A round-up of the first day’s play from the seventh-round matches from Group B of the Ranji Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Nov-2016A rollicking hundred from Kedar Jadhav and a near-hundred from Naushad Shaikh led Maharashtra to 352 for 5, at nearly four runs an over, against Assam at the IIT-Chemplast ground in Chennai. Having chosen to bat, Maharashtra made a solid start through their captain Swapnil Gugale, who added 54 for the first wicket with Murtaza Trunkwala and 29 for the second with Shaikh before falling for 50 off 81 balls (8×4). Jadhav entered the scene and dominated the bowling, scoring 115 off just 106 balls, with 15 fours and three sixes, and adding 183 for the third wicket with Shaikh before falling to the left-arm spinner and local boy J Syed Mohammad.Shaikh and Ankit Bawne then put on 59 for the fourth wicket before both fell for the addition of only two runs to Maharashtra’s score. Shaikh fell for 97, having faced 163 balls and struck 12 fours, while Bawne went for 38. Chirag Khurana and Vishant More saw out the remaining 12.5 overs of the day, adding 25 runs in that time.Amitkumar Gautam played a lone hand, scoring a century while the rest of the batting crumbled around him, as Rajasthan folded for 238 against Delhi in Wayanad. Only two other batsmen passed 20 – Salman Khan scored 31 at No. 6, and Deepak Chahar 47 at No. 8 – as Rajasthan, sent in to bat, stumbled against seamers Sumit Narwal, Navdeep Saini and Vikas Tokas, who shared the first eight wickets. Gautam was seventh out for 106, having faced 182 balls and hit 15 fours and two sixes. Left-arm spinner Manan Sharma took the last two wickets as Rajasthan were bowled out in 71.3 overs.Having recovered from the thumb injury that had kept him out of action since India’s second Test against New Zealand, Shikhar Dhawan made a solid start to his comeback, scoring an unbeaten 29 off 39 balls to drive Delhi to 37 for no loss at stumps. Gautam Gambhir, released from India’s squad after the first Test against England, was batting on 6 off 28 at the other end.Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan returned to the Delhi side after national duty and injury respectively•PTI

Basant Mohanty’s 3 for 46 led Odisha‘s bowling effort against group toppers Karnataka, who folded for 179 after being sent in to bat at the Palam Sports Complex in Delhi. Karnataka struck back thereafter, leaving Odisha 42 for 2 at stumps.Karnataka made a reasonable start to the day, with R Samarth and Robin Uthappa putting on 52 for the second wicket, but gave Odisha an opening by losing both their openers to run-outs. Samarth and Uthappa fell in the space of three balls, the latter out to Alok Mangaraj’s medium-pace, and Karnataka never really recovered, despite an 84-ball 54 (8×4) from their wicketkeeper CM Gautam, who was last out in the 67th over.A hundred from Sheldon Jackson and 78 from Chirag Jani lifted Saurashtra to 301 on a closely fought first day against fellow strugglers Vidarbha at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi. Sent in to bat, Saurashtra were rocked by the medium-pace of Rajneesh Gurbani, who took three of the first four wickets to leave them 101 for 4. Jackson, who had come in at No. 4, stabilised the innings, putting on 66 for the fifth wicket with Prerak Mankad (28) and 60 for the sixth with Jani before becoming Gurbani’s fourth victim for 116 (149b, 15×4, 2×6). Gurbani would go on to finish with figures of 4 for 85.Including Jackson, Vidarbha picked up three wickets for 11 runs to leave Saurashtra 238 for 8, before Jani and Vandit Jivranjani added 53 for the ninth wicket. Jani was ninth out for 78 off 117 balls (11×4, 1×6). Jivranjani ended not out on 5 off 38 balls as Saurashtra lost their last wicket at the start of the 87th over. Left just one over to survive until stumps, Vidarbha ended the day 4 for no loss.

Australia made deep inroads into Pakistan’s batting line-up and ended a rain-hit day at the SCG ahead by 267 runs

The Report by Daniel Brettig05-Jan-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details3:45

Kimber: Younis a role model for young Pakistani batsmen

Good things come to those who wait. For the SCG crowd it was a couple of sessions of full-blooded play after waiting more than four hours in the rain. For Younis Khan it was a first century in Australia at the end of a barren tour. For Australia, it was a rush of wickets to give them a firm grip of the Pink Test with two days left.The wickets were as much due to Pakistan’s inattention as Australia’s excellence, with Azhar Ali and the captain Misbah-ul-Haq most due for introspection after falling prey to a run-out and a slog at Nathan Lyon, respectively. Asad Shafiq fell to a sublime catch by Steven Smith when he was already appealing for lbw, while Sarfraz Ahmed was accounted for by the extra bounce of the new ball in Mitchell Starc’s hands.Play was delayed until 2.45pm by light but persistent showers, reducing the minimum overs to be bowled to 54. Younis, though, was unperturbed by the break, continuing in a methodical manner on resumption and working his way towards a century. The milestone made him the only man to have a made a century in all 10 Test-playing nations plus Pakistan’s adopted home in the UAE.He was, however, complicit in the critical run-out of Azhar, who made it as far as 71 before he was undone by the combination of a ball driven fractionally out of the reach of mid-on – whom he had to wait for – and the strong left arm of Starc, who threw adroitly to the substitute gloveman Peter Handscomb; Matthew Wade being off the field and back at the team hotel with illness.There had been some reverse-swing for Starc and Josh Hazlewood when play began, the captain Smith preferring the pace pair to spin for the first 12 overs of the day. In that time Azhar evaded a close lbw shout from Hazlewood when on 59, the ball hitting leg stump but not enough to overrule the on-field call.Azhar Ali’s run-out ended a stubborn 146-run stand•Getty Images

A couple of other shots fell fractionally short of the fielders, and when Lyon was introduced he was able to gain some appreciable turn. However Azhar’s run-out was the only wicket, as Misbah hung on grimly in Younis’ more comfortable company until tea.One of the more intriguing duels in this series has been that between Misbah and Lyon; more or less the inverse of how things panned out in the UAE in 2014. While Misbah has tried to attack Lyon in the old familiar style, balls have been going to hand rather than over the boundary, and so it was again when he swung for the Bill O’Reilly Stand and could only find the substitute fielder Jackson Bird.At the other end Steve O’Keefe bowled neatly, challenging the stumps from wide of the crease, and was going up to appeal against Shafiq when a ball skidded on seemingly past the inside edge. Smith was up too, but somehow composed himself to claim a one-handed catch via Handscomb’s leg, which replays showed was the mode of dismissal due to the the thinnest of deflections from the bat.Sarfraz showed his familiar attacking intent but was unable to get over the new ball, offering another chance well held by Bird. Mohammad Amir showed rather less composure than he had done on previous visits to the middle, swishing Lyon heedlessly to mid-off. When Wahab Riaz was bowled by Lyon’s sharp offbreak in the penultimate over Australia were very much ascendant, in spite of Younis’ best efforts.

Faf du Plessis struck the second-highest score by a South African in ODIs to help them win by 40 runs and move within one win to become the No. 1 ranked team

The Report by Firdose Moonda07-Feb-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details Faf du Plessis unleashed a variety of drives during his 185 – the second-highest score by a South African in ODIs•Getty Images

A Sri Lankan line-up that was dismissed for under 190 in the first three ODIs and had not topped 300 in any format on the current tour of South Africa made a fist of chasing a record total at Newlands, but eventually fell 40 runs short. South Africa’s batsmen filled the boots by posting the highest total at the ground, overtaking the 354 for 3 they put on against Kenya in 2001. It proved enough to extend their winning streak at home to 13 matches and put them one win away from the No.1 ODI rankings.

Dickwella, Rabada fined for breaching code of conduct

Sri Lanka opener Niroshan Dickwella and South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada have both been fined 50% of their match fees for breaching the ICC’s code of conduct during the fourth ODI in Cape Town. In addition to the fines, three demerit points have been added to both Dickwella and Rabada’s disciplinary records.
The two players were found to have been in violation with Article 2.2.7, which relates to “inappropriate and deliberate physical contact with a Player, Player Support Personnel, Umpire, Match Referee or any other Person (including a spectator) in the course of play during an international match”.
The incident took place in the 12th over of Sri Lanka’s 368 chase when Dickwella and Rabada made contact with each other, after the batsman had completed a single, at the non-striker’s end.
Since both players admitted to the offence and accepted the sanction imposed by Richie Richardson, the match referee, there was no need for a formal hearing.

Quinton de Kock scored his first fifty of the series, AB de Villiers his 50th ODI fifty, but Faf du Plessis stole the show. His second century of the series also made him the holder of the second-highest individual score by a South African, surpassing de Kock’s unbeaten 178 against Australia in September 2016 and three runs short of Gary Kirsten’s 188* against the UAE at the 1996 World Cup.Sri Lanka’s reply started strongly as Upul Tharanga and Niroshan Dickwella plundered 100 runs off the first ten overs. Tharanga went on to score the first century by a Sri Lankan batsman on this trip but was dismissed in the 30th over. It left Sri Lanka with a tough task of having to sustain momentum.Sandun Weerakkody, playing in just his second ODI, ensured that by bringing up a maiden half-century to keep Sri Lanka within range, and even put them ahead of South Africa at times. After 45 overs, Sri Lanka were 317 for 7. In comparison, South Africa had only reached 317 at the end of 46 overs. But as is so often the case for South Africa, Imran Tahir came up with crucial incisions.He took two wickets in his final over – trapping Nuwan Kulasekara lbw and having Weerakkody caught at backward point – to leave Sri Lanka needing 51 off the last four overs with just one wicket standing. They didn’t get there, but neither have 22 other chasing teams in day-night matches at Newlands. Sri Lanka, however, put on the most runs among all sides that have attempted to chase down totals.South Africa knew the advantages that could be gained from setting a target and chose to do that on a flat deck. Hashim Amla was dismissed early but that only gave du Plessis enough time to settle in and build an innings. He shared a century stand with de Kock by the time Sri Lanka could have their first drink. De Kock brought up fifty off 40 balls and was threatening more but added five more before he edged Sachith Pathirana to Tharanga at slip.If Sri Lanka thought that would slow South Africa down, they were wrong. De Kock and du Plessis had motored on at a rate of 6.89; de Villiers picked up exactly where they left off and put on 137 runs with du Plessis at 6.90. Their contributions were almost mirror images of each other – du Plessis scored 70 runs in their stand; de Villiers 64. Du Plessis’ fifty came off 46 balls with a drive off a half-volley. De Villiers reached his fifty off 51 balls, the delivery before du Plessis dug out a Kumara yorker to get to a hundred. De Villiers only added another 14 runs before being bowled around his legs; du Plessis did not give them any such let-off.As his innings went on, he batted more aggressively. His first fifty came off 46 balls, his second off 43 and his third off 40 as he brought out everything from a straight drive back over the bowler’s head to a scoop over fine leg, once in the same over.Farhaan Behardien was not simply a passive observer. He scored almost half the runs (31) in a 74-run stand but was happy to hand strike back to du Plessis as he went in search of the record. Du Plessis wanted it and hit Nuwan Kulasekara for six in the penultimate over to overtake de Kock and then tried to repeat the feat with four balls to go. Du Plessis did not get enough power behind his shot and long-on took the catch to end his quest. For Sri Lanka, though, the damage seemed done.Their batting throughout this trip has left much to be desired but with nothing to lose, they came out blazing. Tharanga and Dickwella, who had already scored two half-centuries on this tour, enjoyed the batting conditions as much as South Africa had. Wayne Parnell and Dwaine Pretorius opened the bowling, JP Duminy was given the ball when it was three overs old, Imran Tahir was called on in the powerplay and Tabraiz Shamsi was not used until the 14th over. By then, Sri Lanka had made their intent clear.Pretorius made the first breakthrough in his second spell, when he had started to use the short ball more. Dickwella played early to a delivery that got big on him and he top-edged to Behardien at deep square leg to end a 139-run opening stand. Like du Plessis, Tharanga continued almost completely unaffected by a dismissal and brought up a 73-ball hundred.At the halfway stage, Sri Lanka had scored more runs they had in this series so far – when their best performance was 186 – and had brought the required run-rate down to just under seven an over. Much rested on Tharanga though, especially when Kusal Mendis walked across his stumps and gloved a Parnell delivery to de Kock. Tharanga only managed two more shots in anger before he steered Parnell to backward point and Sri Lanka’s challenge looked over.But there was some depth to the Sri Lankan effort and it came in the form of Weerakkody. He started slowly and lost Dhananjaya de Silva to an lbw, but put on a 79-run fifth-wicket stand with Asela Gunaratne, the intent against Shamsi and Pretorius’ short ball was noticeable. He brought up fifty off 46 balls to keep them alive. But Tahir had other plans to give South Africa an opportunity of inflicting a series whitewash.

They contributed nearly half of the visitors’ total on a Pune pitch where the ball spinning sharply was the norm rather than the exception

The Report by Alagappan Muthu23-Feb-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details3:42