Ranji Trophy Roundup: Ghosh ton propels Bengal to 246/4 vs MP

Comeback man Koushik Ghosh cracked his second first-class century as Bengal posted 246/4 on day 1 of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match against Madhya Pradesh at the Eden Gardens here on Monday.

The 26-year old southpaw scored a 189-ball 100 (14x4) as Abhimanyu Easwaran (86) joined him to stitch a 136-run partnership.

Opener Abhishek Raman (14) got out cheaply in the first session.

But Madhya Pradesh ended the day on a positive note bagging two wickets -- including that of Ghosh -- in two overs before bad light stopped play in 82 overs.

There would have been further damage but sloppy fielding by Madhya Pradesh came to Bengal's rescue.

Meanwhile, India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja had yet another field day in his hometowm in Rajkot, taking 4 for 58 while bowling, and batting on 33, having rebuilt Saurashtra from a precarious 32 for 4.

Railways were 200 all out, while Saurashtra were 82 for 4 at stumps on Day 1.

Yusuf Pathan's 99 was the highlight of the day for Baroda who posted 311 for 9 versus Maharashtra in Vadodara.

Yusuf walked in at 70 for 4, and not only averted a collapse, he counter-attacked. Satyajeet Bacchav took 4 for 81 for the away side.

In Valsad, Manprit Juneja reached a century towards the close of the day as Gujarat were 260 for 3. Juneja is still unbeaten on 102.

In Delhi, the top order made some good scores with former skipper Gautam Gambhir scoring 44 to help the side post 305 for 8 vs Himachal Pradesh.

Mayank Dagar got three wickets - but two of those were decisions that left Gambhir and Ishant Sharma, the batsmen, clearly unhappy.

In Thiruvananthapuram, it was an one-man show as Andhra's Ricky Bhui made 109 to propel the side to 225 for 8 vs Kerala.

A patient century up top by Akshath Reddy has put Hyderabad in a very solid position of 249 for 3 in Tirunelveli vs Tamil Nadu.

In Group C, an opening stand of 159 was followed by a mini collapse, but the unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 91 has put Assam back on track as they managed 268/4 versus Tripura in Agartala.

In Bhubhaneshwar, Subhranshu Senapati (87) held Odisha together as they posted 256 all out against Uttar Pradesh.

It was a pace dominated day at the end of which Jharkhand have their noses in front reaching 120 for 6, after Haryana were skittled out for a meagre 81.

Meanwhile, in Plate group matches, former Delhi batsman Milind Kumar continued his fine form for Sikkim and dished out an all-round show against Nagaland.

Opting to field, Sikkim bowled out Nagaland for 179 in 52.5 overs with outstation players Ishwar Choudhary (4/65), Bipul Sharma (3/46) and Milind (2/21) taking nine wickets between them.

Nagaland skipper Rongsen Johanthan was their top scorer and rescued the team after Chaudhary took the top three for 30 runs inside seven overs.

In reply, Sikkim had a jittery start with 9 for two in the fifth over. But fresh from his career best 261 against Manipur in Kolkata, Milind continued from where he left and scored an unbeaten 78 from 66 balls (10x4, 2x6).

Sikkim ended day one on 120/5, trailing Mizoram by 59 runs.

At the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Dehradun, Uttarakhand pacer Deepak Dhapola was on song with 7/50 as Manipur folded up for 137 in 42 overs.

--IANS

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