Bowlers give Hyderabad control

Led by Mohammed Khader and Anwar Ahmed, Hyderabad skittled Goa for 147 on the first day of their Ranji Trophy game in Porvorim. Khader and Ahmed combined to take 6 for 50, and India spinner Pragyan Ojha took 2 for 43, as the hosts failed to generate any momentum. Swapnil Asnodkar, returned after serving his two-match ban for calling off a potentially achievable chase against Maharashtra, returned to the side, but failed to make an impact, falling for 8 as Goa crawled to 22 for 1 from 14.3 overs. The scoring-rate hovered around two for the duration of the innings, and only two batsmen managed to go past 20. Vaibhav Naik crawled to 23 from 81 balls while Abhishek Raut top-scored with 41 from 78 balls. Akshath Reddy got Hyderabad's reply off to a positive start, remaining unbeaten on 41 as the visitors ended the day on 61 for 2.

Dheeraj Jadhav's 18th first-class century and a supporting hand from Amit Sinha gave Assam the first-day honours against Jharkhand at the Railway Stadium in Dhanbad. Assam began well after choosing to bat, their openers Jadhav and Pallavkumar Das adding 58. Sinha went along patiently at No.3, reaching 79 by the close off 198 balls, and guiding Assam to 234 for 3. Jadhav and Sinha put on 135 for the second wicket before the centurion fell for 102, dismissed by Samar Qadri who picked up two wickets. Sibsankar Roy fell cheaply but Sinha saw Assam through to the close with no further hiccups.

Andhra Pradesh made the Kerala batsmen struggle on a rain-curtailed day at the Nehru Stadium in Kochi. Left-arm medium-pacer Takkami Atchuta Rao and left-arm spinner Shankara Rao. Takkami did the early damage, dismissing opener VA Jagadeesh and No.3 Robert Fernandez off successive deliveries in the eighth over. Those early strikes slowed down the innings considerably. Though the Kerala batsmen consumed several deliveries, their batting stagnated, and AP made steady inroads to reduce them to 95 for 5 in the 58th over. That became 110 for 6 soon after, Takkami ending the day with three and Shankara with two.

Jammu and Kashmir batted out the first day at the Chatrapati Shivaji Stadium in Ratnagiri, reaching 302 for 8, against the in-form Maharashtra. Opener Adil Rishi top-scored with 88, backed up by important contributions along the way. He added 116 with wicketkeeper Manish Dogra, and was the third wicket to fall, with the score on 166. For Maharashtra, left-arm spinner Akshya Darekar grabbed 4 for 60 and his team would have felt confident of bowling out J&K for under 300 after reducing them to 236 for 7 at one stage. Captain Hardeep Singh and Samiullah Beigh, however, added 59 for the eighth wicket that made it possible for J&K to reach 302 at the close.

Vidarbha had the better of the first day against Tripura at the Maharaja Bir Bikram College Stadium in Agartala. Medium-pacer Sandeep Singh picked up four wickets to help restrict Tripura to 246 for 7 at stumps on the first day. Opener Rajib Saha made 77 and wicketkeeper Vinayak Samant also scored a half-century; this, after Tripura were struggling at 38 for 3 at one stage. Debabrata Chowdhury and Udit Patel chipped in with 37 and 38 respectively, ensuring Tripura reached a respectable score at stumps.

A determined rear-guard action from the lower order rescued Himachal Pradesh from 95 for 5 and took them 262 for 6 at the close of the first day against Services in Dharamsala. Having been put in, Himachal lost wickets at regular intervals and when Nishan Singh removed Sridharan Sriram for a painstaking 16 from 94 balls, it looked like the hosts would capitulate quickly. However, captain Ajay Ratra and Amit Kumar turned things around with a 112-run partnership for the sixth wicket before Ratra became Nishan's third wicket of the day, caught behind for 52. Kumar (76*) then found another willing ally in Rishi Dhawan (29*), and the pair addeda further 55 to give their side a share of the honours on the day.