Saransh Jain produced the standout bowling figures of the opening day of the third round of Ranji Trophy matches, taking 7-40 to skittle Bihar for just 99. Madhya Pradesh then replied with 261 for 3, built around an unbeaten century from Saksham Purohit.
Group A
Saransh Jain was the hero for Madhya Pradesh against Bihar, returning figures of 7-40. Bihar could only manage 99, with Mangal Mahrour top-scoring on 42. Madhya Pradesh closed on 261 for 3, with Saksham Purohit unbeaten on 113.
Priyanshu Moliya’s unbeaten 113 carried Baroda to 259 for 6 at stumps against Jammu & Kashmir. Umar Nazir took 2 for 28 for the visitors.
Uttar Pradesh were 67 for 4 against Pondicherry, with Madhav Kaushik on 23. Ankit Sharma had taken 2 for 14. Goa finished on 204 for 8 against Vidarbha, with Yash Kasvankar unbeaten on 51 and Darshan Misal also making 51. Nachiket Bhute claimed 4 for 40.
Group B
Prabhsimran Singh starred for Punjab with 81 against Hyderabad. Punjab posted 289 for 6, with Salil Arora unbeaten on 52. Rakshan Readdi took 2 for 53 for Hyderabad.
Shikhar Shetty took a five-wicket haul as Tripura were bundled out for just 194. Bikramkumar Das top-scored with 51. Karnataka replied and were 10 for 1 by the close.
Andhra made 231 against Chhattisgarh, with SV Rahul scoring 89. Jayant Yadav took 4 for 75. Chhattisgarh were 35 for 1 in response. Assam reached 235 for 6 against Saurashtra, with Denish Das making 90 and Sibsankar unbeaten on 59.
Group C
Ayush Badoni continued his fine run of form, hitting an unbeaten 106 for Delhi against Jharkhand. Delhi closed on 309 for 5, with Sumit Mathur unbeaten on 50.
Pulkit Narang ran through Odisha with 6 for 47, as Services dominated the day. Odisha were bowled out for 194, with Swastik Samal making 39. Services were 13 for 0 at the close.
Bengal struggled against Kerala, managing only 172 for 6 in the 50 overs that were possible. Ankur Paul made 66.
Gujarat were skittled for 223, with Siddhesh Veer taking four wickets. Maharashtra lost Prithvi Shaw for a duck and finished the day on 24 for 1. Abhishek Desai had scored 79 for Gujarat.
Group D
Chandigarh and Mumbai batters dominated against Himachal Pradesh and Haryana respectively. Arjun Azad scored 147 and Nehal Pajni made an unbeaten 126 as Chandigarh ended the day on 363 for 2.
Mumbai were 290 for 3 against Haryana, with Angkrish Raghuvanshi making 114 and Musheer Khan scoring 109.
Tamil Nadu were 71 for 3 in reply to Railways’ first-innings total of 184. Zubair Ali top-scored with 75 for Railways, while Sonu Yadav took 3 for 46.
Uttarakhand bowled out Rajasthan for 272. Devendra Bora returned figures of 6 for 72. Uttarakhand were 18 for 0 in reply, with Kartik Sharma on 73 in Rajasthan’s innings.
Plate Group
Nagaland could only muster 187 against Sikkim, with Joshua Ozukum making 59. Ankur Malik and Abishek Kumar each took 3 wickets. Sikkim were 30 for 1 at the close.
Fifteen wickets fell on the opening day in Manipur against Arunachal Pradesh. Arunachal Pradesh were dismissed for just 111, with Ajay Singh taking 4 for 27. Manipur finished on 165 for 5, with Karnajit Yumnam making 56 and Jotin Pheiroijam unbeaten on 52.
Meghalaya batters Ajay Duhan and Kishan Lyngdoh both struck unbeaten hundreds, plundering 385 for 2 against Mizoram. Duhan finished on 167 not out and Lyngdoh on 144 not out.