Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Nov 2: Left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey created history on Monday by claiming a remarkable 9-53 to bowl out Madhya Pradesh for 209 on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy match at the VCA Stadium in Jamtha.
Dubey became the first Vidarbha bowler to take nine wickets in a Ranji Trophy innings. The previous best figures for the side were Arun Ogiral's 8-39 in the 1967-68 season, which ironically came against Madhya Pradesh. Dubey is now the 30th bowler overall to claim nine or more wickets in a Ranji Trophy innings.
Vidarbha all-rounder Nachiket Bhute provided the first breakthrough by dismissing opener Yash Dubey. Thereafter, Harsh took charge, opening his account in the 17th over and continuing to chip away at the opposition batting line-up. Madhya Pradesh were reduced to 64/5 in the 29th over.
Atharva Mahajan and Saransh Jain offered resistance with a 72-run partnership that lasted nearly 18 overs. However, Dubey returned to break the stand, and the lower order soon folded.
The previous nine-wicket haul in the Ranji Trophy came from Gujarat's left-arm spinner Siddharth Desai, who claimed 9-36 against Uttarakhand in the 2024-25 season.
Monday's performance capped an impressive year for Dubey. He made his ODI debut against Afghanistan in June, taking four wickets in two matches. He subsequently toured Sri Lanka with India A, claiming three wickets and scoring 59 runs across two innings. Representing Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy, he took eight wickets and scored 27 and 24 against East Zone.
He has continued his impressive form in the 2026-27 Ranji Trophy season, taking 23 wickets in seven innings so far.
Elsewhere, Karnataka's Ritesh Bhatkal (5-35) and Shikhar Shetty (5-53) shared 10 wickets to bowl out Assam for 135 inside 49 overs in Guwahati. Rohan Patil then struck 89 off 87 balls, including 13 fours and a six, and added 129 runs for the opening wicket with Mayank Agarwal, who was unbeaten on 57. Karnataka secured a 45-run lead.
In Dharamsala, 20 wickets fell on the opening day. Rajasthan, after electing to bat, were dismissed for just 78, with Abhishek Kumar claiming five wickets for Himachal Pradesh. Sahil Dhiwan responded with a five-wicket haul for Rajasthan, but Himachal still managed 153 to take a 75-run lead.
Mayank Mishra claimed 6-57 as Uttarakhand bowled out Haryana for 153 after the latter elected to bat.
In Chandigarh, Pradosh Ranjan Paul remained unbeaten on 138 to power Tamil Nadu to 320/4 against the hosts. N Jagadeesan (52) and Baba Indrajith (51) also scored half-centuries.
Punjab recovered from 71/5 to reach 276/5 against Andhra, courtesy of an unbroken 205-run sixth-wicket partnership between Salil Arora (111 not out) and Sanvir Singh (100 not out).
In Ahmedabad, Aarya Desai missed a century by five runs as Gujarat crossed the 300-run mark against Kerala. He shared a 116-run partnership with Abhishek Desai. After Gujarat slipped to 182/4, Urvil Patel (63 not out) and Vishal Jayswal (50 not out) added an unbeaten 111 runs.
Opener Dhruv Patel scored 124 to guide Baroda to 269/6 in Kanpur. He added 88 runs with Shashwat Rawat (47) and another 108 with Mitesh Patel (49) after Baroda were reduced to 54/2. His dismissal triggered a late collapse, with three wickets falling for 249 in four deliveries across two overs.
Services captain Rajat Paliwal came in at No. 5 with his team struggling at 27/3 and struck an unbeaten 111 to take them to 266 in 88 overs against Delhi at Palam.
Goa's Snehal Kauthankar produced an unbeaten 116 to rescue his side from 54/4 after they elected to bat against Bihar at home. Goa ended the day at 288/6 in 87 overs.
At the Cricket Club of India (CCI) in Mumbai, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (78) and Sarfaraz Khan (55) scored half-centuries, while captain Siddesh Lad contributed 47 as Mumbai reached 247/6 in 83 overs after being asked to bat by Railways.
Sridam Paul's 86 led Tripura's fightback against Saurashtra, with the hosts reaching 219/7 at stumps at the MBB Stadium. After Saurashtra won the toss and put Tripura in to bat, the hosts slumped to 28/5 inside 19 overs.
Paul then added 125 runs for the sixth wicket with wicketkeeper-batter Sentu Sarkar, who scored 46. Manisankar Murasingh (33) and Bikram Debnath (32) remained unbeaten at the close after Tripura had batted for 74.3 overs.
Parth Bhut was the pick of the Saurashtra bowlers with 3-52 in 19 overs, including two maidens. Chetan Sakariya claimed two wickets, while Yuvraj Dodiya and Sammar Gajjar took one each.
For Bengal, Abishek Porel scored 54 off 67 balls, including eight fours, against Maharashtra after his team were put in to bat and reduced to 37/4. In reply to Bengal's total of 143, Maharashtra reached 21/2 and trailed by 122 runs at stumps.