Bengal vs. Jharkhand
In their Ranji Trophy match against Bengal, Jharkhand were dismissed for just 173 despite Kumar Suraj scoring an unbeaten 89. In the meantime, Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar, who bowl at a pace, took seven wickets together.
Akash Deep and Mukesh made regular incisions to control Jharkhand on a day when only 66.2 overs were bowled due to poor light. Suraj and Pankaj Kumar shared the highest Jharkhand stand with 32 runs. Pankaj was also the only batter for the team who scored more than 20 runs, with the exception of Suraj. Ishan Porel and Akash Ghatak contributed one wicket each for Bengal, providing Akash Deep and Mukesh with valuable support.
Karnataka v Uttarakhand
In his first-class debut, Muralidhara Venkatesh, who plays for Mangalore United in the Maharaja T20 Trophy, impressed by scoring five wickets for Karnataka against Uttarakhand in their quarterfinal match at the Chinnaswamy stadium. At 123 for no loss, Karnataka finished the day in complete control and led by seven runs.
The bowlers Venkatesh, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Vijaykumar Vyshak, and K Gowtham set the stage for Karnataka’s dominance. The tall Kaverappa started the race early by forcing Jiwanjot Singh to edge one to the slip cordon on a track with enough grass. The debutant Venkatesh was then uppercut by Avneesh Sudha and sent to the fielder behind square on the offside. In order to traverse the middle order, Venkatesh continued to alternate between short and full lengths. In addition, Vyshak and Kaverappa made progress toward leaving Uttarakhand at 99 for 6.
Madhya Pradesh v Andhra
Andhra is in a strong position to face defending Ranji champion Madhya Pradesh in Indore after wicketkeeper-batcher Ricky Bhui (115 points) and Kirdant Karan Shinde (83 points) shared an undefeated 100-plus stand. At the end of play, Andhra was 262 for 2.
They were in a somewhat tricky position when Andhra skipper Hanuma Vihrai retired hurt after being struck on the wrist by a short ball from Avesh Khan. However, Bhui and Shinde collaborated to not only annoy the opponent but also increase the bowlers’ workload. In his innings so far, Shinde has hit 9 boundaries and a six, while Bhui has hit 12 fours and a six. Gaurav Yadav, a medium pacer, is the only MP bowler to have taken a wicket so far, having bowled out both of the openers.
Saurashtra v Punjab
When Snell Patel went down for a measured 70 at 147 for 8, Saurashtra were in a lot of trouble against Punjab. However, Saurashtra reached a competitive score of 303 thanks to Parth Bhut’s 155-ball unbeaten 111 and his partnerships of 61 with Chetan Sakariya and 95 with the final man, Yuvrajsinh Dodiya. Punjab were 3 against no loss at stumps.
Baltej Singh, S Kaul, and Mayank Markande, all in good form, had earlier decimated Saurashtra’s batting order. Vishvaraj Jadeja was the only other batter to reach 20 runs, with the exception of Patel. From 29.2 overs, Marakande took the most wickets for Punjab, taking four for 84.