Lakshmipathy Balaji's run of strong performances continued as he racked up 5/26 and destroyed the Gujarat batting line-up at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. A strong bowling performance saw Tamil Nadu skittle out Gujarat for 161 after the visitors won the toss and elected to bat first. In reply Tamil Nadu lost the solitary wicket of Sadagoppan Ramesh (41) in reaching an even 100/1 at the close of play. Skipper S Suresh is unbeaten on 48. Balaji's fine performance makes this his fifth straight five-wicket haul. Also of note is the fact that this match is Sridharan Sharath's 100th First Class outing.

Hyderabad v Himachal Pradesh

Hyderabad got off to a steady if not spectacular start to their Ranji Trophy encounter against Himachal Pradesh at Una. After winning the toss and electing to bat, Hyderabad reached 182/5 from 65.4 overs on the first day. Mediumpacer Shakti Singh was the pick of the bowlers scalping 3/53. Opener Daniel Manohar led the scoring for Hyderabad with a 62 that included ten boundaries. When the first day ended on 65.4 overs, Arjun Yadav was at the crease with a patient 40 to his name.

Zaidi pegs back Orissa

Uttar Pradesh restricted Orissa to 171/6 from 90 overs at the end of the first day at Lucknow. Despite an unbeaten 70 from opener Sukhbinder Singh Orissa could not really resist the Uttar Pradesh bowlers. Once again it was a familiar story as experienced campaigner Ashish Winston Zaidi claimed three crucial wickets including that of Niranjan Behara (51) who scored the only other half-century of the Orissa innings. If not for Behara and Sukhbinder Singh, things would have been much worse for the batting side. The two added a priceless 105 runs for the fifth wicket that saved Orissa the blushes.

Bhandari, Sarandeep put Delhi right on top

Effective bowling performances from Amit Bhandari (5/52) and offie Sarandeep Singh saw Delhi bundle out Rajasthan for a paltry 145 at the KL Saini ground in Jaipur. After winning the toss and sticking the opposition in, the visitors picked up wickets at regular intervals to break the back of the home side's batting line-up. Opener Vineet Sharma was the only batsman to show some sort of resistance, chalking up 28. When it was their turn to bat, Delhi got off to a steady start, reaching 92/2 from 40.4 overs when the day's play ended. Opener Akash Chopra is unbeaten on 57 and it would be fair to say Delhi are in total command of this match at the moment.

Andhra make sedate start

Andhra made a steady start to their home fixture against Railways thanks to an innings of 80 at the top of the order from Amit Pathak. After winning the toss and electing to bat, Andhra reached 226/4 from 90 overs, thanks mainly to Pathak's innings that included 14 boundaries. Pathak was well supported by M Suresh whi chipped in with 46. Young all-rounder Y Venugopal Rao made 39 in the middle order and Andhra have set themselves up nicely for the second day of this four-day game.

MP batsmen make J&K toil

Madhya Pradesh put together a mammoth 350/3 from 90 overs on the first day of their Ranji Trophy clash against minnows Jammu and Kashmir. After winning the toss and electing to bat, the hosts got stuck into the opposition bowling, with Sachin Dholpure (131) and Amay Khurasiya (108) notching up centuries. Khurasiya in particular was fluent, scoring his 108 off just 109 balls with as many as 18 boundaries. The pair put on a massive 163 runs for the second wicket before Khurasiya fell to the off-spin of Sameer Khajuria. The carnage continued though as aggressive all-rounder Devendra Bundela scored an unbeaten 75. Jammu and Kashmir will have to perform a miracle to claw their way back into this game.

Haryana restrict Karnataka to 269/6

Karnataka reached 269/6 thanks to contributions from all top order batsmen against Haryana at the Nahar Singh Stadium in Faridabad. While Vijay Bharadwaj top scored with 53, there was little to separate the batsmen. Seventeen year old Deubtant Robin Uthapa scored 40 batting at number three while another youngster – Deepak Chougule, made 45 at number six. India discard Sunil Joshi crashed his way to 31 with three fours and two sixes. From here on Karnataka have a good chance to press forward and gain valuable points from this away fixture.

Naidu ton keeps Ananthapadmanabhan's Kerala at bay

A splendid knock of 118 from Vidarbha skipper Alind Naidu saw the hosts compile 295/9 at the end of the first day's play of their Ranji encounter against Kerala. The Kerala bowlers were made to work hard on the day, with leggie KN Ananthapadmanabhan taking 5/40 from 27 overs. Fresh from India duty, Tinu Yohannan picked up two wickets while upcoming mediumpacer Sree Santh accounted for the remaining two wickets. Naidu, who has modeled his game almost entirely on former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin, struck 16 boundaries in his innings and was well supported by wicketkeeper Amit Dehspande, who made 43 at the top of the order.

Phadke stands tall amidst the ruins

Goa got off to the worst possible start losing wicketkeeper-opening batsman TR Arasu for a first ball duck against Services at Delhi. Despite this, Goa recovered to post 268/7 thanks to an innings of 128 from middle order batsman Mandar Phadke. While Phadke got some company from skipper AP Rane (34) and Amit Angle (32), his was largely a lone hand. Services will look to take the last three wickets as quickly as possible on the second day and then reply to Goa's total in kind.

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