Ranji Trophy 2024-25, Round 1 Highlights: Narayan Jagadeesan, Abhimanyu Easwaran and Shubham Sharma scored hundred for their Teams.
The 90th edition of the Ranji Trophy commenced on 11 October with as many as 19 first-round matches played across the country. In the Elite group, we saw nine teams, including traditional powerhouses like Gujarat, Baroda, and Tamil Nadu, open their account with a win. At the same time, other contenders like Mumbai and Saurashtra faced defeats. A few games also ended in draws.
Like always, there will be a standout performer in all these games, be it with the bat or ball. Here we will list some of the great performances from the first round of Ranji matches in the Elite Group.
Mumbai vs Baroda: Bhargav Bhatt (4/53 and 6/55)
The defending Ranji Trophy champions and the recently crowned Irani Cup winners Mumbai faced a defeat in the first round of 2024-25 at the hands of Baroda in a game held at Vadodara. Opting to bat, the hosts Baroda reached 290 runs in their first innings, courtesy of half-centuries from Mitesh Patel and Atit Sheth.
In response, Mumbai suffered a middle-order collapse and could muster only 214 runs, thanks to a four-wicket haul from Bhargav Bhatt. The 34-year-old registered figures of 4/53 and snapped the wickets of an experienced Ajinkya Rahane and Shreyas Iyer. A captain’s knock of 55 from Krunal Pandya propelled Baroda to 189 after being in a predicament at 6/41, thus setting Mumbai a target of 262 on a turning wicket.
On days 3 and 4, when the ball was turning a lot, Mumbai fell prey to some outstanding spin bowling from Bhargav Bhatt. The left-arm spinner used all his experience to demolish a strong Mumbai batting order with figures of 6/55.
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Saurashtra vs Tamil Nadu: Gurjapneet Singh & Narayan Jagadeesan
In a game played at Coimbatore, two former Ranji champions, Tamil Nadu (TN) and Saurashtra, took on each other in the first-round clash. After winning the toss and opting to bat first, Saurashtra had a poor opening day as they kept losing wickets. Sonu Yadav, Mohammed, and skipper Sai Kishore took 3-wicket hauls as they restricted the visitors to a mere 203 runs.
TN batters, particularly wicket-keeper Narayan Jagadeesan, made the best use of the condition, scoring a superlative century. He got good support from Sai Sudharsan. This was the right-hander’s eighth first-class century. He continued his form from the previous season, where he scored a whopping 816 runs in just 13 innings.
His knock gave TN a strong first-innings lead of 164 runs, and the opening spell from their debutant left-arm pacer Gurjapneet Singh in the second innings sealed the game. The 25-year-old debutant wreaked havoc as he snapped three of Saurashtra’s wickets within his first seven overs. This included former India batter Cheteshwar Pujara. He picked up three more as he ended with stunning figures of 6/22 as Tamil Nadu won by an innings and 70 runs.
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Bengal vs Uttar Pradesh: Sudip Chatterjee and Abhimanyu Easwaran
Bengal’s opener, Sudip Chatterjee, had a brilliant outing in the team’s opening game against Uttar Pradesh (UP) at Lucknow. In the first innings, the veteran left-hander struck his 13th first-class century, and this allowed Bengal to amass 311 despite a middle-order collapse.
Bengal got a slender first-innings lead of 29 runs, thanks to brilliant efforts with the ball by Mukesh Kumar and Shahbaz Ahmed. The visitors had to extend the lead and needed their batters to step up in the second innings. They got the same from the experienced opening duo of Sudip Chatterjee and Abhimanyu Easwaran.
While Sudip followed his first innings ton with another brilliant 93, Easwaran notched up his 27th ton, fourth in as many games. This gave them a 273-run lead and put them in the ascendency. However, the hosts played out a draw, thanks to a rescue act from Priyam Garg.
Read More: Abhimanyu Easwaran at his consistent best: Scores hundred in Irani Cup 2024-25 for ROI
Madhya Pradesh vs Karnataka: Shubham Sharma
In a rain-affected drawn game at Indore, Madhya Pradesh’s skipper Shubham Sharma battled fitness issues, getting retired hurt before coming back to score an unbeaten 143. With rain ruining play on all the days, his 295-ball knock was essential in saving MP from a possible middle-order collapse as they piled up 425 in the first innings. Karnataka, in response, made 206/5 and played out a draw.
Jammu & Kashmir vs Maharashtra: Shubham Khajuri
Hosts Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) held a strong Maharashtra side to a draw and gained (3) points on the first innings lead at Srinagar, thanks to a double century by Shubham Khajuri. The right-hander registered his career-best first-class score and, in the process, became the first batter from J&K to score a double ton in 22 years.
His 255 included 37 boundaries, and this marathon knock was instrumental in taking J&K’s score to a daunting 519/7. Maharashtra could score just 418 in response in the first innings as the game ended in a high-scoring draw.
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