MP spinners rattle Mumbai after posting 240

Allrounder Jalaj Saxena and left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma shared six wickets between them to reduce Mumbai to 69 for 6, after Harpreet Singh's 59, coupled with useful contributions from the lower order, guided Madhya Pradesh to 240.

Mumbai openers Akhil Herwakar and 19-year old Jay Bista began reasonably well, putting on a 39-run stand before both batsmen fell in successive overs. Soon after, Saxena had Shreyas Iyer caught behind for 1, the batsman's first single-digit score after 20 innings in the Ranji Trophy. The slide continued as the visitors lost six wickets in space of 30 runs in eight overs.

After having opted to bat, three of MP's top four had starts but neither carried on to make a substantial score. Harpreet Singh, however, anchored the innings, hitting five fours during his 155-ball vigil. Offspinner Ankush Jaiswal, playing his maiden first-class game, took four wickets, including that of Harpreet, but a quick last-wicket stand of 56 in less than six overs dragged MP past 200.

Andhra 62 for 4 (Prasanth 29, Anureet 2-10) trail Railways 182 (Wakaskar 43, Cheluvaraj 42, Kishore 5-76) by 120 runs
Scorecard

Sneha Kishore, the 21-year old left-arm spinner, claimed his maiden five-wicket haul to skittle Railways for 182 at Karnail Stadium in Delhi but the hosts hit back, leaving Andhra at 62 for 4 at stumps on the first day.

Anureet Singh struck with his first ball to trap Srikar Bharat lbw before Mohammad Kaif fell in a similar manner, bagging his fourth successive duck this Ranji season. Koripalli Sreekanth and AG Pradeep also failed but opener Prasanth Kumar and Ashwin Hebbar ensured that there was no further damage.

Earlier, Railways lost an opener of their own - Ashish Singh - for a duck, before Saurabh Wakaskar and V Cheluvaraj steadied the innings with a 76-run partnership. Kishore then tripped up the middle order but Ashish Yadav and Arnab Nadi guided Railways past 150. The innings was wrapped up by seamer Bandaru Ayyappa, who finished with four wickets.

Overnight rains and intermittent showers forced the abandonment of the first day of the eighth round fixture between Tamil Nadu and Gujarat in Tirunelveli, which was hosting its first Ranji game after 10 years. The day was called off at 1.45 pm local time, without even the coin going up, after two ground inspections.

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