Ranji Trophy 2019-20 First round – Highlights from the opening clashes
India’s premier domestic tournament, Ranji Trophy kicked off on 9th November as 36 teams began their battles. Divided into four groups, we witnessed exhilarating action in most of the matches with many big names featuring. Astonishingly, 14 out of 18 matches reached conclusion within four days while four encounters were decided on first-innings lead. Here’s how the action panned out in the first round of this year’s Ranji Trophy.
Group A
Defending champions Vidarbha claimed three points in their opening tie against Andhra Pradesh at Vijaywada. The game which was briefly interrupted by a snake wandering on the field saw local lad Ganesh Sathish scoring 237 for Vidarbha. Wasim Jaffer got out for a duck in his historical 150th Ranji Trophy game.
SNAKE STOPS PLAY! There was a visitor on the field to delay the start of the match.
Follow it live – https://t.co/MrXmWO1GFo#APvVID @paytm #RanjiTrophy pic.twitter.com/1GptRSyUHq
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) December 9, 2019
At Thumba, Kerala posted a mammoth total of 525/9d in their only innings and skittled Delhi for 142 in reply. Jalaj Saxena’s 6/46 stood out for Kerala but Delhi survived to hold on to a draw. Mandeep Singh’s 122 proved pivotal in Punjab’s 10-wicket victory over Rajasthan at Jaipur. Gujarat impressed in their eight-wicket victory over Hyderabad with Rush Kalaria’s all-round performance.
Group B
After winning both the limited-overs tournaments, Karnataka started Ranji Trophy first round with a thrilling win over Tamil Nadu at Dindigul. Needing 181 runs to win, Tamil Nadu were placed comfortably at one stage on 49/0. K Gowtham, who finished with 14 wickets in the match, ran through the batting unit to earn a late victory.
Here’s the moment of Karnataka picking up the last wicket and clinching the victory. #RanjiTrophy #TNvKAR
[Video Courtesy: Bagawati Prasad (@Baggs0404), Thank You] pic.twitter.com/b8Mzl0Drih
— Karnataka Ranji Team║ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ರಣಜಿ ತಂಡ (@RanjiKarnataka) December 12, 2019
Riding on Prithvi Shaw’s double century and Shams Mulani’s all-round outing, Mumbai surged to a 309-run triumph over Baroda. Saurashtra came up trumps against Himachal Pradesh at Dharamsala in a low-scoring encounter which ended in just three days. Uttar Pradesh and Railways played out a draw at Meerut. Dinesh Mor from Railways clinched three points for his side with his knocks of 91 not out and 102.
Group C
All matches of this group provided decisive results. Odisha defeated Chhattisgarh by an innings and three runs despite scoring only 215 runs in their only innings. Rajesh Mohanty took 10 wickets in the match. Haryana also registered an innings win against Maharashtra with Harshal Patel and Ashish Hooda running through Maharashtra batting side.
Jharkhand clinched a historic victory against Tripura as they went to win after being asked to follow-on. Saurabh Tiwary’s 122 not out and Ishank Jaggi’s 107 not out helped Jharkhand set a target of 266. Tripura got all out for 211 in the chase.
Group D
The Plate league also witnessed all matches ending in decisive results. Chandigarh claimed a mega win against Arunachal Pradesh. Arsalan Khan’s not out 233, S Bhambri’s 105 and 124 from Manan Vohra saw Chandigarh post 503/2 declared. In reply, Arunachal Pradesh were bundled out for 147 and 183. Pondicherry, Goa, Manipur and Meghalaya were the other winners.
