Ranji Trophy: Delhi, Punjab, Bengal, Mumbai in drivers seat

Delhi, Punjab, Bengal and Mumabi started well against their respective opponents to put themselves in the drivers seat at the end of first day in the seventh round of the Ranji Trophy cricket tournament.

In Group A, Delhi batsmen Kunal Chandela (64), Himmat Singh (99) and Lalit Yadav (62 not out) batted brilliantly to help their side post 336/5 against Hyderabad.

For Hyderabad, spinner Mehdi Hasan (2/88) was the pick of the bowlers in the Group A contest at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here.

On the other hand, in Group D, Punjab rode on brilliant centuries from batsmen Shubham Gill (129) and Anmolpreet Singh (129 not out) to post 395/2 against the Services at the Gandhi Sports Complex Ground in Amritsar.

In another match of the group, Bengal rode on centuries from batsmen Shreevats Goswami (139) and Anustup Majumdar (107 not out) to post 305/5 against Goa in the Eden Gardens at Kolkata.

In Group C, Mumbai medium-pacer Akash Parkar (5/32) bagged a five-wicket haul to bundle Tripura for 195 runs in the first innings.

Later, coming in to bat, the hosts posted 77/3 at stumps with opener Jay Gokul Bista batting at 43 in the Wankhede Stadium at Mumbai.

Meanwhile, in Group B, Gujarat started their innings steadily against Jharkhand, posting 262/4 at stumps.

For the defending champions, opener Samit Gohel (64) along with middle-order batsmen Manprit Juneja (51 not out) and Rujul Bhatt (51 not out) played fine innings at the JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi.

--IANS

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