Ranji Trophy 2016-17: Round 5, Day 1 Review

Winter has struck India and most of the batsmen around the country were found on cold feet on the opening day of Round 5 of Ranji Trophy 2016-17. Except Ishan Kishan’s 162* for Jharkhand, no other batsman could notch up a three-figure score today while most of the bowlers enjoyed a good day.

Especially the game between Baroda and Tamil Nadu at Raipur saw 11 wickets fall on the day where Tamil Nadu bundled out Baroda for a mere 93. Baroda might find it tough to make a comeback in the game as they are playing without their regular skipper Irfan Pathan.

In Ranchi, Jammu and Kashmir (a team which scored a massive 612 in their previous innings) was dismissed for 162 by Himachal Pradesh. Even a top team like Karnataka, whose batting line-up features a lot of former, current and potential India international’s suffered a bad day with the bat. They were down to 189/9 against Vidarbha until they were rescued by a counter-attacking fifty from their no. 10 batsman Krishnappa Gowtham.

Kerala also kept Haryana under pressure with their impressive bowling performance in Jaipur keeping them down to 227/8. Other games saw some battling batting displays. Jharkhand and UP had the most excellent batting days whereas Mumbai, Rajasthan, Services and Chhatisgarh won’t complain either. There was no play in the games between Gujarat and Bengal, Hyderabad and Tripura and AssamSaurashtrasthra.

Overall, no team might have enjoyed a great batting day but there were some impressive performances to look out on the day with both bat and ball. Here is a look aat 5 of the best performers of the day:

Ishan Kishan – 162* v Delhi

Ishan Kishan had one of his finest days in his first-class career so far. Coming in to bat number 6, Ishan posted his highest Ranji Trophy score thus far and is still going strong. He scored 162* on day 1 and if there was a reason that Jharkhand had a very satisfying batting day today then it was him.

When he arrived, the team was under pressure at 80/4 but India’s former U19 skipper led the charge to take Jharkhand to 359/6. His innings also came at a good pace. He struck 6 sixes in the 213 balls he faced to score at a strike rate of 76. He is still unbeaten and will look for the first double hundred of his professional cricket career tomorrow and take Jharkhand to a big total batting with the lower order.

Krishnamoorthy Vignesh – 5/23 v Baroda

After making his first-class debut this season and playing only his 4th game today, Krishnamoorthy Vignesh has maintained his good form with the ball to put Tamil Nadu in real command on first day. The right-arm medium pacer first dismissed both the Baroda openers and then cleaned out the tail as Baroda were all out for just 93 in the first innings. He was also economical as his overall figures read 12.3-2-23-5 and was undoubtedly the best bowler of the day in the domestic circuit today.

Vignesh had already taken 13 wickets in his first 3 games and this spell will surely boost his confidence as well as cement his place in the side.

Akhil Herwadkar – 96 v Railways

Akhil Hewadkar scored a resilient 96 opening the batting for Mumbai and was unfortunate to miss out on a deserving hundred. His 96 came off 202 deliveries as Herwadkar battled for 66 overs in the innings. He played a pivotal role by creating partnerships in the middle and making sure that Mumbai has a satisfactory score at the end of day 1.

He has scored hundreds in his last games for Mumbai and would have surely enjoyed a third one on the trot but was caught by the substitute fielder Anureet Singh off leggie Karn Sharma.

Lalit Yadav – 5/67 v Karnataka

Just like Krishnamoorthy Vignesh, the 20-year seamer Lalit Yadav also had the most memorable day of his short career. His spell dismantled one of the most powerful batting line ups in Ranji circuit. He dismissed batsmen like Mayank Aggarwal, Manish Pandey and CM Gautam with his 5-wicket haul cracking the backbone of Karnataka’s batting with figures of 20.5-4-67-6.

His numbers were ruined a bit by the late assault of the Karnataka’s tailenders but it was Yadav again who ended their vigil ultimately by dismissing Sreenath Aravind and completing his 5-for.

Krishnappa Gowtham – 60*

Krishnappa Gowtham, playing in the side primarily for his off breaks saved Karnataka from an embarrassing situation by showing his mettle with the bat. He came in to bat when Karnataka were down at 157/8 and were staring at a blunt first innings total but Krishnappa had other plans. For him, attack was the best form of defence and he hammered an unbeaten 60 from only 59 balls with the help of 6 fours and 2 sixes.

Batting with Sreenath Aravind, the number 11 batsman who scored 26, Gowtham had a partnership of 78 runs which took Karnataka to fighting total of 267. He might have scored 60 but the purpose his innings served for Karnataka gives him the last spot in our list of the top 5 performers of the day. For Karnataka, their last 4 batsmen scored 146 runs while the top 7 could only post 92.

Brief Scores:

(Group A)

Mumbai v Railways, Mysore

Mumbai: 244/5 (Akhil Herwadkar 96, Shreyas Iyer 70, Suryakumar Yadav 60*, Karn Sharma 3/56)

Tamil Nadu v Baroda, Raipur

Baroda: 93 (Krishnamoorthy Vignesh 5/23, Aswin Crist 4/39)

Tamil Nadu: 79/1 (Abhinav Mukund 40*)

Punjab v Uttar Pradesh, Hyderabad

UP: 300/6 (Kuldeep Yadav 62*, Eklavya Dwivedi 60; Shubek Gill 3/52)

Gujarat v Bengal, Delhi

No Play

(Group B)

Rajasthan v Odisha, Patiala

Rajasthan: 249/5 (SF Khan 65*)

Delhi v Jharkhand, Thiruvananthapuram

Jharkhand: 359/6 (Ishan Kishan 162*, Ishank Jaggi 55,Varun Sood 2/48)

Vidarbha v Karnataka, Vadodara

Karnataka: 267 (Krishnappa Gowtham 60*, Lalit Yadav 5/67)

Vidarbha: 10/0

Assam v Saurashtra, Kolkata

No Play

(Group C)

Himachal Pradesh v Jammu & Kashmir, Ranchi

Jammu & Kashmir: 162 (Shubham Khajuria 48, Mayank Dagar 4/33)

Himachal Pradesh: 58/2

Andhra v Services, Indore

Services: 170/3 (Anshul Gupta 72, Shamsher Yadav 60*)

Goa v Chhattisgarh, Cuttack

Chhattisgarh: 102/3 (Amandeep Khare 58*)

Haryana v Kerala, Jaipur

Haryana: 227/8 (Rohit Parmod Sharma 60*, Sandeep Warrier 4/60)

Hyderabad v Tripura, Delhi

No Play