Ranji Trophy: Ishant, Ashwin shine on Day 1 of 6th round

New Delhi, Jan 19 (IANS) Ishant Sharma picked three wickets as Vidarbha were dismissed for 179 runs while Uttar Pradesh reached 281/4 against Mumbai on the first day of the sixth round of Ranji Trophy matches on Sunday.

While Ishant ended with figures of 3/45, Simarjeet Singh returned with 4/39 but Delhi had a difficult time with the bat themselves later in the day. They lost four wickets between the sixth and 10th over and ended the day on 41/4. Aditya Thakare took all four wickets.

Ravichandran Ashwin returned with figures of 4/26 as Tamil Nadu dismissed Railways for a paltry 76. Opener Abhinav Mukund then scored a century and at the end of the day, wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik is batting on 57 with Baba Indrajith at the other end. Tamil Nadu have scored 236/4 at the end of the day and lead by 160 runs.

Akshdeep Nath has been the star performer thus far for UP, ending Day 1 on 115 off 215 balls. He is sharing a 137-run stand with Rinku Singh who is on 71 off 134 balls. Royston Dias and Akash Parkar are the two wicket takers for Mumbai who are staring at a big total to chase in their first innings.

Captain Sheldon Jackson scored yet another century as Saurashtra notched 295/8 against Madhya Pradesh. MP's Gaurav Yadav ran through the Saurashtra batting order with four wickets but Jackson stands strong on 143 off 186 balls. Cheteshwar Pujara with 47 runs off 86 deliveries is the second highest scorer thus far for Saurashtra.

Jalaj Saxena's four-wicket haul pegged back Rajasthan after a dismal batting performance from Kerala. Kerala were all out for 90 and Rajasthan ended the first day on 173/4.

Manoj Tiwary's unbeaten 156 propelled Bengal to 366/5 against Hyderabad. Contributions from lower order batsmen helped Haryana post 176 and in reply, Services are 63/6.

Maharashtra were all out for 175 against Asssam who in reply were on 77/1 at the end of the day. A four-wicket haul from Siddharth Kaul helped Punjab reduce Gujarat to 277/9. Uttarakhand are 192/4 at stumps against Jharkhand while Jammu and Kashmir are on 38/3 after dismissing Odisha for 161. Tripura were all out for 53 and Chattisgarh in reply are 137/5 at stumps and Himachal Pradesh are flying at 314/5 against Baroda.

In the plate group matches, Meghalaya made 235 against Manipur and then demolished the opposition batting lineup to reduce them to 18/7. Bihar are on 115/2 after dismissing Nagaland for 166. Mizoram were all out for 201 and Sikkim in reply have made 107/4.