In his quest to don the national whites – something which has eluded him since June 2023 – Mohammed Shami took another stride in the right direction.
Against Delhi in Bengal’s red-ball campaign opener, he took four wickets for 30 runs at the Bengal Cricket Academy Ground in Kalyani.
The 36-year-old began his day with a dismissal he has been associated with for years – the cherry angling away with the seam, kissing the edge of Yash Dhull’s blade. Ayush Doseja fell prey to an inswinger, while Shami’s last two scalps were Divij Mehra and Hrithik Shokeen. Had it not been for the latter’s 56, Delhi would not have reached a position – 240 all out – from where they could mount a fight on Day 2.
Brief Scores: Delhi 240 all out (Hrithik Shokeen 56; Mohammed Shami 4/30) vs Bengal.
Jaiswal out on a duck, but Lad leads by example
It has been over a year since Yashasvi Jaiswal scored a century in red-ball cricket, and while it might not be a pressing cause of concern for the Indian management, they would ideally want him to have runs under his belt before boarding the flight for New Zealand.
Sunday, however, did not go according to plans, as the opener could not open his account against Chandigarh at the Wankhede Stadium. He lost his wicket to seamer Jagjit Singh Sandhu, although Siddhesh Lad is leading his team by example – the captain’s unbeaten 80 powering Mumbai to 249/5.
Brief Scores: Mumbai 249/5 (Siddhesh Lad 80 not out; Rohit Dhanda 3/44) vs Chandigarh.
Smaran saves Karnataka’s day after veterans’ no-show
Jaiswal, though, was not found wanting in the assemblage of national Test team players who had a rather forgettable start to their domestic campaign. On the back of a century in the third ODI against the West Indies, KL Rahul struggled to translate his white-ball exploits into red-ball cricket.
Against Andhra, he could only contribute four runs to Karnataka’s total, while fellow veterans Mayank Agarawal and Karun Nair accounted for 13 runs combined. The saving grace for the eight-time champions was Ravichandran Smaran, who scored his seventh First-Class century. Having revealed his goal of a 1000-run season during the Irani Cup earlier this month, Smaran would be content with how he started his endeavour.
Brief Scores: Karnataka 274 all out (Ravichandran Smaran 126; Saurabh Kumar 3/69) vs Andhra 16/2.
Defending champions attack
The Irani Cup might have eluded them, but defending Ranji Trophy champions Jammu & Kashmir offered glimpses of the pace mastery that won them the historic title. Rohit Sharma took a fifer, while Sunil Kumar scalped four as Madhya Pradesh were bowled out for 196 runs.
Brief Scores: Madhya Pradesh 196 all out (Shubham Sharma 79; Rohit Sharma 5/36) vs Jammu & Kashmir 3/1.
Rinku keeps scoring
Having found himself excluded from India’s T20I plans in recent times, Rinku Singh raised a case for Test consideration with a century against Bihar in Rajgir. On the back of a half-century in the Duleep Trophy semi-final, Rinku ended the day unbeaten on 109, while Madhav Kaushik is batting on 124.
Brief Scores: Uttar Pradesh 287/3 (Madhav Kaushik 124 not out; Suraj Kashyap 2/44) vs Bihar.
Other Brief Scores:
Group A:
Baroda 204/3 (Shivalik Sharma 62; Darshan Misal 1/16) vs Goa.
Vidarbha 300/5 (Yash Rathod 131 not out; Vijai Raja 2/47) vs Puducherry.
Group B:
Tripura 134 all out (Bikramkumar Das 50; Aniketh Reddy 5/21) vs Hyderabad 121/4.
Assam 68/3 (Denish Das 38 not out; Umesh Yadav 2/18) vs Punjab.
Saurashtra 308/4 (Prerak Mankad 92 not out; Dev Aditya Singh 3/41) vs Chhattisgarh.
Group C:
Jharkhand 289/5 (Shikhar Mohan 143; Vaisakh Chandran 3/71) vs Kerala.
Maharashtra 287/5 (Ankit Bawne 105 not out; Arjun Sharma 3/74) vs Services.
Odisha 272/3 (Gourav Choudhary 121 not out; Chintan Gaja 1/46) vs Gujarat.
Group D:
Railways 278 all out (Vivek Singh 112; Devendra Singh Bora 5/49) vs Uttarakhand.
Himachal Pradesh 153/7 (Akash Vasisht 49 not out; Anshul Kamboj 4/32) vs Haryana.