To summarise the day 1 of the semi-final round of the Ranji Trophy 2016/17, it can be said that both batsmen and bowlers performed equally on the day, as we saw nine wickets falling on day one at the cost of 544 runs in the two games. Six wickets came in a clash between Mumbai and Tamil Nadu whereas we just saw three wickets fell in the game between Gujarat and Jharkhand at Nagpur.
Here is what happened in both the games today –
Mumbai vs Tamil Nadu at Rajkot –
The day started with Mumbai skipper Aditya Tare’s courageous move handing over the debut cap to the junior star Prithvi Shaw. Tamil Nadu too had a debutant in form of V Ganga Sridhar Raju. The latter was straightaway sent into to face the new ball against Shardul Thakur. He did a great job surviving the early swing and pace of Thakur and Balwinder Singh Sandhu (jr.) but the debut blues did not allow him to go further as the batsman was dismissed for 19 off 54 balls.
Skipper Abhinav Mukund soon followed his opening partner giving Mumbai a chance to earn an upper hand in the game but Kaushik Gandhi and Baba Indrajith shared 110 runs for the third wicket to rescue the team, surviving for more than one session, putting a break on Mumbai’s juggernaut.
Just when it looked like the team will be in a great position at the end of the day, Mumbai made further inroads claiming three wickets to leave Tamil Nadu at a score of 261/6 at stumps. This game swung throughout the day but it was Mumbai who ended the day with a slight edge.
Gujarat vs Jharkhand at Nagpur –
Priyank Panchal has emerged as the find of the season for Gujarat as the right-handed batsman, in his 10th season, has blossomed to the fullest.
Today again, the right-handed batsman carried the team on day one by scoring yet another century. He has already scored 1231* runs this season and now he has a fair chance of breaking the record of V.V.S. Laxman for most runs in a Ranji season.
At Nagpur, it was all Panchal’s show as once again he stood up the ranks. He shared a 62-run partnership for the first wicket with the triple centurion of last game Samit Gohel and went on to another partnership of 55 runs with Bhargav Merai. It was his partnership with Parthiv Patel that really helped Gujarat to have a great day on the field as both Patel and Panchal shared 139 runs for the fourth wicket, with Parthiv Patel contributing 62 runs in the partnership.
Gujarat has already done a great job on day one and now they will look to bat for the maximum time, continuing to pile up runs on the board. Panchal is looking solid for yet another big total.
Meanwhile, Jharkhand bowlers will also look to make a comeback on the second day as all eyes are on Shahbaz Nadeem.
Brief Scores: Gujarat 283/3 (Priyank Panchal 144*, Parthiv Patel 62; Vikash Singh 2-48, Kaushal Singh 1-52) at Nagpur.