Bengal, Baroda batsmen struggle on green top

New Delhi, Nov 21: As many as 23 wickets fell on the first day of the Group A Ranji Trophy league match between Bengal and Baroda as batsmen from either side faltered on a green top at the Chaudhary Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium at Lahli in Harya on Monday.

After Bengal skittled Baroda out for a meagre 97, riding on India discard Ashoke Dinda's 6/45, it was young seamer Atit Seth's 7/36 that bundled Bengal out for 76.

With a slender lead of 21 runs, Baroda then reached 63/3 in their second innings at stumps to take an overall lead of 84 runs.

In other Group A matches, Gujarat rode on openers Priyank Kirit Panchal (122) and Samit Gohel (87) to reach 246/3 at stumps against Mumbai at the K.S.C.A. Rajgar Stadium at Hubballi, Kartaka.

At the Ferozshah Kotla in New Delhi, the Railways rode on top order batsman Nitin Bhille's 102 to reach 249/2 at stumps on the opening day against Madhya Pradesh.

Punjab had a mixed day on the field reaching 241/6 at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground in gpur against Tamil du. Opener Man Vohra top-scored with 73 while Uday Kaul got 56 runs.

In Group B, India batsman Kedar Jadhav fired a brilliant 106-ball 115 to put Maharashtra on a commanding 352/5 at stumps on the opening day against Assam at the IIT - Chemplast Ground in Cheni.

Delhi reached 37/0 with both openers Shikhar Dhawan (29 not out) and Gautam Gambhir (6 not out) intact after bowling Rajasthan out for a meagre 238 in the first innings at the Krishgiri Stadium in Wayad, Kerala.

At Delhi's Palam Ground, stumper C.M. Gautam's 54 was the only highlight for Kartaka, who were bundled out for 179 by Odisha. In reply, Odisha struggled to reach 42/2 at stumps on the opening day.

Saurashtra's young batsman Sheldon Jackson struck a patient 227-ball 116 while Chirag Jani scored 78 to take the team to 301 against Vidarbha. In response, the Vidarbha side were 4/0 at stumps at the Karil Singh Stadium in Delhi.

In Group C, stumper Mohammed Azharuddeen top-scored with a defiant 275-ball 82 to take Kerala to 188/8 at stumps on the opening day against Andhra at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. For Andhra, Vijaykumar was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 6/37.

Veteran batsman and skipper Subramaniam Badrith's 254-ball 134 helped Hyderabad reach 267/4 at stumps against Chhattisgarh at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium at Valsad, Gujarat.

Middle-order batsman Snehal Kauthankar's unbeaten 80 took Goa to 197/6 on the first day of their tie against Harya at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Ghaziabad.

The Services got off to a perfect start to reach 276/3 at stumps against Himachal Pradesh. For the Services, opener kul Verma scored an unbeaten 113 while Ravi Chauhan hit a brilliant 149 at the Lalabhai Contractor Stadium in Surat, Gujarat.

Jammu and Kashmir reached 270/6 at stumps with three of their batsmen -- Prav Gupta (55), Ian Dev Singh (59) and Aditya Singh (65 not out) -- notching half centuries against Tripura at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai. IANS