Report

Yashpal Singh 250 powers Services

A round-up of the first day's action of Group C matches in the Ranji Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff
18-Nov-2012
Tripura 53 for 0 trail Services 563 for 4 dec (Yashpal 250*, Gupta 147, Paliwal 104*) by 510 runs
Scorecard
For the second day in a row, batsmen dominated proceedings in Agartala, none more so than Services stalwart Yashpal Singh, who cracked an unbeaten double-century to leave Tripura facing a massive first-innings score. On Saturday, Yashpal had been supported by Ansuhl Gupta, who was dismissed in the morning for 147, more than double his previous career-best. Today, it was the turn of Rajat Paliwal to make his maiden first-class ton and back Yashpal, who also went on to his career-best score. His previous highest had been 240, coincidentally against Tripura a decade ago. Their efforts pushed Services to 563 for 4, and they declared soon after Yashpal and Paliwal reached their respective milestones. Tripura's openers weathered 24 overs to reach 53 for 0 by stumps.
Himachal Pradesh 224 for 5 (Dogra 109*) trail Andhra 372 (Sumanth 102, Muzumdar 101) by 148 runs
Scorecard
Andhra's tailed wagged on the second day, with their final three wickets adding 58 runs before the innings ended at 372. Once again Himachal Pradesh had Paras Dogra to thank for keeping them competitive after four of the top six were dismissed for 15 or less. Dogra made his third century in three innings this season, following up on his 121 against Kerala, and 210 against Services. He was involved in two substantial partnerships to keep Himachal in the hunt for a first-innings lead. First, he put on 98 for the third wicket with Varun Sharma, before adding an unbroken 69-run stand with Rishi Dhawan. Andhra are still front-runners in the game, though, as one more wicket will expose the Himachal tail.
Assam 161 for 4 (Jadhav 76*, Tarjinder 55*) trail Kerala 264 (Konwar 5-53) by 103 runs
Scorecard
After a day of attrition in Malappuram, the game between Assam and Kerala were was evenly balanced. Kerala, who began the day on 211 for 5, didn't last too long and were bowled out in the morning session, finishing on 264. None of their batsmen made a half-century, though seven of them made it to at least 20. Assam offspinner Arlen Konwar completed his five-for to go top of the wickets tally for first-class matches this season, with 19.
Assam's top order keeled over cheaply, but from 56 for 4, Dheeraj Jadhav and Tarjinder Singh batted out nearly 40 overs. Both batsmen made unbeaten half-centuries, and Kerala will need to dismiss the pair early or the vital first-innings led points could be headed to Assam.
Goa 24 for 1 trail Jharkhand 360 (Vardhan 73, Deobrat 58, Jaggi 57, Gupta 53) by 336 runs
Scorecard
After struggling against Jharkhand's batsmen on the first day, Goa began well on Sunday by removing the dangerous pair of Ishank Jaggi and Saurabh Tiwary early. They couldn't build on that as they allowed 20-year-old Kumar Deobrat to make his first half-century. Jharkhand's biggest partnership on the day was only 35 runs, for the sixth wicket, but they still reached a solid first-innings score of 360. If Jharkhand progressed at a painstaking 2.37 runs per over through the innings, Goa began even slower, reaching 24 after 14 overs, despite most of those overs being played by two batsmen most known for their IPL exploits, Swapnil Asnodkar and Manvinder Bisla.