Ranji Trophy 2016/17, Round 7 - Day 1 Round Up

Published - 21 Nov 2016, 19:44 IST | Updated - 21 Nov 2016, 19:44 IST

2 Min Read

The 7^th round of the Ranji trophy 2016 kick-started today in a fantastic fashion. In what we can call as a bowler-dominated day, teams were either bundled out for cheap scores or were struggling to get going against the bowlers. Kerala was reeling at 188/8 at stumps against Andhra. Seamer P Vijay Kumar proved too tough to handle and reaped 6/37 to put his team on top.

For Kerala, the bulk of the runs came from one single individual – middle order man Mohammad Azharuddin – who scored a fighting 82 to save his team from a bigger embarrassment. The Chaudhry Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium in Lahli witnessed some crazy bowling performances today as the third innings of the match commenced on day one itself.

In a bizarre incident, Bengal after bowling out Baroda for just 96, could not take the first innings lead and were rolled under the carpet for just 76, giving away the advantage to the Irfan Pathan led side instead. Baroda, batting first were, rattled by Bengal fast bowler Ashoke Dinda who snapped 6/45. Baroda came back with a strong reply as A. Sheth bettered Dinda’s figures grabbing 7/36 to bowl out Bengal for just 76.

Karnataka also had a bad day on the field. Batting first, they could only muster 179 runs as a combined bowling effort from Odisha prevailed. Only CM Gautam, the right-handed middle order batsman, could manage a decent score, hitting 54.

But, amid all these crumbling scorecards, a couple of teams played in contrasting manners and batted really well.

PK Panchal (122*) dominated Mumbai as Gujarat ended at a comfortable 246/3 at the end of the day. It was a bad day for the Mumbai bowlers. Out of the eight men Tare tried, only Vishal Dabholkar (2/61) and Aditya Dhumal (1/72) could take wickets. Fifties from Manan Vohra (76) and Uday Kaul (56) saved Punjab from sinking against Tamil Nadu. Madhya Pradesh dominated Railway riding on the century from Nitin Bile (102).