Gautam hits ton; 16-wicket day in Malappuram

Jharkhand 306 for 4 (Gautam 122, Tiwary 79, Dhawan 2-67) v Himachal Pradesh
Scorecard

Opener Shiv Gautam's second-first class century underpinned Jharkhand's strong batting performance against Himachal Pradesh in Ranchi. Gautam hit 17 fours and one six during his 122 as Jharkhand closed the day at 306 for 4, after choosing to bat.

Saurabh Tiwary proved an able foil for Gautam as the pair added 154 runs. The partnership came after the losses of Sumit Kumar (4) - bowled by Rishi Dhawan - and Anand Singh (30) - dismissed by Bipul Sharma. Tiwary and Gautam the fell either side of tea but Ishank Jaggi pushed his team ahead, staying unbeaten on 43, including seven fours, off 66 balls.

Left-arm spinner Dharmendrasinh Jadeja and offspinning allrounder Vandit Jivrajani, who was playing his maiden first-class game, took nine wickets between them to skittle Kerela for 166. However, the hosts struck back through Karaparambil Monish and Rohan Prem to reduce Saurashtra to 55 for 6 on a 16-wicket day in Malappuram.

Three of Monish's four victims were out lbw while Prem claimed impressive bowling figures of 4-2-2-2. Prem, though, had a forgettable day with the bat, as he bagged a duck, and was part of a middle-order meltdown. Sanju Samson and Sachin Baby too did not fire as Kerela frittered away a steady start set up opener VA Jagadeesh's second successive fifty-plus score. Kerela never recovered and crumpled to 166 with the spinners doing the damage.

Amogh Sunil Desai and Swapnil Asnodkar assembled a 225-run opening partnership to take Goa to 263 in Jammu. The pair made slow, but assured progress, keeping the Jammu and Kashmir bowlers at bay for large parts of the day. Desai completed his fifth first-class century before he was trapped lbw by Parvez Rasool. Asnodkar and No.3 Sagun Kamat, who hit fifty-plus scores of their own, then put on an unbroken 38-run stand before stumps were called.

Each of Hyderabad's top four made substantial contributions as they finished the day at 263 for 2 against Tripura in Hyderabad. Openers Tanmay Agarwal and Akshath Reddy added 70, after which captain Hanuma Vihari dug in, staying unbeaten on 94. He found good support from Balchander Anirudh as the pair ground out an unbroken 151-run stand. Seamer Manishankar Murasingh and left-arm spinner Tushar Saha took one wicket each for Tripura.