Published: Nov 07, 2015, 08:30 AM (IST)
Edited: Aug 31, 2016, 04:10 PM (IST)
Hello and welcome to CricketCountry’s live cricket blog for the first day’s play of the Ranji Trophy 2015-16 between Himachal Pradesh and Services at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association at Dharamsala. Himachal will be high on confidence after they registered a thumping win over Tripura in the previous round. Paras Dogra scored a magnificent 209 in Himachal Pradesh’s first innings, which turned out to be a match-winning one eventually. Openers Ankush Bains and Prashant Chopra too scored a ton, giving their team an ideal start. Services on the other hand gave a tight competition to Saurashtra, but lost the match narrowly, which consolidated Saurashtra’s position at the top of the table.
Live cricket scores Himachal| 352/4 | Overs 90 | Batting: Paras Dogra 174(207), NR Gangta 93(146): After the dismissal of Robin Bist in the 48th over, Services had no luck with further dismissals. While Paras remianed unbeaten on 174 at stumps of Day 1, he was given superb support by Gangta from the other end who is on way to a superb century. It will be crucial for these two to continue with the same momentum on Day 2 to ensure a competitive total.
Live cricket scores Himachal| 175/4 | Overs 53 | Batting: Paras Dogra 74(116), N R Gangta 16(18): Diwesh Gurdev’s three wickets slowed donw the good start from Himachal. He removed Bains, Ankit Kalsi and Robin Bist. The last batsman to get dimissed was Bist who scored 22 from 51 balls before getting trapped leg before wicket. Prashant was caught by Aanshul Gupta off Khalid Ahmad’s delivery on the second ball of the 33rd over. OUT! Ankit Kalsi b Diwesh Gurdev Pathania 17(42) OUT! Prashant Chopra c Aanshul Gupta b Khalid Ahmad 38(83) OUT! Robin Bist LBW Diwesh Gurdev Pathania 22(51)
Live cricket scores Himachal| 31/1 | Overs 14 | Batting: Prashant Chopra 15(37), Ankit Kalsi 13(36): Gurdev Pathania drew first blood in the third over when he dismissed Himachal’s opener Ankush Bains. The latter faced 11 balls and made just 1 run before getting trapped leg before wicket, leaving his side at three for 1. That wicket brought Ankit on crease and it is important for Prashant and Ankit to stick around to ensure a good total for Himachal. OUT! Ankush Bains LBW Diwesh Gurdev Pathania
For Services, Rajat Paliwal scored a magnificent ton, but the others around him collapsed and as a result Services could not put a huge score on the board. Divesh Pathania and Muzzaffaruddin Khalid wrecked havoc with the latter picking up a five-wicket haul in the first innings. Services will look to them to produce a similar performance.
Himachal Pradesh are currently placed at the second position behind Saurashtra in the Group C table. Services are just four points behind Himachal Pradesh at 16 and currently placed at No. 3.
Squads:
Himachal Pradesh: Bipul Sharma (c), Ankush Bains (wk), Robin Bist, Paras Dogra, Rishi Dhawan, Prashant Chopra, Nikhil Gangta, Pankaj Jaiswal, Ankit Kalsi, Ronit More, Shresth Nirmohi, Abhimanyu Rana, PS Chopra, Varun Sharma, Akash Vasisht
Services: Jaydev Shah(c), Avi Barot, Sagar Jogiyani(wk), Sheldon Jackson, Aarpit Vasavada, Deepak Punia, Chirag Jani, Kamlesh Makvana, Jaydev Unadkat, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Vandit Jivrajani, Mohsin Dodia, Abhishek Bhat.
