Ranji blog: Mumbai collapse after Jaiswal fifty; Nair ton drives Karnataka

Bharat, Reddy score fifties for Andhra vs Odisha in Cuttack

No play possible on first day between Baroda and UP in wet Vadodara

Back-to-back tons for Paul as TN claim opening-day honours vs Vidarbha in Coimbatore

Nagaland strike twice vs Jharkhand on rain-hit day in Ranchi

First day washed out between Maharashtra and Saurashtra in Nasik

Saharan marks captaincy debut with ton for Punjab vs Goa in New Chandigarh

Back-to-back tons for Karun Nair as Karnataka thrive vs Kerala in Mangalapuram

Rain, bad light hold sway in MP-Chandigarh fixture in Indore

Gharami, Gandhi fifties drive Bengal vs Tripura in Agartala

Only nine overs possible in Assam-Railways clash in Guwahati

First day washed out between Gujarat and Haryana in Ahmedabad

Rawat, Suchith prop up Uttarakhand against Services in Delhi

Khajuria, Dogra fifties boost J&K against Chhattisgarh in Raipur

Sangwan 99 leads Delhi's progress against Puducherry in Delhi

Mumbai collapse after Jaiswal's fifty against Rajasthan in Jaipur

Vasisht's ton rallies HP against Hyderabad in Nadaun

Taking over captaincy from Naman Dhir, Uday Saharan revives Punjab with a century against Goa in New Chandigarh. Despite wickets falling around him - Punjab have lost five wickets so far - Saharan held firm for Punjab, blunting Goa's attack after they had made early inroads. First first-class hundred for Saharan in his fourth innings. After leading India to the Under-19 World Cup title last year, Saharan adds another feather to his cap. Can he keep going for Punjab?

Akshay Karnewar is a player with rare skills in Indian domestic cricket. He's an ambidextrous spinners and is a capable batter too. He's bowling left-arm fingerspin to the right-handed B Indrajith and right-arm offspin to the left-handed Pradosh Ranjan Paul in Coimbatore.

Here is one from our archives on Karnewar

Paul, meanwhile has notched up back-to-back tons for TN. He has combined well with Indrajith to snatch the advantage from Vidarbha's grasp.

Rohit Rayudu, Ambati Rayudu's cousin, has picked up three wickets with his offspin for Hyderabad to expose HP's lower order in Nadaun. Rohit was in excellent form in the pre-season Buchi Babu tournament, which Hyderabad won in Chennai. Tanay Thyagarajan, the left-arm fingerspinner, has done his bit by taking two wickets. HP were 212 for 7, and have now moved past 250 wuthout losing further wickets. Akash Vasisht, who has been part of Rajasthan Royals in the past, is holding HP's innings together.

Both Pradosh Ranjan Paul and B Indrajith are out of the India A reckoning. Both batters didn't have great Ranji seasons in 2024-25. They have now joined forces against Ranji champs Vidarbha in Coimbatore to remind us that they can be good enough for the next level, but they need to be more consistent, especially with the competition for spots heating up.

Paul, especially, has hit consistency this season. After scoring a career-best 201* against Nagaland in the previous round, Paul is approaching another century in this round. Indrajith has also passed fifty and is moving towards a ton of his own. The pair has helped TN recover after they were reduced to 73 for 3 in the morning session.

Sure, Karnewar bowled Andre Siddarth with a beauty but are Vidarbha missing their premier spinner Harsh Dubey? Dubey is currently with the India A side in Bengaluru.

He is familiar with a number of TN players, thanks to his stints in Chennai's robust first-division league. Paul, in fact, used to be Dubey's team-mate at Vijay CC.

After making TN grind for the first-innings lead in the previous round in Bengaluru, Nagaland have made early inroads against Jharkhand in Ranchi. After a delayed start, they dismissed Sharandeep Singh and Kumar Suraj, leaving Jharkhand at 49 for 2 in the 15th over. Nagaland continue to show that they belong to the Elite Group.

In the absence of Ishan Kishan, who was belatedly called up to the India A team as cover for the injured N Jagadeesan, Virat Singh leads Jharkhand in this round. The hosts need their captain to step up with the bat too, especially after the early wobble.

Another game, another rescue act from Karun Nair. He walked into bat after Karnataka were reduced to 13 for 2 within eight overs. Nair has now brought up a century, with support from KL Shrijith and R Smaran. This is Nair's second successive century and third fifty-plus score in four Ranji innings since returning to his home state, Karnataka, from Vidarbha. He has made Kerala's attack toil away in Mangalapuram.

Bengal make slow but steady progress against Tripura in Agartala until bad light intervenes. They are 171 for 1 in 60 overs, with Gharami on 70* and Gandhi on 82*. After posting twin fifties against Gujarat at Eden Gardens in the previous round, Gharami is looking for his first hundred of the season. But both Gharami and Gandhi will have to wait for their landmarks. Murasingh has cycled through his bowling options, with only seamer Abhijit Sarkar managing a wicket so far.

Musheer Khan falls just short of the landmark. Gone for 49 off 131 balls. Jaiswal's wicket has triggered a collapse as Mumbai go from 100 for 0 to 156 for 6. Rookie fast bowler Ashok Sharma has been responsible for three of those wickets in Jaipur.

Mumbai, however, still have batting depth in the form of captain Shardul Thakur, Shams Mulani and Himanshu Singh. Count Mumbai's lower order out at your own peril.

In the absence of Deepak Chahar and Khaleel Ahmed, rookie fast bowler Ashok Sharma has grabbed his chance for Rajasthan, taking out Ajinkya Rahane, Sarfaraz Khan and Siddhesh Lad in Jaipur. He has had all three batters caught by keeper Kunal Singh Rathore. Both the bowler and the keeper are part of Rajasthan Royals in the IPL.

Ashok hails from Rampura village near Jaipur and caught the attention of Dishant Yagnik, who was part of RR's coaching staff, with his sharp pace. After a stint as a net bowler with RR, he broke into their main squad. Ashok has also had a stint with KKR in the IPL.

Mumbai go from 100 for 0 to 150 for 5 in Jaipur. Musheer Khan, meanwhile, has managed to stick around amid the slump. He's on 46* off 125 balls.

It's been a happy homecoming for Karun Nair. Since his return to Karnataka from Vidarbha, he has posted scores of 73, 8, 174*, and now 50* off 107 balls, with five fours and a six.

Allrounder B Aparajith, though, gets KL Shrijith at the other end for 65 off 110 balls, ending a 123-run stand with Nair. R Smaran, another bright talent, has joined Nair in the middle against Kerala in Mangalapuram.

Andhra have started well against Odisha in Cuttack, with KS Bharat and Abhishek Reddy striking up an unbroken century stand for the first wicket. While Bharat has notched up his third fifty-plus score this season, Reddy is working his way towards his first fifty of the season.

Earlier this year, Bharat went to the UK to play amateur cricket to keep himself busy after finding no takers during IPL 2025.

Even that stint only happened to come to him by chance. With Vidarbha's Apoorv Wankhade unable to secure a visa, because he hadn't played enough first-class cricket to qualify, Ollie Steele, captain of Dulwich (the club Bharat played for), rang up an agency that has a good database of available overseas players. It's during this process that they'd identified that Bharat had played enough games to qualify. Bharat ended up obtaining the visa and upon return to India, he had a strike rate of 183.19 across six innings in the Andhra Premier League. He then started the Ranji Trophy strongly under a new coach, Gary Stead. Will he attract a bid in the upcoming IPL mini-auction?

Just before lunch in Jaipur, Mumbai lose Yashasvi Jaiswal for 67 off 97 balls. He falls after hitting eight fours and a six. In the absence of Deepak Chahar (injured) and Khaleel (India A duty), Aniket Choudhary has stepped up with a spell of 9-3-15-1. Some joy for Rajasthan before the break.

Ranji champs Vidarbha continue to chip away at TN in Coimbatore. Just before lunch, Akshay Karnewar castles C Andre Siddarth with a terrific delivery. He ventures wide of the crease, gets it to drift towards middle. Karnewar tricks Siddarth into playing for the inward drift, but the ball turns away sharply past the outside edge near the shoulder of the bat to hit the top of off. Dream delivery for a left-arm spinner. Karnewar, btw, is a unique talent who can also bowl right-arm offspin. TN are 81 for 3 at lunch. Pradosh Ranjan Paul, who struck a double-century in the previous round, is unbeaten on 38 off 83 balls.

There was no room at the top for Priyansh Arya. But he started brightly from No.4. He ran away to 40 off 28 balls but Puducherry's professional Jayant Yadav stops him in his tracks. Gone for 40 off 30 balls.

Karnataka lost both their openers inside eight overs, but KL Shrijith and Karun Nair have countered those early strikes in Mangalapuram, Kerala's newest Ranji venue. After bagging a duck against Goa in the previous round, Shrijith has rattled away to a fifty off 76 balls. He's a serious talent and is seen as an all-format player for Karnataka.

Shashank Kishore caught up with Shrijith earlier this year. Here is Shrijith's story.

At the other end, Nair is firm and is moving to a fifty of his own, albeit at a slower pace.

India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal has tuned up for the upcoming home Test series against SA with a half-century off 80 balls for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy.

Jaiswal had started slowly - he was on 1 off 16 balls at one point - but has picked up the pace since. This is Jaiswal's first appearance for Mumbai since re-committing to the team in May, after he had initially sought an NOC to play for Goa.

Musheer Khan has also bedded in against a depleted Rajasthan attack in Jaipur. Deepak Chahar is reportedly out with injury while Khaleel Ahmed and Manav Suthar are on India A duty in Bengaluru.

Rahul Chahar, though, is in for his first game of the Ranji season after grabbing a match haul of ten wickets for Surrey in September.

After being asked to bat first by Tripura in Agartala, Bengal have been slow but steady, reaching 68 for 1 in 29 overs. They are without their regular captain Abhimanyu Easwaran, who will feature in the second four-dayer against SA A, and they lost Kazi Junaid Safi for a duck in the second over, but Sudip Gharami and Shakir Habib Gandhi have stabilised Bengal's innings since.

Bengal have started the season well, posting two outright victories in two (completed) games so far.

After opting first against Goa in New Chandigarh, Punjab find themselves at 35 for 2 in 16 overs. Punjab have lost both openers Harnoor Singh and Prabhsimran Singh.

Harnoor had marked his Ranji Trophy debut for Punjab with 170 against last season's runners-up Kerala in the previous round. But not much joy for him in this round, at least in the first innings. He's gone for 9 off 29 balls. Former Karnataka seamer V Koushik and Deepraj Gaonkar have struck for Goa. New captain Uday Saharan and his predecessor Naman Dhir are aiming to repair Punjab's innings.

After opting to bat against Kerala in Mangalapuram, Karnataka have stumbled to 13 for 2 in the eighth over. Both Mayank Agarwal (5) and KV Aneesh (8) are gone. Keeper-batter Shrijith is joined by Karun Nair in the middle.

Nair has made a rousing return to his home state from Vidarbha, making scores of 73, 8 and 174* in this season before today. Karnataka need another big knock from him as they look for their first outright win in this season.

IPL and DPL star Priyansh Arya has been handed his Ranji Trophy debut at home in Delhi against Puducherry. But he's been listed to bat in the middle order.

Arpit Rana has been trapped lbw by Abin Mathew for a duck. Sanat Sangwan, the other opener, is still around but is yet to open his account. Delhi are 6 for 1 in 6 overs.

In the absence of Ayush Badoni, who is with the India A side in Bengaluru, Yash Dhull has taken over the captaincy for Delhi. Fast bowler Simarjeet Singh is back in the XI in place of Navdeep Saini

India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal has slotted in at the top for Mumbai, in place of Angkrish Raghuvanshi. He has started cautiously and is currently on 1 off 16 balls. Musheer Khan has retained his spot at the top. Mumbai are 7 for 0 in the five overs against Rajasthan in Jaipur.

Vidarbha, the defending champions, strike in the first over in Coimbatore. TN opener R Vimal Khumar gifts his wicket to seamer Nachiket Bhute on his 26th birthday. He's strangled down the leg side. Inswinger, veering down the leg side, Vimal fiddles with it and tickles it behind to Wadkar, the captain and keeper.

Both Vidarbha and TN are dealing with injuries and unavailability of key players. Danish Malewar is reportedly injured while Yash Thakur is with the India A squad for the four-dayer against SA A in Bengaluru.

As for TN, their strike bowler Gurjapneet Singh is out of this round with a niggle while their premier wicketkeeper N Jagadeesan had suffered an injury during training ahead of the India A match in Bengaluru. Rookie keeper SR Athish is joined by Pradosh Ranjan Paul in Coimbatore.

Chhattisgarh have made an excellent start against J&K in Raipur. Chhattisgarh professional Ravi Kiran opens with a double-wicket maiden. He has sent opener Qamran Iqbal and No.3 Yawer Hassan for ducks. Ravi Kiran is now up against J&K's captain and professional Paras Dogra, who is the highest run-getter among active players in the Ranji Trophy.

After managing only four points from their first two fixtures, Karnataka are eyeing their first outright victory this season. They have shaken things up against Kerala in Mangalapuram. Shikhar Shetty, a left-arm spinner, has played just one first-class match so far while Mohsin Khan, an offspinner, has played three first-class games so far.

Abhinav Mukund earned a reputation as one of the most reliable batters on the domestic circuit, amassing over 10,000 runs in first-class cricket. He also played seven Tests for India. A former TN captain and now a sought-after broadcaster, Mukund sits down with Raunak Kapoor and talks about the many twists in his career.