With the Ranji Trophy kick-starting after a long hiatus, here's a quick look at how the teams fared across the country:
Dhull shines on debut
India's U-19 World Cup-winning captain Yash Dhull made a seamless transition into senior cricket with a superbly crafted debut hundred as Delhi scored 291 for seven against Tamil Nadu on the opening day of their Group H Ranji Trophy game here.
Dhull, sent in an unfamiliar opening position in his first-ever first-class game, struck 113 off 150 balls with as many as 18 boundaries, but more importantly, resurrected the innings after Sandeep Warrrier (2/69 in 16 overs) removed veteran Dhruv Shorey (1) and young Himmat Singh (0) in quick succession.
First, with IPL specialist Nitish Rana (25 off 21 balls), Dhull added 60 and then came a 119-run fourth-wicket stand with another former India U-19 captain, Jonty Sidhu (71 off 179 balls).
Displaying fine technique against the Tamil Nadu pace trio of Saravanakumar P (0/41 in 10 overs), Warrier and Mohammed Mohammed (2/40 in 12 overs), Dhull played some glorious shots square of the wicket.
In fact, there were square cuts and square drives whenever he got width outside the off-stump and he would roll his wrists adequately to keep the pull shots down when peppered with short deliveries.
While spinners -- left-arm orthodox Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore (0/60 in 28 overs) and part-time off-break Baba Aparajith (21-2-63-2) -- didn't get much purchase from the track, Dhull did occasionally come out and hit them over in-field to get his quota of fours.
Such was the ferocity of his attack that at one point, Tamil Nadu skipper Vijay Shankar deployed a deep point to just cut the boundaries and then the youngster milked the bowling for singles.
He had a reprieve on 97 when Mohammed had him caught at short mid-wicket after he failed to keep a pull shot down but replays showed that the pacer had overstepped.
Sidhu gave him good support with his steady defensive game. Once Dhull was trapped leg before by Mohammed and Sidhu also departed, Delhi slipped to 253 for seven before Lalit Yadav (45 batting) and Simarjeet Singh (16 not out) added 38 for the eighth wicket.
Rahane keeps Test hopes alive with much-needed century
His Test career at stake, beleaguered India batter Ajinkya Rahane compiled a much-needed century to keep himself in India reckoning while guiding Mumbai to 263 for three against Saurashtra in their Ranji Trophy opener in Ahmedabad.
Choosing to bat after winning the toss, Mumbai were also boosted by Sarfaraz Khan's unbeaten 121 off 219 balls on the first day of their elite group D match. The focus was, however, firmly on Rahane who ended the day at an unbeaten 108 from 250 deliveries.
The 33-year-old Rahane, who had a mediocre Test series against South Africa in the recently concluded tour of the Rainbow Nation, got to his ton in 212 balls, hitting 14 fours and 2 sixes along the way.
The senior batter had managed just 136 runs in six innings in India's 1-2 defeat in the Test series in South Africa earlier this year. With the Test series against Sri Lanka set to be played from first week of March after the T20s starting February 24, this century will provide the confidence that he needs and could ensure that he retains his place in the Indian team.
Another struggling India veteran, Cheteshwar Pujara, who is playing against Rahane in this match, will also look to get a big knock in the game to ensure the national selectors retain him for the series against Sri Lanka.
With new ball bowlers Jaydev Unadkat and Chetan Sakariya operating well, Mumbai found themselves in trouble early on, losing openers Aakarshit Gomel (8) and Prithvi Shaw (1) with just 22 runs on the board.
First-change Chirag Jani had Sachin Yadav trapped in front of the wicket as Mumbai slipped to 44 for three. However, Saurashtra failed to make any more inroads after that as Rahane and Khan added 219 runs for the fourth wicket to put their side in a comfortable position at stumps.
Rahane took his time before starting to play freely and got to his 36th first-class hundred in 212 balls. The former India Test vice-captain got to 99 with a big six against left-arm spinner Dharmandrasinh Jadeja, before getting to the three-figure mark with a single.
Rahane's 479 Test runs in 2021 came at an average of 20.82, leading to his sacking from the vice-captain's post ahead of the tour of South Africa.
Pandey smashes attacking ton to put Karnataka in command
Skipper Manish Pandey's blistering 156 and K V Siddharth's unbeaten 140 helped Karnataka score an imposing 392 for 5 at stumps on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Group C match against Railways.
Sent in to bat, Karnataka saw India Test batter Mayank Agarwal fall early when he was run out for 16. The talented left-hander Devdutt Padikkal looked to be settling down before falling to Yuvraj for 21.
One-drop batter R Samarth (47) and Siddharth (140 batting off 221 balls) added 60 runs before the former was dismissed by Avinash Yadav. The Railways bowlers did not know what hit them as Siddharth and Pandey went on the rampage.
The experienced Pandey, in particular, was severe on the opposition bowlers, hitting 12 fours and 10 sixes during his 121-ball innings. He hammered three sixes in one over off Avinash Yadav. In fact, he reached his ton with a six off pacer Amit Mishra.
The 267-run partnership between Pandey and Siddharth from 283 balls piled the pressure on the Railways bowlers. From 106 for 2 in 34 overs, the Karnataka batters raised the tempo with the captain toying with the opposition bowling.
The final session of the day saw Karnataka rack up 140 runs before the Railways bowlers stemmed the flow by sending back Pandey and Sharath before stumps. Pandey, who was batting on 76 at tea, went after the bowling and moved to 156 and looked good for a mammoth score. However, spinner Shivam Chaudhary (2 for 22) got the prize wicket of the opposition captain, having him caught by Yuvraj.
The right-handed Siddharth was batting on 140 at stumps and will hold the key to Karnataka swelling its total further on the second day. Shreyas Gopal (1 batting) is the other not-out batsman. Siddharth played a superb knock, which was overshadowed by Pandey's all-out attack. Like his skipper, he too reached his century with a six, off left-arm spinner Avinash. He has so far hit 17 fours and two sixes.
In the other match in the group, domestic veteran Paras Dogra made a workman-like ton as Pondicherry reached 309 for 6 at stumps against Jammu and Kashmir for whom new pace sensation Umran Mallik picked up 3 for 79.
Pawan Shah shines on debut for Maharashtra
Opener Pawan Shah slammed a sublime 165 on debut to guide Maharashtra to 278 for five on the first day of their Elite Ranji Trophy group G game against Assam. The 22-year-old Shah, who hails from Chinchwad and is a product of the Varroc Vengsarkar Cricket Academy, was the cynosure of all eyes at the Chaudhry Bansi Lal Stadium as he took on a pedestrian Assam attack with gusto.
The right-handed batter hammered 15 boundaries and one maximum in his 275-ball unbeaten knock. Put into bat, Maharashtra lost opener Yash Nahar (4) and Rahul Tripathi (2) to find themselves in a spot of bother at 32/2.
But Shah found an able ally in Ankit Bawne (27) and the two rallied the innings with their 66-run stand for the third wicket. After Bawne became right-arm pacer Mukhtar Hussain's second victim, it was Shah, who held the innings together.
Meanwhile, Shah was joined in the middle by seasoned campaigner Naushad Shaikh but after reaching 28, the latter got out. However, Shah kept on playing his shots at will, frustrating the opposition attack while proving his mettle at the big stage.
Maharashtra lost Shaikh and wicketkeeper Vishant More (16) in quick succession, but Diyyang Hinganekar (36 not out) played the perfect second fiddle to Shah, the duo adding 94 runs for the sixth wicket to prop up their team.
Hinganekar hit five boundaries in his unbeaten 78-ball knock.
MP, Gujarat share honours after Shubham Sharma's patient 92
Shubham Sharma hit a patient 92 to guide Madhya Pradesh to 235 for 7 on the opening day of their Elite Group A Ranji Trophy match against Gujarat. Gujarat pacer Arzan Nagwaswalla (3/50) wreaked havoc at the start, removing Madhya Pradesh openers Rameez Khan (20) and wicket-keeper Ajay Rohera (23) in quick succession to leave them teetering at 44/2.
But then, the 28-year-old Sharma resurrected the Madhya Pradesh innings in the company of experienced campaigner Rajat Patidar (54 off 113 balls), who hit nine boundaries, as the duo stitched a 92-run stand for the third wicket.
While Sharma, who hit 11 boundaries and a six in his 206-ball knock, was the more aggressive of the two, Patidar played his role to perfection. But when it looked like the duo would take MP to a big score, left-arm medium-pacer Roosh Kalaria (2/37) removed Patidar and MP skipper Aditya Shrivastava (14) too fell cheaply becoming Nagwaswalla's third victim. MP were in spot of bother at 166/4.
A determined Sharma kept on hammering the Gujarat attack but missed a deserving hundred as he fell to pacer Chintan Gaja (2/47). The Gujarat bowlers then removed Yash Dubey (28) and Mihir Hirwani (0) quickly to bring their side back into contention.
When the stumps were drawn, Kumar Kartikeya (0 not out) and Ishar Pandey (2 not out) were holding fort.
Porel's 4-for helps Bengal bowl Baroda out for 181
Ishan Porel was the wrecker-in-chief grabbing 4/40 as Bengal pacers shared bulk of spoils to bundle out Baroda for a paltry 181 on day one of their elite Group B Ranji Trophy fixture at the Barabati Stadium.
In reply, Bengal were 24/1 at stumps on day one with the two Sudips -- opener Gharami (11 batting) and one drop Chaterjee (nine batting) at the crease after skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran (4) got out cheaply in the fifth over. Put into bat, Baroda got off to a steady start with skipper Kedar Devdhar (31) surviving early on after being dismissed off an Akash Deep no-ball.
But the lanky Porel triggered the collapse in the 15th over, with his twin blows of Devdhar (23) and Pratyush Kumar (0) in the space of three balls. On a roll, Porel picked his third in the form of Shivalik Sharma (4) in his next over to reduce Baroda to 47/3. Just when Baroda looked to get going with Krunal Pandya forming an alliance with keeper-batter Mitesh Patel, Akash Deep once again made further inroads.
Akash Deep (2/63) dismissed Krunal and Abhimanyusingh Rajput in three balls to further dent Baroda's hopes for a revival. Mukesh Kumar ripped through the lower order to finish with 3/33. For Baroda, Mitesh top-scored with a 104-ball 66, while Bharghav Bhatt remained not out on 30.
"The plan was to get as many wickets in the first two and a half hours; the wicket was helping the seamers. Afterwards, the wicket became slow, low and flat," Porel said.
"We have bowled well as a unit. Mukesh, Akash bowled well. When we got a breakthrough, wickets came in a cluster. For me, the first wicket of Devdhar was very crucial as earlier he was caught off a no-ball. Overall, it was a good day at the office. Ranji trophy resumed after two years and it feels good to be back in red ball cricket," Porel said.
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