Ranji Trophy, Group B: Yuvraj Singh on the verge of 3rd successive ton

Rajkot: Mandeep Singh struck his maiden century of this Ranji Trophy season while Yuvraj Singh was nearing his third successive ton as Punjab reached 327 for three on Day 1 against Saurashtra on Sunday.

Yuvraj was batting on 95 alongside Mandeep, who was on 154 off 228 balls. Medium pacer Sudeep Tyagi was the most successful bowler for Saurashtra with figures of two for 51 in 15 overs.

Yuvraj made a statement with another solid knock after not being named among the 30 probables for the 2015 World Cup. The stylish left-hander smashed 11 boundaries and couple of sixes in his 176-ball effort. He had scored 59 and 130 in Punjab's tournament opener against Haryana before making 136 in the first innings against Maharashtra in Pune.

Brief scores: Punjab 327 for 3 in 90 overs (Mandeep Singh batting 154, Yuvraj Singh batting 95; Sudeep Tyagi 2 for 51, Kamlesh Makwana 1 for 81) against Saurashtra.

Odisha bowl out Haryana for 127 on a green-top

Odisha won a good toss as their seam trio of Basant Mohanty, Suryakant Pradhan and Deepak Behera skittled out hosts Haryana for a paltry 127.

At stumps, Odisha did well to finish at 39 for no loss having seen off the final 18 overs in the day. They now need 88 runs to take the first innings lead.

Earlier, it was Odisha skipper Abhilash Mallick, who won the toss and promptly put the hosts into bat.

Basant (3 for 40), Suryakant (3 for 35) and Deepak (3 for 33) shared the spoils equally amongst themselves as Abhimanyu Khod (38) could make a significant contribution. The green-top and conditions aided seam bowling and the Odisha bowlers pitched it in right areas to gain maximum advantage as Haryana were all out in only 41.1 overs.

The post-lunch session on second day is best for batting and Odisha would want their former captain Natraj Behera (29 batting) to capitalise on the start that he has got.

Another man, who has played a lot at this venue is Biplab Samantray and his experience will come in handy.

Brief Scores: Haryana 1st innings 127 in 41.1 overs (Abhimanyu Khod 38, Basant Mohanty 3 for 40, Suryakant Pradhan 3 for 35, Deepak Behera 3 for 33). Odisha 1st innings 39 for no loss in 18 overs (Natraj Behera 29 batting).

Rajasthan on top despite Shrivastava ton

Shalabh Shrivastava struck an unbeaten 105 to take Vidarbha to 236 for six against Rajasthan on day one.

Vidarbha captain Subramanian Badrinath chipped in with 47 while Ravi Jangid made 43.

Rajasthan captain and medium pacer Pankaj Singh led from the front by taking four wickets and giving his team an upper hand going into day two.

Aniket Choudhary took the remaining wickets to fall on the opening day.

Brief scores: Vidarbha 236 for 6 in 84 overs (Shalabh Shrivastava batting 105; Pankaj Singh (4 for 85).

Delhi reach 178/1 after Unmukt, Gambhir provide solid start

Back in form after his fluent century against Rajasthan, Unmukt Chand made full use of playing against below-par Gujarat attack with an attractive unbeaten 97 that took Delhi to a comfortable 178 for one.

With only 53 overs of play possible on another fog-hit day, Delhi batsmen made full use of a low and slow Feroz Shah Kotla track as Unmukt, in company of skipper Gautam Gambhir (66), added 171 runs for the opening stand.

Unmukt looked confident from the onset as he punished both pacers and spinners alike. When medium pacer Ishwar Chaudhary dropped one short, he was quick to rock back and play the perfect pull-shot behind square for maximum.

He hit three more sixes -- two off off-spinner Jesal Karia's bowling in the arc and one off left-arm spinner Pranjal Sutaria apart from 12 boundaries in 170 balls.

Another three runs would give him sixth century in first-class cricket and second successive in the tournament.

Gambhir, on his part was a bit scratchy to begin with but grew in confidence watching his opening partner in full flow. He also hit two sixes apart from five fours. One came off Sutaria and other off seamer Kushang Patel.

The India discard should be cursing himself for not converting into a big hundred as he missed the line of a Karia delivery to be bowled. Gambhir faced 143 deliveries.

The absence of Axar Patel did hurt Gujarat, who are also handicapped in the batting department due to the absence of their regular skipper Parthiv Patel, who pulled out complaining of cervical pain.

The two new ball bowlers, Rush Kalaria and Kushang were at best military medium and they even failed to hit the deck properly which meant that batsmen had all the time in the world to play their strokes. The odd edge to the slips didn't even carry due to the low and slow nature of the track.

At stumps, Virender Sehwag was at the other end undefeated on 2.

Sehwag normally bats at No 4 but Delhi coach Vijay Dahiya said that the veteran batsman has been seny up to play his natural game and prop up the team total in quick time.

"I would say 350 is a good first innings score on this track. We have sent Virender Sehwag up specifically for that reason ahead of our regular No 3 Varun Sood. Sehwag can easily up the ante. We have got a good start and we would like to capitalise on that," Dahiya told the reporters.

Brief Scores: Delhi 1st Innings 178 for 1 in 53 overs (Unmukt Chand 97 batting, Gautam Gambhir 66, Virender Sehwag batting 2) vs Gujarat.