Published: Jan 02, 2017, 07:00 AM (IST)
Edited: Jan 01, 2017, 10:17 PM (IST)
India’s premier domestic tournament has almost reached its business end with four teams battling in the semi-finals. Ranji Trophy 2016-17 season saw plenty of ups and downs with healthy competition between the teams. The four sides who are currently playing in the semi-finals are Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Jharkhand. The live cricket streaming of Day One of the Ranji Trophy 2016-17 semi-finals will be available on Hotstar, while the live cricket telecast of the match will be available on Star Sports 1 and Star Sports HD1. The venues for both the semi-finals are Rajkot and Nagpur whereas the final will be played at Indore.
Mumbai and Tamil Nadu are former champions but for Gujarat and Jharkhand, it is a golden opportunity for them to claim their maiden title. For Jharkhand, this is the first time they have reached the semi-final stage of the tournament. So far, in both the ongoing semi-final matches, teams who won the toss have elected to bat. Gujarat have got a good start as they have scored 283 with the loss of only three wickets. Leading run-scorer of this season Priyank Panchal is unbeaten on 144 and has gone past Wasim Jaffer’s tally of 1,260 run in 2008-09 season. This is now the fourth highest runs by a batsman in a single season.
Beside Panchal, skipper Parthiv Patel also scored a half-century before departing for 62. Out of three wickets, Vikash Singh scalped two, while Kaushal Singh took one. In the other semi-final clash between Mumbai and Tamil Nadu, both the sides had their moment. Mumbai bowlers did a good job to restrict Tamil Nadu at 261 for 6. Kaushik Gandhi and Baba Indrajith scored half-centuries. Shardul Thakur and Abhishek Nayar got two wickets each, while Balwinder Sandhu and Vijay Gohil scalped one wicket apiece. Vijay Shankar and Aswin Crist will resume batting on second day of the match.
