Ranji Trophy Live Score: Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill eye comeback; Ravindra Jadeja looks to build on fifer

Ranji Trophy Live Score: Shardul Thakur celebrates with Rohit Sharma and Karsh Kothari after taking the wicket of Jammu and Kashmir’s Abdul Samad during the first day.

It was largely a bowler’s day across the country, with plenty of support provided to teams as they managed to put the opposing batters under pressure. The key matchup of the round was between Mumbai and Jammu & Kashmir at the BKC Ground in Mumbai, where Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and chose to bat, only to regret it as the star opening partnership of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma fell in quick succession.

Yashasvi Jaiswal was dismissed for 4, and while Rohit hung around, he looked very uncomfortable in the red ball, not too dissimilar to his struggles in recent months in Test cricket, departing for 3. Simultaneously, Shubman Gill was dismissed for 4 at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, as Karnataka ran through the Punjab batting, demolishing their opposition in the first innings for just 55 runs.

Lastly, it was Rishabh Pant who put the cap on the returning Indian players’ struggles. Coming in at 5 for Delhi against Saurashtra. Although he was the one Indian batter who left with relative credit from the winter of Test action, he was dismissed for just 1 run, signalling a horrific spell for the frontline batters who would have seen this round of matches as a key opportunity to get the monkey off their back.

It was a similar story for even players on the fringes of the team, or those who have recently been moved on from. Rahane looked in good touch, but was dismissed after a loose shot for 12, while Shreyas Iyer played a couple of good-looking shots but found himself caught in the deep while trying to counter-attack. Meanwhile, Cheteshwar Pujara might have thought he could take the opportunity to prove a point with a strong innings, but also fell after scoring 6 runs, against the past-time spin of Ayush Badoni.

It was a good day for many across the country despite this. Gujarat bowler Aarya Desai took 9 wickets in the first innings against Uttarakhand, and Khaleel Ahmed shone with a five-fer for Rajasthan against Vidarbha. On the batting front, the top scorers of the Ranji season so far had a good time as well. Madhya Pradesh captain Shubham Sharma played a lone-warrior knock to score a half century, but run-leader Tanmay Agarwal continued to extend his advantage at the top as he became the first player this season to cross 700 runs, with a century for Hyderabad against Himachal Pradesh.

One of the finds of the round will be Tamil Nadu teenager Andre Siddarth, who scored his maiden century in first class cricket with a fantastic innings against Chandigarh when his team were in a spot of bother. The 18-year-old played an innings of character and quality, scoring a crucial century.

Ultimately, Ravindra Jadeja was the only Indian international who returned and provided any sort of performance of substance. The all-rounder first shone with a five-fer against Delhi, taking important wickets, and then returned with a strong cameo of 38(36) that provided the Saurashtra innings with some important momentum towards the end of the day.

Some of the games head into day two hanging in the balance, while other teams will be happy with the step up they have taken on the return to Ranji Trophy cricket. However, Indian fans will tune in with the expectation of the star players doing better on their second opportunity.