Ranji Trophy 2023 Quarterfinals Day 1 Highlights: Karnataka leads vs Uttarakhand; Saurashtra 303 all out; Ricky Bhui scores 100 for Andhra

That’s Stumps in Indore. Bhui (115) and Shinde (83) have struck 190 runs between them. A day to forget for the home team. Things didn’t seem too bad with Andhra 58/2 after 15 overs but Madhya Pradesh bowlers lost track after that.

Samarth ends the day with a four and Karnataka sees its lead at seven runs. Samarth unbeaten on 54, accompanied by Mayank Agarwal on 65. Just a day’s play done and signs looks ominous for Uttarakhand.

Samarth follows his skipper and brings up his fifty. Six fours in his innings so far. This also sees Karnataka eke out a one run lead. It took only 26 overs to attain parity.

After Ricky Bhui, Karan Shinde moves closer to a century. He is currently on 78 off 198 deliveries. A stealy and patient inning. Bhui unbeaten on 111.

Punjab just had to see out one over. Dharmenrdrasinh Jadeja took the new ball and he found some turn. Three singles of the over to conclude the day. Trails by 300 runs.

R. Samarth and Mayank Agarwal have made short work of Uttarakhand’s first-innings total. Samarth, on 44 off 60, is nearing his fifty while Mayank is unbeaten on 57 off 74.

Yuvrajsinh Dodiya falls for 17 and Baltej Singh gets his third wicket. The 95-run partnership finally ends with Parth Bhut not out on 111 off 155 balls.

A 67-ball fifty for Mayank Agarwal takes Karnataka to 89/0. R. Samarth is at the other end on 37. Karnataka trails by 22 runs.

After being stuck on 99 for some time, Ricky Bhui gets to his century off 158 balls. Karan Shinde is at the other end on 59 on 168. A 165-run partnership between the two.

Bengal will not begin its innings today as Stumps have been called after bad light stopped play prematurely.

The right-hander drives through the covers for a boundary and brings up his 143-ball century, his first in First-Class cricket. Yuvrajsinh’s 38-ball five at the other end has enabled the duo to add 72 runs for the last wicket. Saurashtra 280/9 in 83 overs.

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More frustration for Punjab as Mayank Markande drops Parth Bhut on 93 off his own bowling. Bhut went for a slog sweep and got a top edge that shot up straight.

Mayank Agarwal (27) and R. Samarth (22) have given Karnataka the ideal start and cut the deficit to just 66 runs without losing a wicket.

Ashish Kumar is run out and that ends Jharkhand’s innings. A decent 20-run partnership for the last wicket as Kumar Suraj remains not out on 89. Akash Deep ends with 4 for 62 while Mukesh Kumar gets three for 61.

Mayank Agarwal and R. Samarth are off to a strong start as they colelct 23 runs in eight overs. Three fours for Samarth while just the one for Mayank. Karnataka trails by 93 runs.

Five wickets fell in the second session before Parth Bhut brought up his maiden first-class half-century to help Saurashtra fight back. Riding on his unbeaten 73 off 97 balls, the team went for tea at 248 for 9.

Resuming the session at 124 for 4, Saurashtra lost Chirag Jani shortly after tea as he was trapped leg before by Siddharth Kaul. The experienced Kaul learned from his mistakes in the first session and came back stronger in the second session, making an impact. It was a smart move by Punjab to get Kaul bowl from one end after lunch, along with Mayank Markande, who claimed a four-for. That strategy provided the much needed rest to Baltej Singh, and Kaul and Markande ripped apart Saurashtra middle-order.

Markande bowled frequent googlies which worked in his favour and one such delivery rattled the stumps of Snell Patel for 70.

Though Saurashtra lost eight wickets for 147, Bhut struck two crucial partnerships - with Chetan Sakariya and Yuvrajsinh Dodiya - to bail the team out. The tail-enders showed resilience and intent as Punjab bowlers failed to break the momentum before tea.

- Shayan Acharya

Ricky Bhui is cruising towards his century. He is currently unbeaten on 82 off 124 balls with Karan Shinde batting on 46 off 132. Their partnership now swells to 134.

A fighting 70-ball half-century for Parth Bhut and he has taken Saurashtra to a respectable and competitive total. Saurashtra 229 for nine in 67 overs.

K. Gowtham picks the last two wickets as Uttarakhand is bowled out for a paltry total. M. Venkatesh stars on debut with five for 36. Kaverappa picks two while Vyshak takes one.

Nadeem lends support to Suraj as Jharkhand closes the session out on 136. Suraj is unbeaten on 69 and will have an eye on a century. But only if he can find a batter to sustain from the opposite end. Three wickets came in the session, one each for the pace trio of Porel, Mukesh and Akash Deep.

Sakariya falls while trying a heave on the on side. He missed the full length delivery and it spun away from him to knock the off stump. 22 off 39 for the left-hand batter.

Saurashtra reaches 200. Some positive strokeplay by Parth Bhut has helped the side. He is batting on 35 runs. Sakariya has been crucial support to him and hit a boundary on his way to 18 runs.

A five-wicket haul for Vebkatesh M. He first gets Abhay Negi bowled followed by the wicket of Chandela. The No. 3 batter falls for 31 offf 103 deliveries.

Ricky Bhui brings up his fifty. Eight boundaries in his 79-ball stay at the crease. The partnership between him and Shinde, now at 67, has taken Andhra to 139/2.

Ishan Porel strikes! He knocks over Supriyo Chakraborty. Shahbaz Nadeem joins Kumar Suraj who is now batting on 61.

Akhil Rawat’s resistance ends. Venkatesh M gets him on 14 runs off 71 balls. Kunal Chandela 31 off 101 at the other end.

Parth Bhut has hit three fours and one six to raace to 21 off 17 deliveries. Brought some respite to the batting team after a flurry of wickets. Sakariya has been standing firm on the other end with 1 off 14. The next target will be crossing 200.

Saurashtra is falling like a pack of cards. Markande uses the googly to potent effect yet again. Snell Patel, the set batter, falls for 70. He had no clue on that delivery as it jagged back and clipped the leg stump. Patel was positioned to play the ball on the off side as he expected it to turn away from him.

WICKET! Mukesh Kumar breaks the partnership. Pankaj Kumar’s contribution ends at 21.

Siddharth Kaul gets his second wicket. Dharmendrasinh goes for 12 runs off 15 deliveries. He had just hit a four and went for another aggressive stroke with a cover drive. The ball hung in the air and Vinay Choudhary completes a brilliant low catch at short cover. Parth Bhut is the new batter.

Uttarakhand has managed to avoid losing a wicket so far. That’s the first thing it needs to do for a rebuild. Akhil Rawat has dropped anchor and is 3 off 34 balls. Chandela unbeaten on 24.

The runs have dried up post lunch. Just 11 runs off eight overs in the second session. Karan Shinde and Ricky Bhui at the crease.

Pankaj Kumar with three fours so far has moved to 19 runs off 29 balls. Suraj batting on 54 and the team’s total moves past 100. The two need to continue if Jharkhand is to get to a respectable first innings total.

Another wicket! Prerak Mankad hit a four off the previous over but is bowled in the next. He is completely bamboozled by a googly from Markande. Saurashtra in trouble now as Dharmendrasinh Jadeja walks out to bat.

WICKET! Not the start Saurashtra would have wanted. Siddharth Kaul gets the ball to move in from the seam. Jani looks to play it across the line and fails to connect. Given leg before. Replays, however, show it might have gone down leg.

Kumar Suraj gets to his fifty. 51 off 97 deliveries with five boundaries and he continues to hold the innings together.

Akash Deep strikes right after Lunch to pick his third wicket. Kumar Kushagra is caught by Easwaran. Suraj continues to lose partners.

Saurashtra went into lunch at 124 for 4, with Snell Patel batting on 66 and Chirag Jani on 7. In the windy conditions of Rajkot, Baltej Singh (two for 30) made the most of the opportunities and as dismissed Harvik Desai on the fourth ball of the day. Caught by Naman Dhir at second slip, Desai failed to open his account after Saurashtra decided to bat first.

As the Punjab players celebrated the early breakthrough, it was a challenge for Saurashtra batters to step up and forge a partnership and with Snell and Vishvaraj Jadeja (28 off 56) showing intent, they managed to forge a 77-run partnership before the latter was caught and bowled by the seasoned Mayank Markande.

Attempting a drive, Jadeja found an edge and ended up offering a return catch to Markande, who claimed a couple of wickets to put the home team under pressure. With the steady partnership broken, Punjab had an impressive passage of play just before lunch as a fuller delivery by Baltej saw Sheldon Jackson offering a catch to Anmol Malhotra.

Coming in at No.4, Jackson started off aggressively, hitting a couple of consecutive sixes to Vinay Chaudhary before his 18-ball-18 innings was cut short by Baltej. Failing to play on the frontfoot cost Jackson his wicket and also put Saurashtra under pressure.

And to add to the home team’s woes, Markande trapped captain Arpit Vasavada leg before without allowing him to open his account. Punjab, however, would be disappointed that it failed to go into the lunch with another wicket in its kitty.

Just a couple of balls before the lunch was taken, Anmolpreet Singh dropped a regulation catch of Jani at slips, denying Punjab to claim its fifth wicket in the first session.

-Shayan Acharya

Kunal Chandela 18 off 70 is fighting for the team but he’ not found much support from the other end. Kaverappa and Venkatesh M have picked two wickets each to dent the Uttarakhand innings at regular intervals. Mayank Agarwal will be pleased with his team’s position at Lunch after opting to bowl first.

Snell Patel’s 66 off 108 has been the highlight for Saurashtra in the opening session. Chirag Jani holds the other end before the break. Baltej Singh struck with the new ball in the first over of the day but a 77-run partnership between Patel and Vishvarajsinh Jadeja had Saurashtra cruising. Markande then produced two wickets and Baltej added another to allow Punjab to pullback.

Ricky Bhui with four boundaries has reached 23 off just 25 deliveries. Karan Shinde joins him after Hanum Vihari’s injury and is batting on 8.

Things go from bad to worse for Uttarakhand and Aditya Tare is the fifth wicket down. He is castled by Vidwath Kaverappa which brings an end to the 17-run stand between Tare and Chandela.

That’s the end of the first session. Kumar Suraj goes unbeaten, four short of a half century. He is accompanied by Kumar Kushagra. It was the opening spell by Akash Deep and Mukesh that dented Jharkhand. Upto Suraj now to consolidate on the start and rebuild the side’s innings.

Arpit Vasavada is caught leg before by Markande. He took a long stride out but read the line wrong. The ball was heading bang into the middle stump. Chirag Jani joins Snell Patel.

The Andhra skipper is struck on the hand by a bouncer. Goes off the field.

Vyshak gets his first wicket of the morning. Swapnil Singh departs for a duck. Aditya Tare and Kunal Chandela are the batters at the crease trying to resuscitate the innings.

Sheldon Jackson falls! He gets trapped in the crease and the ball nips just a little bit away from his. A nick to the keeper and Punjab gets the third wicket. Jackson goes for 18 off 18.

Now Mukesh Kumar gets into the thick of action as he removes Anukul Roy for just 4. Jharkhand’s slide continues. Kumar Kushagra will need to step up and help Kumar Suraj in rescuing their side.

M. Venkatesh gets his second victim as D. Negi nicks off to the wicketkeeper and walks back for 9. Kunal Chandela is holding one end up with 13 and Swapnil Singh joins him.

While wickets have fallen around him, Snell Patel races to his fifty in 68 balls to keep Saurashtra afloat in the first session.

A bowling change does the tricky for Punjab as Mayank Markande strikes in his first over. Vishvaraj Jadeja looks to drive a flighted delivery but ends up plopping a simple catch back to the bowler. Sheldon Jackson joins Snell Patel.

Jharkhand’s woes only pile up as Virat Singh, the skipper, is clean bowled by Akash Ghatak for just 6. Meanwhile, Kumar Suraj is looking solid on 37.

Abhishek Reddy’s brisk cameo of 22 off 21 comes to an end as he is trapped in front by Gourav Yadav, who ends a 37-run opening partnership. Captain Hanuma Vihari joins Gnaneshwar.

M. Venkatesh gets Avneesh Sudha for 17 in his first over, while conceding 11 runs. Uttarakhand will now need to repair the early damage as D. Negi joins Kunal Chandela.

Baltej Singh and Siddharth Kaul made the most of the early morning conditions as Saurashtra lost an early wicket after winning the toss and opting to bat.

Baltej claimed his 35th wicket of the season - the most by a seamer in the Elite Group this year - as he dismissed Harvik Desai on the fourth ball of the day, caught by Naman Dhir at second slip.

As the Punjab players celebrated the early breakthrough, it was a challenge for Saurashtra batters to step up and forge a partnership and with Snell Patel and Vishvaraj Jadeja showing intent, the team reached 16-1 in 10 overs.

Baltej, who turned all heads in this edition of the tournament, once again proved his class in the presence of national selector Shiv Sunder Das.

Gnaneshwar and Abhishek Reddy get Andhra off to a solid start. Abhishek has hared off the blocks with 20 runs in 14 balls with three fours.

Hanuma Vihar (c), Ricky Bhui (wk), Abhishek Reddy, Gnaneshwar, Karan Shinde, Ashwin Hebbar, Nithish Kumar Reddy, Shoaib Mohammed Khan, Prithvi Raj Yarra, K.V. Sasikanth, Lalith Mohan.

Aditya Shrivastava (c), Harsh Gawali, Shubham Sharma, Yash Dubey, Rajat Patidar, Himanshu Mantri (wk), Saransh Jain, Kumar Kartikeya, Avesh Khan, Anubhav Agarwal, Gourav Yadav.

Aryaman Sen edges behind to the keeper as Akash Deep gets his second wicket. Sen goes back for 4 after staging a brief resistance with Kumar Suraj (18*) in a 21-run stand. Captain Viraj Singh now joins Suraj.

Huge blow for Uttarakhand as captain Jiwanjot Singh goes for 1 as Vidwath Kaverappa strikes.

Baltej Singh removes Harvik Desai off the fourth ball of the match and Saurashtra loses its first wicket without opening its account.

Avneesh Sudha, Jiwanjot Singh (c), Kunal Chandela, Aditya Tare (wk), Swapnil Singh, D. Negi, Akhil Singh Rawat, Abhay Negi, Mayank Mishra, D. Dhapola, Nikhil Kohli.

Mayank Agarwal (c), R. Samarth, Nikin Jose, Devdutt Padikkal, Manish Pandey, B.R. Sharath (wk), . Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, V. Vyshak, Vidwath Kaverappa, M. Venkatesh.

Naman Dhir, Prabhsimran Singh, Pukhraj Mann, Mandeep Singh (c), Anmol Malhotra (wk), Anmolpreet Singh, Mayank Markande, Vinay Choudhary, Siddharth Kaul, Baltej Singh, Nehal Wadhera.

Harvik Desai (wk), Vishvaraj Jadeja, Snell Patel, Sheldon Jackson, Chirag Jani, Prerak Mankad, Parth Bhut, Vasavada (c), Yuvrajsinh Dodiya, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Chetan Sakariya.

Akash Deep cleans up Kumar Deobrat for 8. He gets the ball to shape into the batter, who looks to play it on leg-side and misses. Kumar Suraj joins Aryamen Sen.

Jharkhand 10/0 in 5 overs. Openers Kumar Deobrat and Aryaman Sen are off to a watchful start as Bengal’s pace trio has got the new ball to talk in the morning.

The toss has been delayed and will be held at 9:30 AM IST.

Karnataka won the toss and elected to field at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Saurashtra wins the toss elects to bat at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot.

Kumar Deobrat, Aryaman Sen, Kumar Suraj, Virat Singh (c), Kumar Kushagra (wk), Anukul Roy, Shahbaz Nadeem, Ashish Kumar, Supriyo Chakraborty, Rahul Shukla, Pankaj Kumar.

Manoj Tiwary (c), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Kazi Junaid Saifi, Sudip Kumar Gharami, Anustup Majumdar, Abishek Porel (wk), Akash Ghatak, Shahbaz Ahmed, Akash Deep, Mukesh Kumar, Ishan Porel.

Bengal won the toss and elected to field at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Saurashtra will miss the services of Jaydev Unadkat, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja when it squares off against Punjab in a quarterfinal clash at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Tuesday.

But under the leadership of Arpit Vasavada, the team wants to play to its strength, making the most of the home conditions. This season, Pujara and Unadkat have been in and out of the team due to national commitments, but the cricketers from Saurashtra managed to create history by beating Mumbai in its backyard and followed it up with straight victories against Delhi and Hyderabad to be placed on top of the points table from Elite Group B.

Though it got a reality check in the last couple of matches - going down to Andhra and Tamil Nadu - the Saurashtra team management believes that it has enough firepower to put up a brave show against Punjab.

Struck by the perils of defending a title, Madhya Pradesh will host a rejuvenated Andhra in the fourth Ranji Trophy 2022-23 Elite quarterfinal at the Holkar Stadium in Indore from Tuesday.

Helmed by master tactician Chandrakant Pandit, MP was prowling in the Elite Group D with dominating results before it hit a wall during the last two rounds. MP registered two innings-victories and as many wins by margins over 200 runs before second-ranked Punjab dealt a massive blow. Aditya Shrivastava’s men suffered an innings and 122-run defeat before conceding a first-innings lead to Tripura in a drawn match in the seventh round.

While its morale would have taken a hit, vice-captain Rajat Patidar’s return from national commitments will bolster MP’s batting for the five-day affair against Andhra, whose qualification route has been nothing short of incredible.

Led by Hanuma Vihari, Andhra (26 points) qualified with its last-round bonus point win being the decisive factor over Maharashtra (26), which settled for a unique first-innings tie with Mumbai.

-Lalith Kalidas

Karnataka’s recent returns in the Ranji Trophy don’t quite befit a side with a rich and storied history. An eight-time champion and a six-time runner-up, Karnataka hasn’t made it past the semifinals since the title-winning effort in 2014-15.

It is this anomaly that the Mayank Agarwal-led outfit is seeking to correct this campaign, and the first test in that pursuit will come with the quarterfinal against Uttarakhand that gets underway at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday.

-N. Sudarshan

The availability of pacer Mukesh Kumar boosted Bengal on the eve of its Ranji Trophy quarterfinal match against Jharkhand at the Eden Gardens.

Mukesh, who was released from the Indian side ahead of the T20I decider against New Zealand, will reconstitute a potent and proven pace trio with Ishan Porel and Akash Deep in the knockout contest starting on Tuesday.

The return of all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed has also strengthened the home team.

Bengal has picked promising left-hander Kazi Junaid Saifi, who performed well at No.4 in the Co. C.K. Nayudu Trophy recently. The host may field Kazi as the opening partner of prolific scorer Abhimanyu Easwaran.

-Y.B. Sarangi

When to watch Ranji Trophy 2022/23?

Ranji Trophy quarterfinals will start from Tuesday, January 31 from 9:30 AM IST.

Where to watch Ranji Trophy 2022/23 on TV?

A select number of tournament matches are being telecast on Star Sports 2 and Star Sports 2 HD. The telecast also provides updates and scores from all matches at regular intervals.

Where to live stream Ranji Trophy 2022/23?

The streaming of the Ranji Trophy matches will be available on Disney+ Hotstar app.