Ranji Trophy, Round 3, Day 1: Jalaj Saxena puts Madhya Pradesh in ascendancy

Jalaj Saxena's unbeaten 120 in Chennai put Madhya Pradesh in firm control of the proceedings against the hosts, Tamil Nadu. Elsewhere, Parwinder Awana and Navdeep Saini took seven wickets between them to bowl out Rajasthan for a paltry 141 and Krishnakant Upadhay took four to restrict defending champions, Karnataka.

Baroda vs Jammu and Kashmir, Vadodara

J&K captain, Pervez Rasool, remained unbeaten on 65 on a day when four of their top five batsmen got starts, only to disappoint by gifting their wickets away. Left-arm spinner, Swapnil Singh, continued his fine run of form and was the pick of the Baroda bowlers, ending the day with figures of 4/92.

Brief Scores: Jammu and Kashmir 266/6 (Parvez Rasool 65*, Adil Reshi 46; Swapnil Singh 4/92) vs Baroda.

Group A

Karnataka vs Railways, Delhi

Railways seamer, Krishnakant Upadhay, took four wickets as they reduced seven-time champions, Karnataka to 207/7 on Day 1. Only 68 overs were bowled with almost an entire session of play lost due to bad light.

Brief Scores: Karnataka 207/7 (Kunal Kapoor 53, Robin Uthappa 40; Upadhyay 4/75) vs Railways.

Group A

Tamil Nadu vs Madhya Pradesh, Chennai

Jalaj Saxena and Harpreet Singh shared a 130-run second wicket stand with the former going on to make a classy unbeaten century to cap off a solid day in the office for the visiting Madhya Pradesh side. For the hosts, the 25-year old off-spinner, Malolan Rangarajan, picked up two wickets.

Brief Scores: Madhya Pradesh 250/4 (Jalaj Saxena 120*, Harpreet Singh 65; M Rangarajan 2/81) vs Tamil Nadu.

Group A

Uttar Pradesh vs Mumbai, Kanpur

Heavy fog in Kanpur allowed only 50 overs to be bowled in this crucial encounter. Tanmay Srivastava and Prashant Gupta batted assuredly to take the home side to 115/1 at stumps.

Brief Scores: Uttar Pradesh 115/1 (T Srivastava 49*, P Gupta 41*; Shardul Thakur 1/31) vs Mumbai.

Group B

Delhi vs Rajasthan, Delhi

Parwinder Awana and Navdeep Saini took seven wickets as Rajasthan crumbled to 141 all-out on Day 1 of the third round of Ranji Trophy matches. Rajesh Bishnoi top-scored for the visitors with 57 even as others around him lost the plot. In fact, Rajasthan lost their last four wickets in 12 deliveries, without adding a single run. In reply, Delhi lost skipper Gautam Gambhir for a second ball duck.

Brief Scores: Rajasthan 141 (Rajesh Bishnoi 57; Parwinder Awana 4/15, N Saini 3/31) lead Delhi 10/1 (Unmukt Chand 4*; Aniket Choudhary 1/4) by 131 runs.

Group B

Gujarat vs Saurashtra, Rajkot

Saurashtra were bowled out for 207 in their first innings on Day 1 of the third round of Ranji Trophy matches. Only Sheldon Jackson showed his wares by scoring 48.

Brief Scores: Saurashtra 207 (Sheldon Jackson 48; Akshar Patel 4/72) lead Gujarat 3/0 by 204 runs.

Group B

Haryana vs Vidarbha, Rohtak

Inclement weather conditions permitted only 47 overs in Rohtak. Visitors, Vidarbha, meandered along to 101/3.

Vidarbha 101/3 (Faiz Fazal 42*; Ashish Hooda 2/29) vs Haryana.

Group B

Maharashtra vs Punjab, Pune

Siddharth Kaul, Harbhajan Singh and Sandeep Sharma were among the wickets, as visitors Punjab bowled out Maharashtra for 210 in 71 overs. Rahul Tripathi struck a patient 56 for the home side before falling to Yuvraj Singh. In response, Punjab reached 26/1 at the close of play, losing Uday Kaul in the fifth over.

Brief Scores: Maharashtra 210 (R Tripathi 56; S Kaul 3/46; Maninder SIngh 2/42) lead Punjab 26/1 by 184 runs.

Group C

Services vs Andhra, Delhi

Inclement weather permitted only 60 overs to be bowled in the day's play. AG Pradeep and Srikar Bharat scored 47 each to take Andhra Pradesh to 160/3.

Brief Scores: Andhra 160/3 (AG Pradeep 47*, Srikar Bharat 47; Saurabh Kumar 1/19) vs Services.

Group C

Goa vs Himachal Pradesh, Goa

Darshan Misal struck a fine unbeaten 89 and was well supported by lower-order batsmen, Saurabh Bandekar and Shadab Jakati, to bail Goa out from a precarious 96-5 to 274-7. Vikramjit Malik picked up two early wickets for the visiting Himachal side.

Brief Scores: Goa 274/7 (Darshan Misal 89*, Shadab Jakati 44; Vikramjeet Malik 2/55) vs Himachal Pradesh.

Group C

Kerala vs Hyderabad, Kerala

Anthaf, the medium-pacer from Kerala, took three wickets as the hosts restricted Hyderabad to 225/7, despite Hanuma Vihari's combative 76. Ibrahim Khaleel and Ashish Reddy, however, put on an unbeaten 71-run stand for the eighth wicket to keep Hyderabad's innings afloat.

Brief Scores: Hyderabad 225/7 (Hanuma Vihari 76, Ibrahim Khaleel 35*; Anthaf 3/39) vs Kerala.

Group C