Bengal and Mumbai dominated the opening day of the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals in Bengaluru. Young Sudip Gharami of Bengal and debutant Suved Parkar of Mumbai shone on the opening day of the quarter-finals stage with a hundred each.
At the Just Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, Jharkhand won the toss and opted to bowl but Saurabh Tiwary’s decision backfired as Bengal openers made merry stitching a 132-run stand. While Abhishek Raman hit 41 before getting retired hurt, captain Abhimanyu Easwaran, who has been on the fringes of the senior national team, hit a solid 65.
Sudip Kumar Gharani scored his maiden first-class hundred, remaining unbeaten on 106 while stitching a 168-run unbeaten stand with Anustup Majumdar who hit 85 not out in just 139 balls.
Bengal, who are without senior wicketkeeper batter Wriddhiman Saha, ended Day 1 on 310 for 1, dominating the Jharkhand bowling unit, which has skillful left-arm spinners Shahbaz Nadeem and Anukul Roy. Sushant Mishra picked up the only wicket that fell on Day 1.
KARNATAKA BATTERS FAIL AT HOME
Meanwhile, At the KSCA Cricket Ground in Alur, Karnataka batters failed on a decent batting pitch against a high-quality Uttar Pradesh bowling unit.
After being sent into bat, opener Ravikumar Samarth hit a quickfire 57 off just 81 balls but there was very little contribution from the rest of the top stars in the powerful batting unit. Opener Mayank Agarwal’s poor run continued as the Punjab Kings captain got out for just 10 while Karun Nair managed just 29.
K Siddharth got going but he too failed to convert a start into a big knock, getting out to Shivam Mavi for 37. The young pacer broke the back of Karnataka’s batting unit with 3 wickets, including that of Agarwal and Nair.
Captain Manish Pandey managed just 27 while Srinivas Sharath, the wicketkeeper-batter, got out for 0. K Gowtham fell for 12 as Karnataka reached Stumps on Day 1 at 213/7 with Shreyas Gopal and Vijaykumar remaining unbeaten on 26 and 12, respectively.
Along with Mavi, left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar impressed, picking up 4/67 in 29 overs he bowled on Day 1.
SUVED PARKAR SHINES FOR MUMBAI
Meanwhile, at KSCA Cricket Ground 2 in Alur, debutant Suved Parkar hit a stroke-filled 104 to guide Mumbai to a strong 304 for 3 at Stumps on Day 1 against Uttarakhand.
Armaan Jaffer (60) and Sarfaraz Khan (69 not out) also slammed half-centuries as the 41-time Ranji Trophy winners dominated the day and the trio justified skipper Prithvi Shaw’s decision to bat first.
Parkar, who got a life, anchored the innings. The 21-year right-handed batter, who has played for India U-19, struck eight boundaries and two sixes in his 218-ball knock.
On the day, he also joined the likes of his skipper and coach Amol Mazumdar to score a hundred on Ranji debut.
Along with Jaffer, Parkar rallied the Mumbai innings with a 112-run third-wicket stand after his team was in a spot of bother at 64/2, having lost both openers Shaw (21) and Yashashvi Jaiswal (35) cheaply.
GILL FAILS FOR PUNJAB
Meanwhile, Punjab were bundled out for 219 in just 71.3 overs against Madhya Pradesh in Alur on Day 1 of their quarter-final match.
India opener Shubman Gill, who is part of the squad for the England tour, failed with the bat, managing just 9 runs. Captain Abhishek Sharma and Anmolpreet Singh top-scored with 47 each while the likes of Mandeep Singh and Gurkeerat Singh failed to get going.
For Madhya Pradesh, Puneet Datey and Anubhav Agarwal picked up 3 wickets each to decimate the Punjab batting unit.