Yash Dhull continued his good form with second century of the season but left-arm spinner Nishunk Birla’s six-wicket haul helped Chandigarh bowl out Delhi for a below-par 276 on the opening day of a Ranji Trophy group D match in Chandigarh on Wednesday. At stumps, Chandigarh scored 63 for 1 with Shivam Bhambri remaining unbeaten on 42. Dhull, who scored a century against Tamil Nadu, struck 21 boundaries in his 121 off 190 balls and added 96 with IPL star Ayush Badoni, who smashed three sixes in his 50-ball-49. Nishunk picked up 6 for 72 on a track that offered some amount of turn. Off-spinner Vishu Kashyap picked up a couple of wickets even as Badoni tonked him for a few maximums.
But Delhi’s middle-order flopped once again with skipper Himmat Singh failing to open his account.
The perennially controversial selection of Khsitiz Sharma (2), who walked into the team in place of left-hander Jonty Sidhu, whose century against Chattisgarh gave his team first innings lead, once again looked inadequate in terms of technique and application at this level.
It was Shivank Vasisht (31) and Hrithik Shokeen (16), who added 35 runs for the ninth wicket to take Delhi past 275-run mark.
Andre and Vijay propel TN to 299/7 vs Assam
C Andre Siddarth missed out on a ton by six runs while Vijay Shankar followed up his hundred with a 76 as Tamil Nadu scored 299 for 7 on the first day of their match against Assam in Guwahati.
Most of the other Tamil Nadu batters like former India A player Pradosh Ranjan Paul (27), T20 specialist Shahrukh Khan (28) and Mohamed Ali (27) all got starts but failed to convert them into big scores.
Brief Scores: At Chandigarh: Delhi 1st Innings 276 in 71.4 overs (Yash Dhull 121, Ayush Badoni 49, Nishunk Birla 6/72) vs Chandigarh 1st Innings 63/1 in 16 overs (Shivam Bhambri 42 batting).
At Guwahati: Tamil Nadu 1st Innings 299/7 in 85 overs (C Andre Siddarth 94, Vijay Shankar 76) vs Assam.
At Ranchi: Jharkhand 1st Innings 247/7 in 72 overs (Sharandeep Singh 72, Hiten Kanbi 4/50) vs Saurashtra.
At Raipur: Chattisgarh 1st Innings 252/3 in 85 overs (Anu Tiwary 84, Sanjeet Desai 70 batting, Pratham Singh 1/14) vs Railways.
Khanduri ton powers Uttarakhand to 232/1 against Andhra
Vizianagaram (Andhra), Nov 5 Opener Priyanshu Khanduri struck only his second century in a first-class career spanning seven years, helping Uttarakhand to a solid 232 for one in their Group B Ranji Trophy match against Andhra here on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old Khanduri was batting on 107, while giving him company was skipper Ravikumar Samarth on 30 at stumps on the first day.
Khanduri’s opening partner Avneesh Sudha made 86 in 158 balls before being dismissed by left-arm spinner Lalith Mohan.
After Uttarakhand opted to bat, the duo of Khanduri and Sudha put on 157 runs for the first wicket to lay the foundation for a big first-innings total.
Khanduri was then joined by Samarth as the two shared an unbroken partnership of 75 runs for the second wicket to maintain Uttarakhand’s dominance on the opening day of the match.
Khanduri, who made his first-class debut in 2017 and has a highest score of 117, hit 11 fours during his stay in the middle while facing 272 balls.
Khanduri may have consumed a lot of deliveries in scoring his runs but he still ensured that his team remained ahead of Andhra when the stumps were drawn three overs early.
Himachal 263/6 against Vidarbha
In Nagpur, a 106-run stand for the seventh wicket between captain Rishi Dhawan (47 batting) and Mukul Negi (38 batting) lifted Himachal Pradesh to 263 for six against former champions Vidarbha.
Opting to field, Vidarbha bowlers picked up wickets at regular intervals and reduced them to 156 for five, when Negi joined Dhawan to do the rebuilding job.
Middle-order batter Ekant Sen made 44, while Amit Kumar and Akash Vasisht chipped in 32 and 33 respectively.
Harsh Dubey (3/62) and Akshay Wakhare (2/42) were the most successful bowlers for Vidarbha.
Brief scores: In Vizianagaram: Uttarakhand 1st innings 232/1 in 87 overs (Priyanshu Khanduri 107 batting, Avneesh Sudha 86) vs Andhra.
In Nagpur: Himachal Pradesh 1st innings 263/6 in 90 overs (Rishi Dhawan 47, Mukul Negi 38; Harsh Dubey 3/62) vs Vidarbha.
In Ahmedabad: Puducherry 1st innings: 254/4 in 86 overs (Ajay Rohera 80, Akash Kargave 71, Jay Pande batting 53; Jaymeet Patel 2/39) vs Gujarat.
In Jaipur: Hyderabad 1st innings 261/5 in 88 overs (Rahul Singh 66, Rahul Radesh batting 53, Tanmay Agarwal 40; Kukna Ajay Singh 3/88) vs Rajasthan.
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