Suryakumar Yadav’s fiery half-century on his return to first-class cricket
Suryakumar Yadav, playing his first Ranji Trophy match in nearly three years, smashed an 80-ball 90 while skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Yashasvi Jaiswal hit centuries as Mumbai cruised to a three-match series against Hyderabad on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group B match here on Tuesday. Scored 396 runs on the wicket. Arguably India’s best batsman in the limited-overs format in the last 12 months, Suryakumar displayed the same aggression he is known for in the shorter formats in red-ball cricket. He hit 15 fours and a six in his innings.
Suryakumar, who last played a first-class match in February 2020, has expressed his desire to play Test cricket for India several times. Opener Jaiswal also continued his fine form, scoring 162 runs in 195 balls. Rahane was playing on 139 runs at stumps. Hyderabad won the toss and decided to bowl first at the BKC ground and sent Prithvi Shaw (19) to the pavilion early. Yashasvi then shared 153 for the second wicket with Suryakumar and 206 for the third wicket with Rahane to put Mumbai in a strong position.
On the other hand, Delhi scored 271 for seven against Assam in Guwahati, riding on Dhruv Shorey’s eighth first-class century. Shorey was on 139 off 216 balls when the day’s play had to be called off nine overs early due to bad light. Assam won the toss and decided to bowl first and soon Delhi’s score was reduced to 74 for four. Opener Anuj Rawat was trapped leg before by Mrinmoy Dutta after scoring just two runs.
Shorey and captain Yash Dhull (22) took the team’s score past 50 runs but Akash Sengupta broke the partnership by getting Dhull caught by the wicketkeeper. Experienced Nitish Rana (00) and Himmat Singh (03) also could not last long, leaving the Delhi team in trouble. Shorey then found a fine partner in Vaibhav Raval (43). Both shared a 103-run partnership for the fifth wicket. Delhi, who lost their tournament opener against Maharashtra, have fielded a weak team in the absence of injured pacers Ishant Sharma and Mayank Yadav.
The team was forced to give debuts to Harshit Rana, Pranshu Vijayaran and spinner Hrithik Shokeen. Half-centuries from Abhishek Reddy (82), Ricky Bhui (68) and Karan Shinde (55 not out) helped Andhra post 277 for five against Tamil Nadu on the opening day in Coimbatore. R Sai Kishore took two wickets for 73 runs from Tamil Nadu. An unbroken 143-run third-wicket partnership between Naushad Sheikh (93 not out) and Ankit Bawne (61 not out) helped Maharashtra set up a massive 253 for two against Saurashtra in another Group B match at Rajkot. Captain and opener Ruturaj Gaikwad also played an innings of 65 runs for Maharashtra.
