Muzumdar caps record day with century
A round-up of the first day's action of Group C matches in the Ranji Trophy
ESPNcricinfo staff
17-Nov-2012
Amol Muzumdar capped becoming the highest run-getter in Ranji Trophy history by hitting a century against Himachal Pradesh in Nadaun. With B Sumanth also making a hundred, Andhra ended the day on 311 for 7, the most runs scored by any of the Ranji teams on the day.
Himachal had begun the day well, winning the toss and choosing to bowl, and partly backing up that decision by dismissing three batsmen early. With Andhra at 60 for 3, and Muzumdar not having made many runs since his comeback after an absence of two years, Himachal looked to be in a good position, but a 196-run stand between Muzumdar and Sumanth shifted the day's balance. Medium-pacer Vikramjeet Malik struck twice late in the day to even up the proceedings to an extent.
It was a slow but solid batting performance from Jharkhand in Jamshedpur, as their top three made half-centuries on a day when they scored at a mere 2.46 runs an over.
Jharkhand were looking to bounce back after their defeat to Assam in the previous round, and made two changes to their line-up, besides pushing up Sunny Gupta to the top of the order. The move worked as Gupta and Manish Vardhan put on a patient 123 runs for the first wicket, before both openers fell in the space of ten overs. After that, Ishank Jaggi and Saurabh Tiwary, two of the brightest talents in the state, added 79 in an unbroken third-wicket stand.
Table-toppers Assam, one of only two teams to have won both their matches this season, kept Kerala down to 211 for 5 on a slow-scoring day in Malappuram. Kerala could have been in a much stronger position if one of their top five had gone on to build on the starts they got.
Instead, the two openers Abhishek Hegde and VA Jagadeesh were both dismissed in the 40s, and Kerala went from 85 for 0 to 91 for 2. Each of the next three batsmen also got to at least 20, but none of them went on to make a half-century. Offspinner Arlen Konwar, who took a ten-for in Assam's previous game, was the most effective of their bowlers again, taking three wickets.
Tripura, one of the whipping boys of the Indian domestic circuit, endured another difficult day in Agartala as Ansuhl Gupta and Yashpal Singh hit centuries to put Services in charge. Tripura had moderate success early on, as they got three wickets in the morning session but from 66 for 3, Ansuhl and Yashpal put on an unbeaten 211-run stand.
It was Ansuhl's maiden first-class century, while Yashpal, for long one of the pillars of Services' batting, made his 13th. Tripura have just one point after two matches, and need their bowlers to put in a far better performance on Sunday if they are to move up the standings.