M Venkatesh claims five-fer for Karnataka on first-class debut; Parth Bhut ton lifts Saurashtra

In quarter-final 3 of the Ranji Trophy 2022-23 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Tuesday, January 31, Karnataka pacer M Venkatesh claimed 5/36 in 14 overs on his first-class debut against Uttarakhand. Thanks to Venkatesh’s brilliance, Uttarakhand were skittled out for 124 in 55.4 overs after Karnataka won the toss and decided to bowl first.

Vidhwath Kaverappa and K Gowtham also chipped in with two wickets each as Karnataka dominated proceedings. The batters continued the good work done by the bowlers, as openers Mayank Agarwal (65*) and Ravikumar Samarth (54*) added an unbroken 123 by stumps in 26 overs.

Akash Deep (4/46) and Mukesh Kumar (3/61) shone with the ball as Bengal cleaned up Jharkhand for 173 in 66.2 overs on Day 1 of the first quarter-final of the Ranji Trophy 2022-23 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Congrats Venkatesh on your five wkt haul on debut for Karnataka. It’s a special feeling to achieve such a fantastic feat on your first outing. Wishing you loads of wickets in the future. All of a sudden we have so many seam bowling options? Geddu Banni Kannada boys. #RanjiTrophy

Bengal won the toss and opted to bowl first, a move that paid rich dividends. Akash Deep sent back both Jharkhand openers Kumar Deobrat (eight) and Aryaman Sen (four), before adding the scalp of Kumar Kushagra (four).

For Jharkhand, Kumar Suraj played a lone hand, remaining unbeaten on 89 off 175 balls. Pankaj Kishor Kumar’s 21 was the next-best score in the innings. Bengal did not get an opportunity to bat as bad light forced stumps.

A scintillating ton from Parth Bhut (111* off 155) lifted Saurashtra from 147/8 to 303 in the 2nd quarterfinal of the Ranji Trophy 2022-23 against Punjab in Rajkot.

Saurashtra’s batting crumbled after they won the toss and opted to bat, despite Snell Patel’s 70. However, Bhut slammed 11 fours and four sixes, adding 61 for the ninth wicket with Chetan Sakariya (22) and 95 for the last wicket with Yuvrajsinh Dodiya (17). For Punjab, Mayank Markande claimed 4/84.

In quarter-final 4 of the Ranji Trophy 2022-23 in Indore, Andhra reached a healthy 262/2 at the stumps on Day 1 after being sent into bat by Madhya Pradesh. At the close of play, Ricky Bhui was batting on 115 and Karan Shinde on 83. The duo added an unbroken 204 for the third wicket.