Ranji Trophy 2017-18, Round 2 - Day 1 Review

Ravindra Jadeja gets underway in the 2017/18 Ranji Trophy edition as his sensational partnership with Sheldon Jackson helped Saurashtra score big. On the first day of the second round, most of the big teams performed up to the expectations and after the India-Australia encounter got wiped out due to a wet outfield, Hyderabad’s encounter with Uttar Pradesh too received the same blow.

Saurashtra batsmen Sheldon Jackson (181 off 156 balls) spanked a breathtaking hundred against Jammu and Kashmir as they posted a mammoth total in the first 90 overs. Ravindra Jadeja(150 * off 223 balls) who has been craving to make a comeback into the side has knocked selectors’ doors with a brilliant hundred and he looks well set to go for a huge one on day 2. Saurashtra finished day 1 at 428/4 and they look well on course for a total in excess of 600.

Down south in Chennai, Tamil Nadu made an interesting choice by opting to bowl first against Tripura. The visitors did respond well as they managed to post a decent 244/7 on board. Under-19 World Cup winner Smith Patel and Yashpal Singh, both missed out on a well-deserved hundred as they got dismissed for 99 and 96 respectively. Nevertheless, they did manage to prove Tamil Nadu made a wrong choice.

Gautam Gambhir failed to do anything significant, but Nitish Rana, Anuj Rawat, and Manan Sharma scored half-centuries to help Delhi post 318/6 on day 1 against Railways. Although the batsmen would be kicking themselves for not converting those fifties into big ones, its a brilliant start for the side and they’ll try to get past the 400 mark on Sunday.

Yuvraj fails; disappointing start for Punjab

The only big side who failed to do anything significant on the first day of the second round is Punjab. Vidharbha clearly managed to get on top of Yuvraj Singh and his troops as they managed to restrict them to a paltry 161 in the first innings. Abhishek Gupta’s 93-ball 89 saved them further humiliation as they somehow crossed the 150 mark. Vidharbha finished at 106 losing just one wicket at stumps.

Defending champions Gujarat managed to dismiss Kerala for a below par 208 in the first innings. Piyush Chawla picked up 5 wickets in the innings and announced his arrival in a brilliant way. Gujarat lost two wickets before the end of the day and finished at 60/2 in 20 overs.

An interesting fixture between Madhya Pradesh and Mumbai is progressing quite interestingly as the former posted 250/5 before stumps. Naman Ojha was the star with the bat as he remained unbeaten on a brilliant 99. Ankit Sharma scored an invaluable half-century as they look to pile up a big total against a formidable Mumbai unit.

Bengal made a mockery of Chattisgarh’s bowling effort as they faced off to a brilliant start. They finished day 1 at 283/2 in 86 overs thanks to a brilliant hundred from Koushik Ghosh. Abhishek Raman agonizingly fell whilst batting on 94, but Sudip Chatterjee and skipper Manoj Tiwary played out the remaining overs with ease.

Brief scores

Bengal v Chattisgarh

Bengal: 283/2 in 86 overs ( Koushik Ghosh 114, Abhishek Raman 94)

Goa v Himachal Pradesh

Goa: 255 all out in 85.5 overs ( Rituraj Singh 55; Pankaj Jaiswal 4/59)

Himachal Pradesh: 2/0 in 2 overs

Punjab v Vidarbha

Punjab: 161 all out in 42.2 overs (Abhishek Gupta 89; Lalith Yadav 3/47)

Vidharbha: 106/1 in 37 overs (Sanjay Ramaswamy 52*)

Tamil Nadu v Tripura

Tripura: 244/7 in 90 overs (Smit Patel 99, Yashpal Singh 96)

Madhya Pradesh v Mumbai 

Madhya Pradesh: 250/5 in 89 overs ( Naman Ojha 99*, Ankit Sharma 63*)

Baroda v Andhra

Baroda: 247/7 in 90 overs (Kedar Devdhar 93, Vishal Solanki 61; Bandaru Ayyappa 3/46)

Gujarat v Kerala

Kerala: 208 all out in 66.5 overs (Sanju Samson 51; Piyush Chawla 5/69)

Gujarat: 60/2 in 20 overs

Rajasthan v Jharkhand

Rajasthan: 250/4 in 90 overs (Amitkumar Gautam 103, Tajinder Singh 66)

Saurashtra v Jammu Kashmir

Saurashtra 428/4 in 90 overs (Sheldon Jackson 181, Ravindra Jadeja 150*)

Karnataka v Assam

Assam: 145/10 in 59.1 overs (Krishnappa Gowtham 4/20, Shreyas Gopal 3/43)

Karnataka:  77/0 in 30 overs

Delhi v Railways

Delhi: 318/6 in 90 overs (Nitish Rana 89, Anuj Rawat 74, Manan Sharma 68*)