A round up of the opening day's action of the Ranji Trophy Super League matches on Sunday.
Pathak makes Ranji debut with ton
Double tons by debutant Chirag Pathak and Bhushan Chauhan powered Saurashtra post 285 runs for one against Mumbai at the Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground in Rajkot.
Opting to bat first, Saurashtra openers capitalised on what seems to be a placid pitch and produced a 275-run first wicket partnership.
Pathak, playing his maiden Ranji Trophy match, handled the opponent bowlers quite confidently on his way to unbeaten 145, spending 210 balls. He adorned his innings with 10 fours and two sixers.
At the other end, Chauhan played a supportive innings and hit eight boundaries and a sixer en route his 104.
Mumbai bowlers, who had done well in previous matches, struggled for rhythm and gave away 24 runs in the form of no balls.
The much needed breakthrough came when Mumbai's Amol Muzumdar dismissed Chauhan, who attempted a cut but could manage only a thick edge, giving Vinayak Samant an easy catch.
Brief scores: Saurashtra 285 for one (Chirag Pathak 145 not out, Bhushan Chauhan 104) vs Mumbai
Orissa bundle out Punjab for 60
Orissa's Basant Mohanty played wreck-in-chief as the hosts capitalised on the seaming wicket to bundle out Punjab for a paltry 60 in first day of the Group-A match in Bhubaneswar.
Invited to bat first, the visitors failed to negotiate Orissa's bowling attack on the East Coast Railway wicket, which was hosting its maiden Ranji match.
The 21-year-old medium pacer Basant left the Punjab batting department completely baffled with his consummate bowling and bagged seven wickets for just 27 runs. He was ably supported by India discard Debasis Mohanty, who claimed two wickets for 18 runs.
Punjab skipper Pankaj Dharmani, who remained unbeaten on 23, tried hard to arrest the downfall, but his efforts were clearly not enough as others failed to deliver on time.
Basant gave the first jolt to the visitors by dismissing opener Sunny Sohal(1) cheaply, followed by another success by Debasis, who sent back Karan Goel (8).
At the close of the day, Orissa got a first innings lead of 88 runs with Pravanjan Mullick and Pinniti Jayachandra on the middle.
Brief scores: Punjab 60 (Basant Mohanty seven for 27, Debasis Mohanty two for 18) vs Orissa 148 for five (Niranjan Behera 74, Subit Biswal 54, Gagandeep Singh four for 18)
Gujarat impressive with 310 for seven
On the first day of the Group A match between Gujarat and Delhi, the hosts made an impressive start putting on 310 for seven at stumps at Sardar Patel Stadium in Valsad.
Bhavik Thakar (121 not out) and skipper Parthiv Patel (55) helped the home team's cause.
Earlier, having won the toss, Gujarat elected to bat with Priyank Panchal and Nilesh Modi opening the innings.
However, Modi got out when he had scored just one run and was subsequently followed by Niraj Patel (4) and Panchal (13).
Gujarat reducec to 28 for three.
However, the captain and Thakar provided the home team the much-needed stability.
Patel was dismissed when the scoreboard read 122 and this brought an end to an impressive 94-run fourth wicket partnership.
At the end of first day's play, Gujarat was at 310 for seven with Thakar playing at 121 and giving him company was Ashraf Makada (18).
For Delhi, Pradeep Sangwan and Sumit Narwal bagged two wickets each Parvindar, Yogesh and Chaitanya Nanda took one each.
Brief scores: Gujarat 310 for seven (Bhavik Thakar 121 not out, Parthiv Patel 55) vs Delhi
Karnataka bundle out Baroda for 169
Sunil Raju's four-wicket haul helped hosts Karnataka bundle out Baroda for a paltry 169, before the hosts found themselves at trouble with 63 for 3 at the end of rain-interrupted first day of their Group-B match in Bangalore.
Baroda, who got a disastrous start with the early dismissal of skipper and opener Connor Williams for a duck, managed to score 169 off 55.5 overs, thanks to a patient 53 off 108 balls by Rakesh Solanki.
Raju scalped four wickets spending just 30 runs during his 8.5 over spell, who found good support in left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi, who bagged two wickets for 30 runs.
Replying to 169, Karnataka lost both the openers, including skipper Robin Uthappa cheaply, before rain halted the day's play about an hour before the scheduled time.
Rahul Dravid remained unbeaten on 27 at the end of the day.
Brief scores: Baroda169 (Rakesh Solanki 53, Satyajit Parab 33, Sunil Raju 4 for 30) vs Karnataka 63 for 3 (Rahul Dravid 27 not out, Ajitesh Argal 2 for 26).
Hyderabad score 273 for three
An unbeaten 96 by captain VVS Laxman and a superb 85 by S Anoop Pai helped Hyderabad score 273 for three against Rajasthan at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium in Hyderabad.
Laxman's knock, that included 10 boundaries, came off in 154 deliveries, while Pai slammed seven fours in his 85.
Laxman and N Arjun Yadav (6) were at the crease when the stumps were drawn for the day.
Earlier, openers T Suman (50) and DB Ravi Teja (32) gave Hyderabad a flying start after the hosts won the toss and decided to bat first.
While Suman was caught by Gajendra off the bowling of Pankaj Singh, Ravi Teja was bowled by Sumit Mathur.
The impressive gains made by the openers were consolidated by Laxman and Pai who added 135 runs for the third wicket
Brief scores: Hyderabad 273 for three (VVS Laxman 96 not out, S Anoop Pai 83, T Suman 50) vs Rajasthan.
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