Ranji round 4, day 1 - Shreyas, Venkatesh hit 100s; Haryana collapse

In Bengaluru, a few late wickets have meant Karnataka have come back quite nicely after Anustup Majumdar's century kept Bengal ahead for much of the day's play at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. V Koushik was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets.

In Mumbai, Shreyas Iyer has hit his second straight first-class hundred to make a strong statement with the bat. He'll have a chance to go for the double hundred on Thursday. He missed the previous game against Tripura to nurse his shoulder, but comes back in and sustains the run of form that helped him score 142 in his previous outing two weeks ago against Maharashtra.

Shreyas wasn't the only Iyer to hit a hundred. Over in Patna, Venkatesh Iyer got to three-figures and put on a stunning exhibition of batsmanship along with captain Shubham Sharma, who also made an unbeaten century, as Madhya Pradesh flattened Bihar.

Jalaj Saxena continued to tirelessly drive Kerala single-handedly, first picking up a five-for that helped him move past 400 first-class wickets. Last week, he also went past 6000 first-class runs. He becomes the first player to achieve this double. And it has put Kerala in a commanding position against Uttar Pradesh, who were bundled out for 162.

Andre Siddharth (94) and Vijay Shankar (76) led TN's rally against Assam after they were reduced to 79/3.

Snehal Kauthankar's unbeaten 132 propels Goa to 318/3 v Mizoram

Sikkim reduced to 157 for 7 v Nagaland

Arunchal progress to 258 for 8 v Manipur

Meanwhile, Rajan Raj reports from the east: Due to poor light, the match between Jharkhand and Saurashtra has been halted. Until 2:30pm, there was bright sunshine in the game, but after that, the light diminished significantly. Despite Jharkhand getting a good start, the Saurashtra bowlers, led by Jaydev Unadkat, made a strong comeback. When the day's play was stopped, Jharkhand were 247/7.

The Bengal captain has led from the front with a superbly composed 19th first-class century, but he falls soon after to Shreyas Gopal.

Anustup is given out lbw, but he reckons there was some bat on it. Shreyas and Karnataka were pumped and celebrated animatedly; Anustup flung his gloves as he crossed the boundary line and made the way back up the stairs, visibly upset at the decision.

A threatening 80-run stand has been broken. But there's drama brewing. The next ball after the wicket, Shreyas and Karnataka vociferously appealed for an lbw decision once again, of Avilin Ghosh.

Clearly annoyed at the chatter, he steps out next ball to loft Shreyas down the ground for six. The noise has just gotten louder around the batters.

As many as 12 wickets have already fallen heading into the tea interval in fast-bowling country, where spin has made much of the impact.

Haryana, the Group C toppers, have been bowled out for 115 by Punjab, who desperately need a win to fuel a campaign that hasn't yet taken off. Three games in, they're still searching for their first win to fire themselves into the top three of what is the toughest group this season.

Nine wickets fell to spin, with debutant offspinner Jass Inder Singh picking four wickets, while Emanjot Singh Chahal, the left-arm spinner, picked up three.

In response, Punjab are 15 for 2. Can Anmolpreet Singh steer them out of choppy waters?

Bengal are missing Abhimanyu Easwaran, Abishek Porel, Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep (all either in Australia or about to fly out). And in what is largely a Bengal 'B' team, Anustup Majumdar continues to show his run-glut at 40.

V Koushik landed the early punches prior to lunch as Bengal were reduced to 21 for 2. Then Anustup put together a century stand with Sudip Chatterjee before Koushik picked his third wicket midway through the second session.

Since then, there's been no joy for Karnataka as Anustup and Shahbaz Ahmed have put on an unbroken 51-run stand at tea on day 1. Bengal are 172 for 3.

Anustup's cover driving has been imperious. He's been decisive against pace, has left the ball well when he has needed to, but hasn't allowed the bowlers to settle into any kind of rhythm. He's an aggressive batter most times; he hasn't changed the fundamentals of his game here.

Anustup is on 82, 18 away from his 17th first-class century.

Siddesh Lad was on 44 when Shreyas Iyer joined him at the fall of Ajinkya Rahane's wicket.

But since Iyer's arrival, Lad has slipped into the role of a second fiddle and rightly so. Iyer has taken the attack to Odisha, hitting eight fours and a six in his 61-ball half-century. This is to back up his 142 against Maharashtra.

So his form on either side of a short break to nurse his shoulder has been sparkling.

Mumbai 228 for 3. Lad on 66.

Jalaj Saxena has achieved an incredible distinction of being the first player to achieve the double of 6000 runs and 400 wickets in the Ranji Trophy.

Having breached the 6000-run mark last week in Kolkata, during the course of an aggressive 84 that rescued Kerala from 83 for 6, he went past the 400-wicket mark on Wednesday against Uttar Pradesh in Thumba.

The wicket to achieve the landmark was a big one, of Nitish Rana who was stumped. Jalaj also went on to complete a five-for, his 29th in first-class cricket. UP are 122 for 7.

At the moment, Jalaj is joint-12th, alongside Bengal's Utpal Chatterjee, on the list of highest wicket-takers in Ranji history. Realistically he could climb as high as seventh this season.

Just when the match appeared to have been slipping away, Odisha have struck back with two wickets in as many deliveries by medium pacer Biplab Samantaray.

First, he dismissed 20-year-old Angkrish Raghuvanshi eight short of his maiden first-class century in only his second match.

Off the next, he sent back Ajinkya Rahane, the captain, for a golden duck.

Raghuvanshi, only being given the opportunity because Mumbai have left out Prithvi Shaw on fitness grounds, hit 13 fours and three sixes during the course of a 135-run second-wicket stand with Siddesh Lad.

In comes Shreyas Iyer at No. 5.

Put him into any situation and he'll embrace the challenge.

Last week, Jalaj walked in to bat with Kerala tottering at 78 for 5 after being put in to bat. He counter-attacked to make 84 to push the game forward against a fired-up Bengal attack. He hauled them to safety as they declared at 356 for 9.

This week, on what is a rank turner in Thumba, he's driven home the advantage for Kerala by picking up three of Uttar Pradesh's top five on the opening day. UP 81/5.

Earlier this season, Jalaj went past 6000 first-class runs. He's also closing in on 400 wickets. Without doubt, he's arguably the greatest all-rounder, statistically, in Ranji history.

At 37, there are no signs of stopping.

Group C

Vijay Shankar's brisk fifty has lifted TN to 144 for 3 v Assam; they're scoring at over four an over. It's quite a recovery from 13 for 2 in the first half hour of play.

Yash Dhull's unbeaten half-century leads Delhi to 112 for 3 v Chandigarh

Saurashtra made to toil as Jharkhand 115/1

Chhattisgarh 79/1 v Railways

Yes, you read that right.

Spin, not pace, creating havoc in Lahli, which is known to be a seam-bowler's paradise.

And it's Chahal who rocks Haryana. Not Yuzi, but Emanjot Singh Chahal. A left-arm-spinner from Punjab who has picked up three of the five Haryana wickets to fall so far. And he's playing in only his second first-class game.

Over in Patna, Rajat Patidar has just walked in to bat for MP against Bihar.

It was quite an incredible week for him. First, he was officially retained by RCB for INR 11 crore - a 5400% jump in his earnings, up from his base price of INR 20 lakh that he was signed for midway through 2022 as a replacement player.

He celebrated his retention with a swashbuckling 68-ball century, the fastest by an MP batter, to wipe out a potentially tricky deficit against Haryana in Indore. MP couldn't quite pull off a win as they didn't have enough time to pick up 10 wickets but the former Ranji champs are surely benefiting from Patidar's presence.

You'd think he was a tad unlucky not to make it to the India A squad for Australia.

It's an important game for MP and Bihar - they're both scrapping the bottom of Group C at seventh and eighth respectively.

Right at the stroke of drinks, Karnataka have picked up their second wicket. V Koushik is the man again as he Sudip Gharami nibbles at an away-going delivery and is caught at second slip. He made 5 off 45. The bowling was tight, but not menacing to the extent that it warranted getting stuck like Gharami did. Bengal 21/2.

ICYMI - Koushik is a mechanical engineer by qualification. He let go a corporate career to pursue his passion.

Over in Guwahati, Tamil Nadu are three down early inside the first session. After a counter-attacking half-century stand with Vijay Shankar, Pradosh Ranjan Paul departs for 27 as they're 79 for 3.

Pranav Ragavendra, the 16-year-old, seamer makes his debut today. It comes at a time when TN are without the experienced Sandeep Warrier, who has been injured. Kuldeep Sen, who played for TN but didn't feature in too many games last season, is back with Madhya Pradesh.

Ragavendra will form a key member of the pace attack alongside another rookie, Gurjapneet Singh who took 6 for 22 on Ranji debut against Saurashtra last month.

Assam are currently last in Group D, having lost two outright while conceding the lead in their third. Tamil Nadu are currently third, with one win and two draws. With 11 points, they're two adrift of toppers Chandigarh and second-placed Railways.

Remember: the top two from each group makes it to the quarter-finals.

Having secured a much-needed win late on the fourth day, fuelled by Shreyas Gopal's heroics, Karnataka have begun their fourth round well. Having elected to field first against Bengal, seamer V Koushik has struck in the first over to remove opener Shuvam Dey.

The surface at the Chinnaswamy has a greenish tinge to it right through except at both ends that are considerably dry. Left-arm fast bowler Abilash Shetty has been handed a debut. He comes in for Mohsin Khan.

Meanwhile in Thumba.....

Mumbai beat Maharashtra by nine wickets here. Odisha are almost at the bottom of the Group A table but they’re pretty optimistic about taking on the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Iyer and Shardul Thakur.

Their captain says emphatically performing against Mumbai in Mumbai will definitely help garner a lot of eyeballs. Vishal Dikshit brings this snippet:

“Actually if you see, last year in Vijay Hazare at Bangalore, we beat Mumbai,” Odisha captain Govinda Poddar said on Tuesday. “And definitely in Ranji Trophy, in red-ball cricket, Mumbai is a very good side. But given a chance, the team which plays [better] on that day will definitely win the match.

"And for us, Odisha, if we perform here, then definitely our players are going to get more limelight throughout India. Because all the big media coverage, they cover Mumbai cricket. It's a very good opportunity for us to implement what we have, what we have prepared from last year. So we'll gradually implement our plans and definitely try to perform well.”