Suresh Raina failed with the bat yet again as Delhi put up an impressive bowling effort on a helpful track to restrict Uttar Pradesh to 270 for eight on Day 1 of the Group A Ranji Trophy here on Wednesday.
On a pitch having prominent patches of green, Delhi captain and pace spearhead Ishant Sharma had little hesitation in putting the opposition in.
The UP batting, which has failed miserably so far in the tournament, was again found wanting against the moving ball.
The lone bright spot in the batting department was the 111-run stand between Mohammad Saif (83) and Akshdeep Nath (59), helping their team rebuild the innings after openers Shivam Chaudhary (24) and Almas Shaukat (5) departed to make it 41 for two.
Saif, unfortunately was retired hurt on 64 after being hit on the hand while negotiating a rising ball off Ishant.
Though he did return to make another 19 runs, his forced absence due to the incident allowed Delhi to comeback and take flurry of wickets.
Nath was was dismissed by Ishant in the over after Saif got retired hurt. Saif returned to the centre and smashed a six and two fours off Milind Kumar before being run out.
A lot was expected from UP skipper Raina (10) but he perished cheaply again after being bowled off a quicker ball by offie Milind.
The low bounce of the delivery seemed to surprise Raina, who fell in his attempt to cut the ball. Raina is yet to fire in the tournament so far, having failed in five innings.
That was another body blow to UP, who found themselves IJ at 208 for six from a promising 157 for two.
Delhi pacers revelled in getting movement off the pitch with all their dismissal being caught behind by the wicket- keeper or in the slip cordon.
Ishant bowled well again, picking up two wickets and so did India A regular Navdeep Saini. The other pacer who got a wicket was left-arm seamer Kulwant Khejroliya.
Part-time off-break bowler Milind Kumar and left-arm spinner Manan Sharma also got a wicket apiece.
Upendra Yadav (48 batting) and Israr Azim (6 batting) frustrated Delhi towards the end and took the score past 250- run mark.
Prithvi slams ton vs Odisha
Bhubaneshwar: In-form teenaged opener Prithvi Shaw slammed his fourth century in five first-class matches to help Mumbai reach 264 for 6 against Odisha at stumps on day one of their Ranji Trophy Group "C" match here on Wednesday.
The 17-year old, who has been talked of highly ever since he made his debut in the last season, struck a breezy 105 studded with 18 boundaries and added 136 valuable runs for the second wicket with experienced Ajinkya Rahane (49).
So far among the Indian batsmen, only one player had more first-class hundreds before the age of 18 - maestro Sachin Tendulkar who had seven three figure scores.
Shaw had announced his arrival in Ranji Trophy by scoring a century on debut against Tamil Nadu in the semifinal in the 2016-'17 season.
In Wednesday’s match, Odisha, electing to bowl, started on a promising note dismissing Akhil Herwadkar (14) in the sixth over itself, but Shaw and Rahane who came together then averted any further damage as they batted mixing caution and agression.
Shaw, in particular, scored at an impressive strike rate of 68.63 and looked strong before falling leg before to Basant Mohanty in the 44th over.
Pujara back in form with ton
Rajkot: Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara roared back to form with his 42nd first-class hundred as Saurashtra scored 341 for 5 at stumps in a group B Ranji Trophy encounter against Jharkhand here on Wednesday.
Pujara held anchor remaining unbeaten 125 at the end of the day's play — an innings that had 18 boundaries while facing 223 deliveries.
He has gone through a rough patch with his sequence of scores in last 10 first-class innings being 9 (Test), 18, 34, 28, 4, 0, 14, 12, 35 and 13.