After the lengthy ten-team Indian Premier League 2022 concluded on May 29, the action shifted back to the senior men’s domestic season. The second half of the split Ranji Trophy season, that was affected to due to Covid-19, began on Monday with all the quarter-finals taking place in Bengaluru.
Here’s a round-up of Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals:
Bengal vs Jharkhand
Jharkhand won the toss and opted to field first but Bengal found themselves in a steady position as they piled a massive 310/1 on Day 1. Abhimanyu Easwaran (65) and Abhishek Raman (41) initially stitched a century opening-stand. After Raman retired hurt, Easwaran combined with Sudip Gharami (106*) to build another significant partnership. Gharami and Anustup Majumdar (85*) continued to have a good time after Easwaran was dismissed for 65.
Mumbai vs Uttarakhand
Thanks to debutant Suved Parkar (104*) and Sarfaraz Khan (69*) and back-to-back century partnerships, Mumbai were in a strong position at 304/3 at the end of Day 1. Although captain Prithvi Shaw and Yashasvi Jaiswal were dismissed early, Armaan Jaffer and Parkar added a 112-run stand. The score was bolstered by Parkar who scored a century, while Sarfaraz brought up another half-century this season.
Karnataka vs Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh ended Day 1 on top as Karnataka scored 213/7 as the UP bowlers worked their way into the game. While most of Karnataka’s batters got starts, none of them stuck around for long enough. Mayank Agarwal (10) and skipper Manish Pandey (27) got starts but couldn’t kick-on. The top scorer for Karnataka remained R Samarth (57). Eventually, Saurabh Kumar (4/67) starred for UP with Shivam Mavi (3/40) giving him just the right support.
Punjab vs Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh’s Puneet Datey (3/48) was the pick of the bowlers as his performance remained vital in bundling Punjab for 219. After dismissing Shubman Gill (9) early, the right-arm pacer also took the wickets of Punjab captain Abhishek Sharma (47) and Anmolpreet Singh (47), who remained the top scorers for the day. Sanvir Singh scored 41 runs in the lower order to help Punjab go past 200 runs. At stumps on Day 1, Madhya Pradesh were 5/0 and trailed by 214 runs.