da bet7k： A review of how India’s domestic stars – most in contention for a spot in the national team – did in the first round of the new Ranji Trophy season

da bet nacional： Deivarayan Muthu09-Oct-2017M VijayThe India opener indiscreetly slashed a catch to slip for 4 in Tamil Nadu’s first innings against Andhra in Chennai before surviving an injury scare in the second because of an ankle sprain. He had retired hurt on 13 on the third day, but returned to bat on the fourth, scoring his first fifty-plus score in first-class cricket since his 82 against Australia in March. Vijay showed few signs of discomfort on the final day against Andhra, skipping back and cracking left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt for a brace of boundaries over square leg, including a slog-swept six that brought up his fifty. He made 55 off 93 balls before falling to part-time legspinner Prasanth Kumar.Abhinav MukundThe Tamil Nadu captain chipped a return catch for 11 in the first innings but gave a better account of himself in the second, falling five short of a hundred. Abhinav was jittery against the left-arm angle of Andhra debutant Y Prithvi Raj, but saw off the new ball and then unfurled drives and sweeps against Bhatt. Abhinav reached his fifty off 121 balls and set up Tamil Nadu’s push for a declaration before holing out to deep midwicket.R AshwinTaking the new ball, the offspinner wheeled away for 33.4 overs in the first innings, collecting 4 for 71. He struck twice in two overs to remove Venugopal Rao and opener Srikar Bharat on the second morning. He could have had Ashwin Hebbar, too, on 13 had Washington Sundar not misjudged a catch in the deep. Hebbar moved to 64 and added 118 with B Sumanth – who made 109 – which paved the road for Andhra claiming the first-innings lead. Ashwin was more expensive in the second innings, leaking 92 runs in 16 overs for two wickets as Andhra had a crack at their target of 218.AFPCheteshwar PujaraLeading Saurashtra for the first time, in the absence of Jaydev Shah, Pujara contributed 35 off 74 balls in the team’s innings-and-31-run victory over hosts Haryana at Rohtak. Pujara has managed only 153 runs in nine first-class innings, at an average of 17, since his back-to-back centuries in Sri Lanka.Ishant SharmaLeading Delhi for the first time, Ishant enjoyed a fine start to his captaincy, grabbing 5 for 38 in 20 overs in the first innings to help his side dismiss Assam for 258. It was Ishant’s first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket since October 2015. In the second innings, however, the seamer went wicketless in 19 overs.Gautam GambhirGambhir, who might be in competition with Abhinav for the fourth opener’s role in India’s Test squad, got the century out of the way and underpinned Delhi’s 435 in their first innings against Assam. He struck 21 fours in his 137 and put on 207 with Nitish Rana – the highest stand of the match. Gambhir did not bat in the second innings and the match ultimately ended in a draw with Delhi securing three points by virtue of a 177-run first-innings lead.Mohammed ShamiPlaying his first first-class game for Bengal in about five years, Shami had a low-key return with match figures of 38-8-123-2. He had some fun with the bat, though, plundering an unbroken 77 for the last wicket with Ashok Dinda before Bengal declared their first innings.Wriddhiman SahaThe India wicketkeeper-batsman struck 55 off 83 balls – his 31st first-class fifty – to help swell Bengal’s first-innings total to 552 for 9 declared against Services at the Palam ground in Delhi. Saha then scored only 15 in the second dig before he was dismissed by seamer Diwesh PathaniaSuresh RainaRaina collected two wickets with the ball but managed only 35 runs across both innings against Railways in Lucknow. His second-innings dismissal – pinned lbw by left-arm seamer Deepak Bansal – for 29 added to Uttar Pradesh’s cataclysmic collapse in their chase of 94.