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Jadhav, Shaikh drive strong Maharashtra display

A round-up of the first day's play from the seventh-round matches from Group B of the Ranji Trophy

File photo - Kedar Jadhav hit 15 fours and three sixes in his 106-ball 115  •  PTI

File photo - Kedar Jadhav hit 15 fours and three sixes in his 106-ball 115  •  PTI

A rollicking hundred from Kedar Jadhav and a near-hundred from Naushad Shaikh led Maharashtra to 352 for 5, at nearly four runs an over, against Assam at the IIT-Chemplast ground in Chennai. Having chosen to bat, Maharashtra made a solid start through their captain Swapnil Gugale, who added 54 for the first wicket with Murtaza Trunkwala and 29 for the second with Shaikh before falling for 50 off 81 balls (8x4). Jadhav entered the scene and dominated the bowling, scoring 115 off just 106 balls, with 15 fours and three sixes, and adding 183 for the third wicket with Shaikh before falling to the left-arm spinner and local boy J Syed Mohammad.
Shaikh and Ankit Bawne then put on 59 for the fourth wicket before both fell for the addition of only two runs to Maharashtra's score. Shaikh fell for 97, having faced 163 balls and struck 12 fours, while Bawne went for 38. Chirag Khurana and Vishant More saw out the remaining 12.5 overs of the day, adding 25 runs in that time.
Amitkumar Gautam played a lone hand, scoring a century while the rest of the batting crumbled around him, as Rajasthan folded for 238 against Delhi in Wayanad. Only two other batsmen passed 20 - Salman Khan scored 31 at No. 6, and Deepak Chahar 47 at No. 8 - as Rajasthan, sent in to bat, stumbled against seamers Sumit Narwal, Navdeep Saini and Vikas Tokas, who shared the first eight wickets. Gautam was seventh out for 106, having faced 182 balls and hit 15 fours and two sixes. Left-arm spinner Manan Sharma took the last two wickets as Rajasthan were bowled out in 71.3 overs.
Having recovered from the thumb injury that had kept him out of action since India's second Test against New Zealand, Shikhar Dhawan made a solid start to his comeback, scoring an unbeaten 29 off 39 balls to drive Delhi to 37 for no loss at stumps. Gautam Gambhir, released from India's squad after the first Test against England, was batting on 6 off 28 at the other end.
Basant Mohanty's 3 for 46 led Odisha's bowling effort against group toppers Karnataka, who folded for 179 after being sent in to bat at the Palam Sports Complex in Delhi. Karnataka struck back thereafter, leaving Odisha 42 for 2 at stumps.
Karnataka made a reasonable start to the day, with R Samarth and Robin Uthappa putting on 52 for the second wicket, but gave Odisha an opening by losing both their openers to run-outs. Samarth and Uthappa fell in the space of three balls, the latter out to Alok Mangaraj's medium-pace, and Karnataka never really recovered, despite an 84-ball 54 (8x4) from their wicketkeeper CM Gautam, who was last out in the 67th over.
A hundred from Sheldon Jackson and 78 from Chirag Jani lifted Saurashtra to 301 on a closely fought first day against fellow strugglers Vidarbha at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi. Sent in to bat, Saurashtra were rocked by the medium-pace of Rajneesh Gurbani, who took three of the first four wickets to leave them 101 for 4. Jackson, who had come in at No. 4, stabilised the innings, putting on 66 for the fifth wicket with Prerak Mankad (28) and 60 for the sixth with Jani before becoming Gurbani's fourth victim for 116 (149b, 15x4, 2x6). Gurbani would go on to finish with figures of 4 for 85.
Including Jackson, Vidarbha picked up three wickets for 11 runs to leave Saurashtra 238 for 8, before Jani and Vandit Jivranjani added 53 for the ninth wicket. Jani was ninth out for 78 off 117 balls (11x4, 1x6). Jivranjani ended not out on 5 off 38 balls as Saurashtra lost their last wicket at the start of the 87th over. Left just one over to survive until stumps, Vidarbha ended the day 4 for no loss.