Ranji Trophy 2015, Group A: Ishant Sharma puts Delhi in front on Day 1

Ishant Sharma worked up good pace and bounce from the Feroz Shah Kotla strip after Gautam Gambhir opted to field. (Source; PTI)

Ishant Sharma returned to competitive cricket with an impressive effort of 3/26 as Delhi restricted Vidarbha to 222 for six on the first day of their Ranji Trophy Group A match, in New Delhi on Thursday.

Ishant worked up good pace and bounce from the Feroz Shah Kotla strip after Gautam Gambhir opted to field. The lanky speedster bowled in four short spells and got wickets in three of those spells.

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For Vidarbha, Faiz Fazal (55) and Subramanium Badrinath (44) added 89 runs for the third wicket in 38.4 overs.

The pair steadied the innings from 16/2 after Wasim Jaffer (0) was run out without playing a ball.

The other important partnership was 71 for sixth wicket between Aditya Shanware (41) and Jitesh Sharma (35 batting).

However, the day was about Ishant showing that he is a class apart from other bowlers. While fellow paceman Pradeep Sangwan (2/34) barely got the ball to bounce above shin, Ishant was getting it to rear awkwardly. Ganesh Sathish got one that bounced and the resultant slash was taken by Vaibhav Rawal at third slip.

His second wicket was well set Fazal, who gloved it to Mohit Ahlawat behind stumps as it kicked up from length.

Shanware at the end of the day got one that had shade extra bounce and moved away as Ahlawat took a simple catch.

It was Jitesh, whose cheeky shots got the score moving after Vidarbha were stuck for better part of the day.

Brief Scores: Vidarbha 1st innings: 222 for 6 (Faiz Fazal 55, S Badrinath 44; Ishant Sharma 3/26) vs Delhi

Saha’s 90, Sudeep’s 145 take Bengal to 312/9

Wriddhiman Saha made a nice comeback from injury with a finely compiled 90 which complemented youngster Sudeep Chatterjee’s patient 145 as Bengal managed 312 for nine against defending champions Karnataka in their opening Ranji Trophy match, here today.

Put into bat, Bengal slumped to 41 for four before left-handed Sudeep and India’s Test specialist Wriddhiman conjured a 173 run partnership for the fifth wicket in 48.1 overs to take Bengal to a respectable total.

Brief Scores:

Bengal 1st Innings 312/9 in 88 overs (Sudeep Chatterjee 145, Wriddhiman Saha 90, R Vinay Kumar 3/30) vs Karnataka.

Assam in command on Day 1

Assam’s bowlers stifled Rajasthan, reducing them to 147 for five in their first innings on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group A cricket match.

Opener Vineet Saxena top-scored for Rajasthan with a 143-ball 42, which included seven hits to the fence.

Rajesh Bishnoi (33) and skipper Ashok Menaria (26) were the other notable contributors in an otherwise shoddy performance by the Rajasthan batsmen.

Brief Scores:

Rajasthan 1st Innings: 147/5 in 69 overs (Vineet Saxena 42, Jamaluddin Syed Mohammad 2/43).

Maharashtra 231/5 against Odisha on Day 1

Harshad Khadiwale and Ankit Bawne struck dogged half-centuries as Maharashtra reached 231 for five in their Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match against Odisha.

Medium pacer Biplab Samantray was the most successful bowler for Odisha, returning impressive figures of three for 31 in 10 overs at the Barabati Stadium, the venue for the second T20 match between India and South Africa in the ongoing series that was marred by crowd disruptions.

At stumps on day 1, Rahul Tripathi was batting on 41 while Chirag Khurana was giving him company on 18.