Ranji Trophy 2023-24, Round 1 Highlights: Puducherry hand Delhi shock defeat; Cheteshwar Pujara’s 243*, Devdutt Paddikal’s 193 mark first round. Top five games from Round 1 of Ranji Trophy 2023-24.
Six months after India’s domestic season started with the Duleep Trophy in 2023, another red-ball tournament, the Ranji Trophy got underway on January 05, 2024, with 32 teams divided into four groups. Saurashtra, the defending champions of the last season in 2022-’23 has found themselves in ‘Group A’.
Hyderabad, who lost six out of their seven games last season, joined Nagaland in the Plate group, while both Bihar and Manipur have earned promotion this time around.
Let’s scan the top five games which produced several incredible shows
Delhi vs Puducherry: Gaurav Yadav’s 10-wicket haul hands Delhi a shocking defeat
It didn’t take much time for this season’s Ranji Trophy to produce a surprising and famous result, as Puducherry blew away Delhi with a comfortable nine-wicket victory. Opting to bowl first at Arun Jaitley Stadium, captain Fabid Ahmed put Delhi into bat first. Gaurav Yadav’s impressive figures of 7/49 restricted the home side to 148. Puducherry received a 96-run lead in their first innings.
In the second innings too, Delhi couldn’t put up a good show with the bat in hand, as Abin Mathew with his 5/39 cramped the Yash Dhull-led side to 148. Without much sweat, Puducherry chased down the target of 50 runs with nine wickets in hand.
On the back of the heavy loss, Delhi removed Dhull as their captain and have appointed Himmat Singh for their next away fixture against Jammu and Kashmir.
Brief Scores: PDC 244 (Santosh 60, Shokeen 4/46) & 51/1 (Kargave 23, Chauhan 1/1) beat DEL 148 (Tyagi 34, Gaurav 7/49) & 145 (Tyagi 28, Mathew 5/39) by 9-wickets.
Read More: Major Architects of Ranji Trophy 2022-23 win for Saurashtra
Saurashtra vs Jharkhand: Pujara’s double ton give Saurashtra first-innings lead
On a good batting surface in Rajkot, Saurashtra captain Jaydev Unadkat on winning the toss, opted to bowl first and rolled Jharkhand for just 148 as Chirag Jani returned with figures of 5/22. Saurashtra didn’t have a great start but Hardik Desai (85) and Sheldon Jackson (54) cracked individual fifties.
However, just a few days before the announcement of the India squad for the home Test series against England, Cheteshwar Pujara found himself in the runs as he smashed a gorgeous unbeaten 243-run knock while Prerak Mankad nailed 104*.
However, Jharkhand made an excellent comeback in the second innings with a 436-run deficit. Kumar Deobrat (91) and Kumar Suraj (113*) progressed them to 306/3 before both captains shook hands to put curtains with a drawn result.
Brief Scores: JHKD 142 (Kushagra 29, Jani 5/22) & 306/3 (Suraj 113*, Mankad 2/27) drew with SAUR 578/4 dec (Pujara 243*, Mankad 104*, Ashish 1/90).
The moment when Cheteshwar Pujara completed his 200…!!!
– What a way to kick off 2024 Ranji Trophy season.pic.twitter.com/cS8z9l983C
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) January 7, 2024
Read More: Ranji Trophy 2022-23, Final: Saurashtra defeat Bengal to win second Ranji title
Karnataka vs Punjab: Padikkal’s 193 secured Karnataka’s opening victory
On opting to bat first in Hubli, Punjab was bundled out for a paltry 152, thanks to Vasuki Koushik’s superb spell of 7/41. In reply, Karnataka made full use of the batting surface as they declared on 514/8, thanks to Devdutt Padikkal (193), who missed out on his double hundred by just seven runs, and Manish Pandey’s (118) huge contribution.
Punjab showed sheer courage with the bat in the second innings, shouldering on their 192-run opening stand. Prabhsimran Singh (100) and Abhishek Sharma (91) pushed them to 413. But Karnataka, after slipping early at 9/2, chased down 52, with seven wickets in hand.
Brief Scores: KAR 514/8 dec (Padikkal 193, Pandey 118, Arshdeep 3/92) & 52/3 (Samarth 21, Prerit 2/10) beat PUN 152 (Wadhera 44, Koushik 7/41) & 413 (Prabhsimran 100, Shubhang 3/89) by 7-wickets.
Andhra vs Bengal: Ricky Bhui give Adhra an essential first-innings lead with 175
Deciding to bat first, Bengal posted a huge total of 409 in their first innings, thanks to Anustup Majumdar’s magnificent 125-run knock and Sourav Paul’s 96. After a decent start, hosts Andhra found themselves in a little bit of trouble at 119/3, when Ricky Bhui with various fifty-run partnerships steadied the ship.
Bhui (175) helped them reach 445, to get points for the first innings lead. With not enough time left in the game, Bengal could score 82/1 in the second innings, when the game was called drawn.
Brief Scores: BEN 409 (Anustup 125, Mohan 4/134) & 82/1 (Sourav 30, Shoaib 1/16) drew with AP 445 (Bhui 175, Kaif 3/62)
Read More: Ranji Trophy 2022-23, Semi-finals: Bengal set up title clash with Saurashtra
Chhattisgarh vs Assam: Riyan Parag’s 155 knock wasn’t enough for Assam’s win
On winning the toss in Raipur, Assam invited hosts Chhattisgarh into batting. Amandeep Khare with his 116-run knock saved them from early trouble as they posted 327 in the first innings. Sourabh Majumdar’s 5/41 helped them bundle out Assam for just 159.
After being asked to follow on, Assam found themselves on 78/3, when Riyan Parag played a brilliant aggressive knock of 155 runs in 87 balls with the help of 11 fours and 12 sixes to take them to 254. But that wasn’t enough, as the hosts gained a 10-wicket victory, shouldering on their 87-run opening stand.
Brief Scores: CG 327 (Amandeep 116, Akash 2/45) & 87/0 (Rishabh 48*) beat ASM 159 (Denish 52, Sourabh 5/41) & 254 (f/o) (Parag 155, Butte 3/37) by 10-wickets.
On the other hand, Tripura, Gujarat, Mumbai, Vidarbha and Maharashtra- all these teams have gained victory in the opening round of the tournament. The second round of the Ranji Trophy 2024 will begin on 12th January 2024.
Read More: Ranji Trophy 2022-23, QFs: Bengal to face MP while Karnataka pitted against Saurashtra in semis
