Bowlers Dominate Opening Day of Ranji Trophy Round Two as Rinku Singh Hits Ton

Bowlers ruled the opening day of the second round in the Ranji Trophy, with 10 teams bowled out across 19 matches as batsmen struggled to score big runs.

Individual Highlights

India and Mumbai pacer Tushar Deshpande took 4/46 in 13.5 overs to help bowl out Himachal Pradesh for 140 in Bilaspur, following up on his hat-trick from the season opener. Mumbai reached 107/2 by stumps, trailing by 33 runs with Musheer Khan on 34 not out and Siddesh Lad on 32 not out. Left-arm spinner Vicky Ostwal claimed 4/39 to dismiss Jharkhand for 169 in Pune, backing up early wickets from Pradeep Dadhe and Tanay Sanghavi who took three wickets each. Maharashtra closed on 85/3 with Sachin Dhas scoring 58, still trailing by 84 runs.

More Matches

In Palam, Pulkit Narang took 5/63 to lead the Services attack as Bengal were bowled out for 184, despite Abhimanyu Easwaran top-scoring with 56. Services slumped to 83/5 in reply, trailing by 101 runs. Meanwhile, Rinku Singh rescued Uttar Pradesh against Goa in Kanpur with an unbeaten 118 off 186 balls after his side fell to 33/3. Rinku hit 11 fours and two sixes for his second successive Ranji century, sharing a 58-run stand with Madhav Kaushik who made 45 and a 65-run last-wicket partnership with Vansh Chaudhary to push the total to 202. Goa reached 43/0 in 12 overs by stumps.

Context

The Ranji Trophy is India's premier domestic first-class cricket championship, played annually between state and regional teams. Performances in this historic tournament often serve as the main path for players looking to break into the Indian national Test team.