visiting bowlers came all guns blazing. Kerala pacers Basil Thampi and MD Nidheesh picked four and three wickets respectively.

Kerala were 35/1 at stumps with opener Jalaj Saxena and Rohan Prem batting on 14 runs each.

On the other hand, a collective batting effort helped Chhattisgarh reach 222/5 at stumps against the Railways in an Elite Group A match in Raipur.

Skipper Harpreet Singh was the top scorer with 79 runs, while Amandeep Khare and Vishal Kushwah, who were unbeaten, contributed with 37 and 32 runs respectively.

Manjeet Singh and Karan Thakur picked three and two wickets respectively for the Railways.

In an another Group B clash, Hyderabad were proceeding to a massive total after reaching 232/3 at stumps against Delhi, thanks to opener Tanmay Agarwal's unbeaten 112.

Agarwal's knock contained 10 boundaries and couple of sixes. The opener received good support from Himalay Agarwal, who contributed with 66 runs.

Similarly, Punjab were also at a commanding position after reaching 253/4 against Madhya Pradesh in a Group B tie in Indore.

Opener Jiwanjot Singh slammed an unbeaten 123, while Gurkeerat Singh Mann contributed with 66 runs. Abhishek Sharma was batting on 16 when stumps were drawn for the day.

Madhya Pradesh's Kuldeep Sen bagged two wickets for 44 runs.

In the Group C clash in Guwahati, Rajesh Mohanty's 5/31 helped Odisha bundle out Assam for 121 runs.

Odisha were 86/3 at stumps with opener Anurag Sarangi and Biplab Samantray batting on 61 and seven respectively.

In an another Group C tie, Haryana were 263/9 at stumps against Goa in Rohtak.

Goa's Krishna Das' fifer dismantled Haryana's batting lineup but Himanshu Rana's 86 and opener Nitish Rana's 64 took the hosts past the 200-run mark.

On the other hand, Parvez Rasool also emerged with impressive figures of 5/30 as Jammu and Kashmir bundled out Tripura for just 124 runs in a Group C tie in Srinagar.

The Tripura batsmen failed to show a fight against the host, who were 154/1 when stumps were drawn.

Opener Shubham Khajuria's 56 runs and Irfan Pathan, who is batting at 47, helped the home side took a 30-run lead against the visitors.

In the Group C match between the Services and Uttar Pradesh in Delhi, the Services were 256/8 at stumps.

The Services were once reeling at 99/4 but wicket-keeper Devender Lohchab helped his side with a fighting 71-run knock. Nitin Tanwar and Vikas Hathwala chipped in with 39 and 36 runs respectively.

Ankit Rajpoot and Shivam Mavi scalped three wickets each for UP, conceding 70 and 44 runs respectively.

In a Group A clash, Gujarat was once tottering at 25/3 before it's middle-order rose to the occassion to help their side reach 269/6 against Saurashtra in Nadiad.

Manprit Juneja, Dhruv Raval and Rush Kalaria, who was unbeaten, contributed with scores of 66, 63 and 53 respectively.

For Saurashtra, Chetan Sakariya packed back three Gujarat batsmen for 51 runs.

Meanwhile, Krishnamurthy Siddharth's brilliant 104-run knock helped Karnataka reach 263/4 on the first day against Mumbai in a group A match.

Siddharth, who was unbeaten, smashed 13 boundaries and two sixes. Mir Kaunain Abbas also handed good support with his 64 runs, while skipper Shreyas Gopal was batting at 47 runs when stumps were drawn.

All the four Karnataka wickets were bagged by Shivam Dubey, who conceded just 32 runs.

Vidharba also took a commanding position against Baroda in a group A tie after reaching 268/1, thanks to Faiz Fazal and veteran Wasim Jaffer's fine knocks.

Fazal and Jaffer were batting at 124 and 131 runs when the day ended and the duo were involved in a 255-run partnership for the second wicket.
 

In an another Group B match, Andhra were 198/8 against Tamil Nadu in Ongole.

Girinath Reddy was batting at 69, while Jyothi Sai Krishna scored 58 runs to help the host inch closer to the 200-run mark. M Mohammed picked four wickets for the visitors giving away 60 runs.

In Plate Group matches, Uttarakhand ended the first day on 290/5 against Sikkim. Saurabh Rawat was batting on 115 when the day ended.

Meanwhile, Meghalaya ended the first day at 338/5 against Nagaland in Shillong and Manipur were 54/3, trailing by 165 runs against Mizoram, who could only manage to put 219 runs in their first innings.

IANS