Ranji wrap: Iyer and Lad crack tons against Baroda; Rajasthan all out for 135

Group A encounters: 

 Shreyas Iyer slammed 11 sixes and 17 fours in a blistering knock of 178 and put on a double century stand with skipper Siddhesh Lad, who made a responsible 130, to power Mumbai to an imposing score of 439 for 8 against Baroda here Friday.

Iyer, who landed here only Thursday from New Zealand after a stint with India A, was in punishing form, sparing no one from the visitors' ranks to compile his 12th first class hundred in his first Ranji game of the season as he rescued the hosts from 28 for 2 with a stand of 283 in just over 45 overs with Lad on day one of the elite Group A game.

Hardik Pandya, back in competitive cricket after recovering from a back spasm that he suffered in the Asia Cup in UAE in September, had opened the bowling and rocked Mumbai with a two-wicket haul for 21 in his impressive comeback spell of six overs after Mumbai were put in to bat at the Wankhede Stadium.

Pandya's cheap dismissals of openers Aditya Tare and newcomer Vikrant Auti had no effect on Iyer who went on a run-scoring spree to take the wind out of Baroda's sails and place Mumbai, who are languishing in the 16th out of 18 spots on the points table, in a commanding position at stumps.

Iyer smacked left arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt for three sixes in four balls to race to his century in 86 balls and then singled out veteran Yusuf Pathan for similar punishment by carting the off-break bowler for three successive sixes. A more sedate Lad, who faced 173 balls and struck two sixes and 12 fours, denied Baroda a wicket for more than four hours spread over the first two sessions.

Pathan got his revenge by having Iyer caught at wide mid-wicket by Vishnu Solanki to end the third wicket stand but by then the visitors' bowlers had been sent on a leather hunt by the Mumbai duo.

Mumbai, 148 for 2 at lunch, advanced to 333 for three at tea thanks to the belligerent knock of Iyer, and then Baroda grabbed five more wickets before stumps with Pandya snapping up one more victim, in-form all rounder Shivam Dube, to finish with end of day impressive figures of 3 for 74 in 15 overs.

Bhatt picked up four wickets while Pathan was the other successful bowler.

Meanwhile, at Surat, despite skipper Priyank Panchal's 94, Gujarat were bowled out for 216 against Karnataka. For the visitors, Vinay Kumar, Prateek Jain, Ronit More, Krishnappa Gowtham and Shreyas Gopal picked two wickets each.

At New Delhi, Vidarbha reached 243 for 6 against Railways with skipper Faiz Fazal top-scoring with 53.

And at Nashik, Saurashtra batsmen hammered a listless Maharashtra attack to end the opening day at 269/3.

Brief scores:

At Mumbai: Mumbai 439 for 8 (Siddhesh Lad 130, Shreyas Iyer 178, Shubham Ranjane 42, Shivam Dube 37; Hardik Pandya 3-74, Bhargav Bhatt 4-68) versus Baroda.

At Surat: Gujarat 216 all out (Priyank Panchal 74, Piyush Chawla 34, Shreyas Gopal 2-21) versus Karnataka 45 for 2. Karnataka trail by 171 runs.

At New Delhi (Karnail Singh Stadium): Vidarbha 243 for 6 (Faiz Fazal 53, A W Wadkar 48, Avinash Yadav 3-69) versus Railways.

At Nashik: Saurashtra 269/3 (Vishvarajsinh Jadeja 97, Snell Patel 84, Anup Sanklecha 2-84) versus Maharashtra.

Group C Encounters: 

Odisha bowlers produced a spirited show as they bowled out Rajasthan for a meagre 135 on the opening day of their Elite Group C encounter here on Friday.

For Odisha, the Mohanty duo -- Basant and Rajesh -- both right-arm pacers -- did the job as they shared nine wickets among them.

Basant returned with exceptional figures of 6-20 and was ably supported by Rajesh (3-63) as Rajasthan batters had a horrid time at the Vikash cricket ground here.

Rajasthan openers Amitkumar Gautam (0) and Chetan Bist (0) fell in quick succession. For them, only skipper Mahipal Lomror (85) played a valiant knock to ensure that the side crossed the 100-run mark.

Lomror, who was the last man to be dismissed, struck 14 fours and a six, as he waged a lone battle.

But Lomror was devoid of partners at the other hand as the Rajasthan middle order collapsed. Rahul Chahar (18) played a handy knock to support his skipper, but clearly the day belonged to Odisha bowlers.

In reply, Odisha lost four wickets and were 78/4 at close of play, still adrift by 57 runs. Debasish Samantray (30 not out) and Abhishek Raut (22 not out) are holding the fort.

Meanwhile, in Agartala Pratyush Singh-led Tripura's fightback as the hosts reached to 247/7 at stumps on day 1.
They were 128/6 at one stage.

At Lucknow, Ishank Jaggi (76 not out) and all-rounder Shahbaz Nadeem (70 not out) took Jharkhand to a respectable 278/6 after the side were teetering at 157/6 against Uttar Pradesh.

Brief Scores:

At Bhubaneswar: Rajasthan 135 all out (Mahipal Lomror 85, Rahul Chahar 18, Basant Mohanty 6-20, Rajesh Mohanty 3-63) versus Odisha 78/4 (Debasish Samantray 30 not out, T M Haq 2-8). Odisha trail by 57 runs.

At Agartala: Tripura 247/7 (Pratyush Singh 98 not out, Nirupam Chowdhary 44, Amit Verma 3-56) versus Goa.

At New Delhi (Air Force Complex Ground Palam): Assam 190/7 (Amit Sinha 51 not out, Gokul Sharma 49, Sachidanand Pandey 3-65) versus Services.

At Lucknow: Jharkhand 278/6 (Ishank Jaggi 76 not out, Shahbaz Nadeem 70 not out, Dhruv Pratap Singh 4-76) versus Uttar Pradesh.

At Rohtak: Jammu and Kashmir 161 (Obaid Haroon 26, Ian Chauhan 23, A K Chahal 3-31) versus Haryana 129/5 (R P Sharma 41, Himanshu Rana 29, Umar Nazir 4-43). Haryana trail by 32 runs. 

Group B encounters:

 All-rounder Vijay Shankar stood tall among the ruins with a knock of 71 as Tamil Nadu struggled to 213 for 9 against Punjab on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group 'B' match here Friday.

Sent in to bat by the host, the Tamil Nadu openers were given a stern test by pacers Manpreet Singh Grewal, Sandeep Sharma and Baltej Singh, who made good use of the conditions.
Grewal bowled superbly to finish with figures of 5 for 56 to leave the visiting side in danger of being bowled out for a below-par total. He made use of the favourable conditions to trouble most of the batsmen and was rewarded with wickets.

Left-hander Abhinav Mukund had a harrowing time at the crease before edging one to wicketkeeper Abhishek Gupta for 5 (31 balls).N Jagadeesan, pushed up to open the innings as M Kaushik Gandhi was dropped, tried to hit his way out of trouble, but was trapped LBW by Baltej for 19 (42 balls) in the 15th over, to leave Tamil Nadu tottering at 31 for 3.Baltej struck two balls later, castling the in-form TN captain Baba Indrajith for duck, sending the stumps flying.

The experienced Dinesh Karthik (26) joined Baba Aparajith in the middle and the two looked to repair the damage. They did succeed in their attempt to a certain extent before Karthik was castled by Baltej.With the score on 111, Aparajith was unlucky to see a defensive shot bounce back and roll on to the stumps even as he looked on.Shankar, who shone for India 'A' in the recent series in New Zealand, played confidently and ran judiciously. He also played several handsome shots on both sides of the wicket and hit seven fours.

Vijay Shankar and the young M Shahrukh Khan (19) put on 44 runs before M Mohammed (27) helped the former add 58 important runs for the eighth wicket.Manpreet Grewal stunned Tamil Nadu with three quick blows in the

82nd and 84th overs, dismissing Shankar, Mohammed and K Vignesh (0).Grewal's strikes reduced the visitors to 213 for 9 after appearing to have recovered from the early losses.
Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 213 for 9 in 84 overs (Vijay Shankar 71, M Mohammed 27, Dinesh Karthik 26, Manpreet Singh Grewal 5 for 56) vs Punjab.

At Hyderabad: Bengal 99 for 2 in 38 overs (Abbimanyu Easwaran 57 batting) vs Hyderabad.
At Amtar: Andhra 173 all out in 54.3 overs (Jyothisaikrishna 74,P P Jaiswal 5 for 50) vs Himachal Pradesh 51 for 1 in 21 overs (P P Chopra 32 batting).