Tiwary’s unbeaten ton puts Bengal on top
Kalyani (WB), Jan. 19: Former skipper Manoj Tiwary hit an unbeaten 156 and Shreevats Goswami a combative 95 as Bengal recovered
from a shaky start to end the day one of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match against Hyderabad at a commanding 366 for five, here on Sunday. Desperate for an outright win to keep their qualifying hopes alive, Bengal, who chose Kalyani over Eden Gardens, found the going tough early on to be reduced to 60 for three inside 15 overs. Opener A Raman fell for a duck in the fifth ball of the day, edging Ravi Kiran
(2/47) behind the stumps after Bengal elected to bat. Skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran (12) continued his poor run while debutant Kazi Saifi, who was drafted in after his stupendous show at the U-23 level, could not convert his start to be dismissed for 27.
Tamil Nadu bundle Railways out for 76
A superb performance by bowlers R. Ashwin and M. Siddharth and a ton by Abhinav Mukund gave Tamil Nadu the upperhand on the opening day of its Ranji Trophy Group B match against Railways in Chennai on Sunday.
Electing to bat, the visiting
team folded for 76 in 39.1 overs as the experienced Ashwin (4/26) and left-arm spinner Siddharth (4/32) ran through the railways batting order.
At stumps, the hosts were sitting pretty putting up 236 for 4.
From 15 for no loss in the 8th over, the Railways batsmen came a cropper against Ashwin and Siddharth to be bundled out in the opening session of the game.
It was a dismal display by the Railways batsmen as only three managed to reach double figures with Saurabh Singh (22) being the top-scorer.
Opener Mrunal Devdhar (5) was the first to go, caught by Ashwin off Siddharth with the total at 15 and then the slide started. Vikranth Singh was the next to fall, caught by ‘keeper Dinesh Karthik off T Natarajan one run later. Ashwin and Siddharth took seven of the next eight wickets to fall, spinning a web around the Railways batsmen.
In reply, Abhinav Mukund (100) and fellow opener L Suryapprakash (50) provided Tamil Nadu a flying start as the leftright combination pounded the Railways attack.
Mukund was in his elements and cracked boundaries on both sides of the wicket and reached the century in his 100th Ranji Trophy game. He hammered 12 fours and 3 sixes to put Tamil Nadu in control.
However, Suryapprakash and Mukund were dismissed in the space of four balls with the score at 156. Dinesh Karthik settled in nicely and was batting on a 55-ball 57 (5 fours, 2 sixes) to extend the team’s advantage with the lead having swelled to 160 runs at stumps.