Karnataka dismissed for 88, Tamil Nadu 111-4 in Ranji Trophy quarters

With medium pacer Ashwin Crist picking up 6-31, Tamil Nadu bundled out Karnataka for barely 88 runs before posting 111 for four wickets in reply on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy cricket quarter-final match on Friday.

The 22-year-old right-armer snared Kaunain Abbas (0), Manish Pandey (28), Karun Nair (14), Stuart Binny (0) C.M. Gautam (2) and R. Vinay Kumar (14) as he, along with fellow opening pacer T. Natarajan (3-18) ripped apart the star-studded Karnataka batting line-up in only 37.1 overs.

Crist was well complemented by left-armer Natarajan, who accounted for Ravikumar Samarth (11), Lokesh Rahul (4) and Abhimanyu Mithun (6) on a lively wicket.

In reply, Tamil Nadu totted up 111 for four, taking a handy 23 runs lead. Dinesh Karthik (31 not out) and Vijay Shankar (34) were the two best batsmen for Tamil Nadu. Karthik and Abhinav Mukund (3 not out) were unbeaten at the end of the first day.

Tamil Nadu too got off to a poor start as left-arm seamer Sreenath Aravind removed Kaushik Gandhi (15) and Laxmesha Suryaprakash (15).

Then Binny dismissed Baba Aparajith (1) to leave Tamil Nadu reeling at 33-3. But experienced wicket-keeper Karthik and Shankar provided a partnership of 70 runs for the fourth wicket to keep the danger away.

The partnership was flourishing till Shankar was run out for his personal score of 34.

Later, Mukund and Karthik ensured that no wicket falls as they hold the upper hand going into the second day.

In the other match, Jharkhand spinner Shahbaz Nadeem claimed a five-wicket haul as Haryana posted 251/7 in their first innings on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy quarter-final at the Moti Bagh Stadium.

Nadeem removed the Haryana top order to return figures of 5/75.

Medium-pacer Anand Singh (1/38) and leg-spinner Samar Quadri (1/61) claimed a wicket each.

Whereas, riding on middle-order batsman Siddhesh Lad's (101 not out) unbeaten ton, Mumbai reached 250/5 at stumps on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy quarter-final cricket clash against Hyderabad at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium.

In the fourth match, unbeaten half-centuries from Chirag Gandhi and Rush Kalaria rescued Gujarat after Odisha sent them in and reduced them to 71 for 6. The two added an unbroken 126 for the seventh wicket in 48 overs as Gujarat went to stumps 197 for 6, with Gandhi on 62 and Kalaria on 59.

At stumps, senior all-rounder Abhishek Nayar (46 not out) was at the crease with centurion Siddhesh.

Brief scores:

Haryana (First Innings): 251/7 (Chaitanya Bishnoi 41, Rajat Paliwal 42; Shahbaz Nadeem 5/75) vs Jharkhand.

Karnataka 88 all out (Manish Pandey 28; Ashwin Crist 6-31, T. Natarajan 3-18) vs Tamil Nadu 111-4 (Vijay Shankar 34, Dinesh Karthik 31 not out; Sreenath Aravind 2-14) at stumps on first day.

Mumbai 250/5 (Siddhesh Lad 101 not out, Aditya Tare 73, Abhishek Nayar 46 not out, Chama Milind 3/64) vs Hyderabad.

Gujarat 197 for 6 (Gandhi 62*, Kalaria 59*, Deepak Behera 3-36) vs Odisha

(With inputs from IANS)