Vidarbha, Haryana begin Ranji season with emphatic wins

by Cricbuzz Staff • Last updated on

Rajat Patidar registered his maiden first-class double ton © Getty

Outright results

After putting up a massive total, Vidarbha's bowlers got the job done on the third day by picking up 17 wickets to blow Nagaland away for a massive innings victory. The defending champions as a result have kickstarted the new season in style. Nagaland were first bowled out for just 171 following Nachiket Bhute's five-wicket haul and when asked to follow on, Harsh Dubey kept striking at regular intervals to finish with a four-fer that saw Nagaland collapse to just 113.

Nishant Sindhu and Nikhil Kashyap shared nine wickets between them as Railways were bowled out for 152 on the third day, to lose by 96 runs. Haryana, who were 201/9 by stumps on the second day, added just four more runs to their tally, leaving Parth Vats stranded on 110* but that didn't matter much as they coasted to an easy win. Vats was named player of the match for his hundred and the fifty in the first innings in a low-scoring game.

Best batting performances

Rajat Patidar cashed in to bring up his maiden double century in first-class cricket as Madhya Pradesh took charge of their contest against Punjab. Resuming at 305/6, Patidar found handy contributors lower down the order in the form of Saransh Jain and Sagar Solanki before Arshad Khan smacked five sixes in his unbeaten 60. Patidar at the other end brought up his double ton and remained unbeaten on 205 as MP finished the day with a lead of 289.

Mitesh Patel's unbeaten century put Baroda in control against Odisha by stumps on day three. Resuming at 127/2, Baroda rode on opener Shivalik Sharma's hundred but a mini collapse saw them get reduced to 244/5 which is when Mitesh took charge to guide his side to 413/7 by stumps, ensuring his side fetched the first-innings lead.

Rinku Singh rallied with the middle order to help Uttar Pradesh stay on course for a first-innings lead but Andhra will still fancy their chances of getting the job done on the final day given they have a 176-run cushion. Rinku joined the crease at 146/3 and soon saw his side get reduced to 220/6 before smashing an unbeaten 82 by stumps.

Skipper Tilak Varma was out for a two-ball duck but contributions from Tanmay Agarwal, Aniketh Reddy and the lower order kept Hyderabad afloat against Delhi. Agarwal smashed 132 and Aniketh hit 87 off just 100 balls as Hyderabad went into stumps at 400/7, still comfortably trailing by 129 runs.

Best bowling performances

Shreyas Gopal picked up a stunning eight-wicket haul on the third day against Saurashtra. Resuming at 200/4, Saurashtra continued to motor along before the legspinner broke the stand and from thereon he continued to pick up wickets to bowl them out for 376. His heroics couldn't prevent Saurashtra from fetching a four-run lead though in the first innings.

Devandra Singh Bora picked up a six-wicket haul to help Uttarakhand bowl out Bengal for 323 but the home side had fetched a lead of 110 by then. Uttarakhand's batters came up with a much better response though in their second essay to wipe out the deficit and go into stumps with a lead of 55 runs with 8 wickets in hand. Mohammed Shami sent down 15 overs for no wickets.

Manav Suthar ran riot to put Rajasthan firmly on top against Chhattisgarh by stumps. Rajasthan first managed to eke out a first-innings lead of 54 before Suthar removed the Chhattisgarh top four to reduce them to 64/4 by stumps.

An entertaining 14-wicket day has paved way for a riveting finish in Srinagar. After getting bowled out for 325, Jammu and Kashmir's Auqib Nabi picked up five wickets - including that of Ajinkya Rahane for a duck to bowl Mumbai out for just 181. With a target of 243 in front of them, the home side wiped out 21 runs for the loss of one wicket.

Riyan Parag picked up four wickets to ensure Gujarat collapsed from 201/0 to 382 all out on the third day but has a massive job with the bat in hand on the final day to pull off a miracle. Despite the collapse, Gujarat did enough to fetch a first innings lead and remove the Assam top order before stumps to leave the visitors still trailing by 44 runs.

Tamil Nadu find themselves on the brink of a massive defeat against Jharkhand after their batters continued to flounder. Resuming at 18/5, TN were bowled out for just 93 in their first innings with Jatin Pandey completing a five-wicket haul. Asked to bat again, TN were reduced to 52/3 by stumps, trailing by a mammoth 274 runs.

Jalaj Saxena prevented his former team Kerala from fetching the crucial first-innings lead. Saxena picked up three wickets to bowl Kerala out for 219 as they fell short of Maharashtra's first innings total by 20 runs as Sanju Samson's fifty went in vain. Maharashtra's openers then went on to make a strong start with Prithvi Shaw racing to an unbeaten 37 by stumps.

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