2017-18 Ranji Trophy round-up, Round 6, Day 1: Pant-Rana save Delhi; Gujarat's Gaja bags eight wickets

Harbhajan returns but Punjab fall for 147

18-year-old Shubman Gill was the highest scorer for Harbhajan Singh-led Punjab, who only managed a paltry 147 against Bengal. After winning the toss, Bhajji opted to bat first but his decision backfired as the home team lost half of their batsmen with less than 100 runs on the board at Amritsar.

Gill, who is set to lead the charge for the Indian U19 side next year in the World Cup, was the only batsman who put his head down and held on to one end. However, once he fell as the sixth wicket with 123 runs on the board, his side managed just 24 more runs before bundling out. Boddupalli Amit and Pradipta Pramanik were the top wicket-takers for Bengal with three apiece.

Brief Score: Punjab 147 (Gill 63, Amit 31/3, Pramanik 41/3) lead Bengal 76/0 by 71 runs

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Another match, another Prithvi Shaw century

Mumbai's 18-year-old prodigy Prithvi Shaw continued his scintillating form with yet another century, his fifth in seven first-class matches after Andhra skipper Hanuma Vihari opted to bowl first in Ongole. With Bista (4) and Iyer (0) back in the hut early on, Shaw stitched two important partnerships with Surya Kumar Yadav (18) and Siddhesh Lad (86) to help Mumbai end the day at 248/6.

Ayyappa Bandaru was the top wicket-taker with three wickets.

Brief Score: Mumbai 248/6 (Shaw 114, Bandaru 87/3) vs Andhra

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Chintan Gaja bags eight wickets as Gujarat skittle Rajasthan out for 153

Chintan Gaja

Skipper Pankaj Singh's decision to bat first backfired strongly as an inspired bowling performance from Chintan Gaja saw Rajasthan get all out for 153 runs. After removing the opener Gautam in the very first over of the day, the right-arm medium bowler Gaja picked wickets at regular intervals and helped the defending champions end the day strongly at 90/1.

Brief Score: Rajasthan 153 (Dhillon 45, Gaja, 40/8) lead Gujarat 90/1 by 63 runs

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Delhi crawl back from a horrendous start; Rishabh Pant falls short of a century

With Gautam Gambhir, Anuj Rawat and Dhruv Shorey back in the hut and the scoreboard reading 55/3, the onus was on Nitish Rana and Rishabh Pant to take their side through. The duo then added 168 runs for the fourth wicket before the latter fell, one run short of his fifth first-class century.

Rana, however, went on to cross the three-figure mark and was batting at 110 by the end of day's play.

Brief Score: Delhi 260/4 (Rana 110*, Pant 99) vs Maharashtra

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Other Scores:

Karnataka 327/3 vs Uttar Pradesh

Kerala 225 lead Saurashtra 37/0 by 188 runs

Haryana 119/7 vs J&K

Goa 239 vs Vidarbha

Baroda 281/3 vs Odisha

Madhya Pradesh 224/7 vs Tamil Nadu

Chhattisgarh 130 lead Services 39/0 by 91 runs

Hyderabad 289/8 vs Assam