Karnataka bowl out Odisha for 202
A round-up of the first day's action of fourth round Group B matches in the Ranji Trophy
ESPNcricinfo staff
24-Nov-2012
Buoyed by the return of their regular captain, Vinay Kumar, Karnataka began strongly, bowling out Odisha for 202 in their first home game of the season. Fast bowler SL Akshay, playing his first Ranji match of the season, was the most successful of the bowlers with four wickets, while Vinay, returning after missing the previous match with a hamstring problem, took three. Odisha lost their openers by the seventh over, and Govind Podder, whose second innings half-century earlier this week was crucial to their first Ranji victory in four years, fell soon after. Niranjan Behera, returning after being dropped following a poor run last season, top scored with 61, but Odisha collapsed after his dismissal, losing the final six wickets for 46 runs. Karnataka's wicketkeeper CM Gautam had a good day, taking six catches.
The score of 221 for 5 in 97 overs may not seem like much to be happy about, but Haryana will be pretty pleased with their batting performance on the first day against Baroda in Lahli. In their previous two Ranji matches, the first day's batting was horrendous: being bowled out for 55 in the first game and 66 in the second. They didn't tinker with the batting line-up, perhaps heartened by the improved performance in the second innings in the defeat to Odisha earlier this week. Twenty-year-old Rahul Dalal, playing his second first-class match, top scored with an unbeaten 61 on a slow-scoring day. There were also significant contributions from opener Rahul Dewan, and Sachin Rana as Haryana patiently progressed against a Baroda attack which is still without the injured Irfan Pathan.
Maharashtra's debutant opener Virag Awate, beginning his first-class career at the age of 31, started to make up for lost time by hitting a century on the first day against Vidarbha, who are without their most potent weapon, fast bowler Umesh Yadav. Taking the place of the 20-year-old Chirag Khurana ,who failed in his two Ranji matches this season, Awate played patiently to finish the day unbeaten on 111 off 302 deliveries. Vidarbha captain Sairaj Bahutule struck twice around tea but Awate and the Maharashtra captain Rohit Motwani safely played out the remaining overs. Left-arm quick Shrikant Wagh didn't pick up any wickets but finished with miserly figures of 17-10-16-0.
Delhi 287 for 1 (Chand 134*, Dhawan 104) v Tamil Nadu
Scorecard
Scorecard
Unmukt Chand is one of many prodigies almost mysteriously produced by Delhi cricket. Now only 19, he has already played 16 first-class games since his debut in 2010. That his second century came in his 17th match brought relief to the young man. Read the full report here.