Both batsmen and bowlers had plenty to cheer about — four centuries and three five-wicket hauls were achieved — on the opening day of the third round of matches in the Buchi Babu all-India invitation tournament, here on Wednesday.
Nikhil Patil (182, 283b, 23x4, 2x6), in a display of tremendous mental fortitude, batted for more than six hours even as Mumbai posted 340. Left-arm spinner Arisht Singhvi picked up four wickets for Rajasthan.
TNCA Presidents XI capitulated to 133 after electing to bat against Himachal Pradesh. Only captain S. Badrinath (41, 7x4, 1x6) managed a decent score. Abhinav Bali prised out five wickets with his left-arm spin. In reply, Himachal Pradesh went to stumps at 51 for one after bad light stopped play.
B. Aparajith (110, 190b, 10x4) made a fine century to help TNCA finish the day on 235 for three against Assam. Along with L. Suryapprakash (62, 7x4), he put on 144 runs for the first wicket.
Powered by Skipper Haldar Das' knock (105, 156b, 6x4, 3x6), Orissa reached 315 for eight against Andhra.
Opener Anupam Gupta (109, 7x4) guided Baroda to 292 in its match against Vidarbha. Offie Gaurav Upadhyaya bowled well for his five wickets.
The scores: ‘A' Zone: At IC-Guru Nanak: TNCA President's XI 133 in 50.4 overs (S. Badrinath 41, Abhinav Bali five for 37) vs. Himachal Pradesh 51 for one in 9.2 Overs.
At Marina: Orissa 315 for eight in 90 overs (Paresh Patel 38, Subit Biswal 88, Haldar Das 105, Vijaykumar four for 57) vs. Andhra.
‘B' Zone: At IIT-Chemplast: Mumbai 340 in 90 overs (Nikhil Patil 182, Pankaj Jaiswal 44, Arisht Singhvi four for 104) vs. Rajasthan.
At Pachaiyappa's: Baroda 292 in 87.1 overs (Anupam Gupta 109, Pinal Shah 66, Aditya Waghmode 41, Gaurav Upadhyaya five for 111) vs. Vidarbha.
‘C' Zone: At VB Nest: Bengal 294 in 89.1 overs (Arindam Ghosh 95, Subhomoy Das 44, Arnab Nandi 85, Raiphi Vincent Gomez four for 30) vs. Kerala.
At CPT-IP: Saurashtra 320 in 89.4 overs (Bhushan Chauhan 84, Jaydev Shah 60, S.K. Moinuddin six for 99) vs. Karnataka.
‘D' Zone: At SRMC-Turf: TNCA 235 for three in 72 overs (B. Aparajith 110, L. Suryapprakash 62) vs. Assam.
At RKM-Viveka: Hyderabad 316 for seven in 90 overs (G.H. Vihari 97, Paramveer Singh 65 n.o.) vs. Gujarat nine for two in three overs .
