Gautam hits 93 as Rajasthan end day 1 at 221/5 against UP

Opener Amitkumar Gautam struck a patient 93 as Rajasthan ended the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group C match against Uttar Pradesh at a decent 221/5 here Wednesday.

Rajasthan came into the game after winning their first three encounters on the trot and are placed at the top in the points table for the Group.

Asked to bat, the visitors lost two early wickets and were reduced to 17-2.

But No 4 Robin Bist (68 retired hurt off 138 balls) joined forces with Gautam, a promising right-handed batsman, as the duo steered the side out of trouble.

Gautam paced his innings well as he and Bist took the UP bowlers to task at the Green Park Stadium. During his 232- ball stay at the crease, the 23-year-old hit 10 fours and three sixes to compile 93.

But he was unlucky to miss out on what could have been his fifth first-class hundred, falling short of the three- figure mark by just seven runs.

Rajasthan skipper Mahipal Lomror also chipped in with a valuable 36, but his team, which was once at 214/3, lost two quick wickets to end the day at 221/5 as the UP bowlers later made a comeback of sorts.

At stumps, Rajesh Bishnoi Junior (2) and T M Ul Haq (0) held the fort.

For the hosts, right-arm medium pacer Ankit Rajpoot was the star bowler as he returned with figures of 4-31.

Meanwhile, at Cuttack, Odhishas right-arm medium pacer bowler Suryakant Pradhan wreaked havoc on the Tripura side, picking up seven wickets.

Tripura were bowled out for a meagre 122.

At Palam in New Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir batsmen yet again put up a disastrous show as they were bowled out for just 95 against Services.

Services are 131/3 in their first essay as they lead J&K by 36 runs.

At Guwahati, Assam finished the day one at 215/6, with Gokul Sharma unbeaten on 51, against Haryana.

At Porvorim, Goa rode on Amit Vermas unbeaten 131 to end the opening day at 237/2 against Jharkhand.

Brief scores: At Kanpur: Rajasthan 221/5 (A V Gautam 93, Robin Bist 68 retired hurt, Ankit Rajpoot 4-31).

At Guwahati: Assam 215/6 (Gokul Sharma 51 not out, Sibsankar Roy 49, Jayant Yadav 2-37) versus Haryana.

At Cuttack: Tripura 122 all out (Pratyush Singh 43, Rana Dutta 24, Suryakant Pradhan 7-40) versus Odisha 101/3 (Subranshu Senapati 36 not out, Rajesh Dhuper 31, Manisankar Murasingh 2-9). Odisha trail by 21 runs.

At Porvorim: Goa 237/2 (Amit Verma 131 not out, Sumiran Amonkar 84 not out, Ajay Yadav 1-42) versus Jharkhand.

At New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir 95 all out (Shubham Khajuria 44, Irfan Pathan 12, Arun Bamal 5-13, Diwesh Pathania 4-30) versus Services 131/3 (Aanshul Gupta 59, Navneet Singh 58, Parvez Rasool 3-35). Services lead by 36 runs.