Kaul's unbeaten century revives Punjab
A round-up of the first day's play of the third-round matches of the Ranji Trophy, 2007-08
Cricinfo staff
23-Nov-2007
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Uday Kaul scored his second century in three matches - this one a career-best, unbeaten 151 - to help Punjab recover from two collapses against Uttar Pradesh - one at the top of the order and another in the lower middle. Kaul, the 19-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman, came in with Punjab struggling at 17 for 3 and was involved in two crucial partnerships with captain Pankaj Dharmani and Ravi Inder.
After Punjab had recovered from the early wickets to reach 224 for 4, they lost three quick wickets again. But Kaul, who hit 21 boundaries in his 232-ball stay, strung together another partnership, this time an unbetaten 84-run stand with Charanjit Singh to take Punjab to 342 for 7. For UP, Praveen Kumar, playing his first match this season, took 4 for 60.
Tamil Nadu 289 for 5 (Mukund 108, Badrinath 93*) v Karnataka
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Scorecard
Playing his first Ranji trophy match, the 17-year-old Abhinav Mukund scored his maiden first-class century to take Tamil Nadu to a strong position against Karnataka. His captain S Badrinath carried on the good work and neared a century of his own as Tamil Nadu ended the first day at 289 for 5 at the Chepauk.
Mukund, replacing R Prasanna in the side, came to the wicket in the first over at the fall of S Anirudha's wicket. In a 267-minute stay at the wicket, he hit 13 boundaries and put together two important partnerships with M Vijay and Badrinath. Although they lost R Srinivasan towards the end of the day, Badrinath held firm with an unbeaten 93.
Tamil Nadu went into this match without offspinning allrounder R Ashwin who fractured his left wrist and will be out of action for at least four weeks.
Maharashtra 249 for 7 (Rao 92*, Bahutule 74, Malik 4-46) v Himachal Pradesh
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Scorecard
Captain Venugopal Rao and former captain Sairaj Bahutule led Mahrashtra's recovery after they were reduced to 81 for 6 by Himachal Pradesh at Dharamsala. Vikramjeet Malik, Himachal's right-arm medium-pacer, took four of the first six wickets to vindicate Sandeep Sharma's decision to put Maharashtra in.
Rao and Bahutule, batting with due caution, put together 151 runs for the seventh wicket. Maharashtra ended the day at 249 for 7, with Rao nearing a century. Bahutule fell lbw to Ashok Thakur for 74, seven overs before stumps.
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Orissa 21 for 0 trail Andhra 179 (Shankara Rao 73, Jayachandra 6-37) by 158 runs
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Pinninti Jayachandra, Orissa's right-arm medium-pacer, took six wickets in 12.3 overs to skittle Andhra out for 179. In reply, Orissa got off to a solid start as they ended the day at 21 for no loss at the Barabati Stadium.
Scorecard
Pinninti Jayachandra, Orissa's right-arm medium-pacer, took six wickets in 12.3 overs to skittle Andhra out for 179. In reply, Orissa got off to a solid start as they ended the day at 21 for no loss at the Barabati Stadium.
It could have been much worse for Andhra as they were 65 for 6 at one stage, but G Shankara Rao provided the rearguard with what could be 73 crucial runs. He put on 62 runs for the seventh wicket with Y Gnaneshwara Rao and 49 for the eighth wicket with Mohammed Faiq. The star of the day, though, was Jayachandra, who came on second change, and ran through the middle and lower-middle order.
Delhi looked good for a big first-innings lead after their bowlers bundled Mumbai out for 166 and Gautam Gambhir led their batting reply to bring them within 7 runs of Mumbai's total with six wickets in hand at the Wankhede Stadium.
Pradeep Sangwan, Delhi's 17-year-old left-arm medium-pacer, was the pick of the bowlers as he used the early-morning freshness at the Wankhede perfectly after Mumbai had chosen to bat first. Sangwan, who took three wickets, was supported well by Ishant Sharma who also took three wickets. Prashant Naik was Mumbai's top-scorer, with 40 runs.
In reply, Gambhir started aggressively as he went about erasing the deficit in a hurry. He ended the day unbeaten at 81, which came of 113 deliveries, with 11 boundaries.
Saurashtra 220 for 5 (Shah 62*, Kotak 58) v Rajasthan
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Scorecard
Half-centuries from captain Jaydev Shah and Shitanshu Kotak took Saurashtra to 220 for 5 against Rajasthan in Jaipur. Saurashtra made a cautious start and runs came slowly for major part of the day. Shah, though, quickened the scoring towards the end of the day, as he made an unbeaten 62 off 88 deliveries. For Rajasthan, Afroz Khan, the right-arm medium-pacer, took two wickets.
Hyderabad 220 for 4 (Ravi Teja 72, Manohar 71) v Baroda
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Scorecard
The Hyderabad openers, who scored half-centuries, made the Baroda bowlers struggle and the middle-order carried on to take Hyderabad to a position of strength at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Ravi Teja and Daniel Manohar played contrasting knocks as Teja batted aggressively and Manohar provided the caution. They put on 131 runs for the first wicket. Anoop Pai, who finished the day with 41 not out, defied Baroda even as they took three quick wickets towards the end of the day.