Ranji Trophy opening day: Shami 4-30 as Delhi folded for 240; Rohit takes five as J&K dismiss MP for 196
Mohammed Shami took four wickets to help bowl Delhi out for 240 on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group C match on Sunday, while defending champions Jammu and Kashmir dismissed Madhya Pradesh for 196 at the Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium as Rohit Sharma claimed five wickets.
Bengal, having chosen to bowl, exploited seaming conditions to dismiss Delhi in 77.3 overs; Akash Deep finished with 2/74, Mukesh Kumar returned 1/43 and off-spinner Amir Ghani took 3/45. Shami’s figures were 4/30 as the visitors ran through Delhi’s top and middle order.
Shami accounted for Yash Dhull, Ayush Doseja, Hrithik Shokeen and Divij Mehra during the innings, with Hrithik Shokeen top-scoring for Delhi with 56 off 98 deliveries. Despite Shokeen’s resistance, Delhi were unable to post a substantial total against Bengal’s disciplined attack.
Defending champions Jammu and Kashmir bowled Madhya Pradesh out for 196, Rohit Sharma returning 5/36 from 21.2 overs and Sunil Kumar taking 4/69. Madhya Pradesh captain Shubham Sharma top-scored with 79 off 174 balls, including eight fours, but wickets fell regularly.
Jammu and Kashmir were 3/1 at stumps, trailing by 193, after Avesh Khan dismissed opener Shubham Khajuria for a duck. The early J&K position closed the day with their batsmen still to bat out the first session.
In Jamshedpur, Shikhar Mohan struck 143 off 196 balls, including 18 fours and two sixes, to steer Jharkhand to 289/5 against Kerala, with Utkarsh Singh contributing 71 off 147. Kerala’s Vaisakh Chandran claimed three wickets for 71 runs in that match.
Maharashtra reached 287/5 against Services in New Delhi as Ankit Bawne remained unbeaten on 105 off 232 balls and captain Prithvi Shaw added 70 off 73; Arjun Sharma picked up three wickets for Services. Odisha finished 272/3 in Ahmedabad, Gaurav Choudhary unbeaten on 121 off 263 and Sandeep Pattnaik not out on 69 off 139.
Vidarbha recovered to 300/5 in 85 overs against Puducherry in Nagpur with contributions from Yash Rathod and captain Akshay Wadkar. Uttar Pradesh were 195/3 against Bihar at the Rajgir International Cricket Stadium, with Madhav Kaushik helping stabilise the innings, while Baroda finished 204/3 against Goa at the Panjim Gymkhana Ground after opting to bat first.
Shami’s four-wicket haul headlined a day that also saw Rohit Sharma’s five-for and centuries from Shikhar Mohan, Ankit Bawne and Gaurav Choudhary across the fixtures, with all of these performances coming on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy.
