Ranji Trophy 2024-25 first round roundup: Top performers

The first-round matches of the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 season have ended with Baroda, Tamil Nadu, Railways and a few other teams winning their fixtures. Teams like Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Railways, Services, Vidarbha, Kerala and Gujarat also won their matches. After 19 matches in the Elite and Plate groups, here are the top performers of the first round.

Read Also  | Ranji Trophy 2024-25 first round roundup: Baroda, Tamil Nadu, Railways and Vidarbha win; Mumbai, Saurashtra face defeat

Subham Khajuria | 255 runs

Subham Khajuria's 255 from 353 including 29 fours and 8 sixes helped Jammu & Kashmir earn three points against Ruturaj Gaikwad's Maharashtra at Sher E Kashmir Cricket Stadium in Srinagar. Opening the batting for J&K, Khajuria made use of the flat track despite losing Abhinav Puri, his opening partner in the second ball of the match.

Khajuria became the first batter from Jammu & Kashmir in 22 years to score a double century after Ashwani Gupta in 2002 vs Bihar. He is now the third batter from this region to score a first-class double ton alongside Kavaljit Singh and Ashwani Gupta.

Bhargav Bhatt | 4/53 & 6/55

Bhargav Bhatt's fifth 10-wicket haul in first-class cricket helped Baroda beat Mumbai in a Ranji Trophy match after a span of 26 years. In the first inning, he dismissed Ayush Mhatre, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer and Mohit Avasti. Meantime in the second inning, he sent back Ayush Mhatre, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Siddhesh Lad, Shams Mulani, and Shardul Thakur. 

Sudip Chatterjee | 116 & 93

Sudip Chatterjee, who was coming back to the Bengal team after two seasons, scored his 13th first-class ton in the first inning and then followed it up with a 93 in the second inning as Bengal secured three points against Uttar Pradesh in Lucknow.

Chatterjee, generally a number three batter, was pushed up in the opening slot. But, the southpaw batter made sure he grabbed the opportunity with both hands.

Read Also | Ranji Trophy 2024/25 UP vs Bengal: Bengal earn 3 points by virtue of first-inning's lead 

Akash Pandey | 5/38 & 4/46

Akash Pandey, the left-arm spinner from Bengal, who plays for Railways in domestic cricket, has been one of the emerging stars since last season. Akash was on the money from the first inning picking up his 6th five-wicket haul in his 16th match. The 25-year-old spinner then followed up with 4/46 in the second inning as Railways defeated Chandigarh by 181 runs with one day to spare.

Read Also | Exclusive Akash Pandey: Former Bengal U19 star is inspired by Sarfraz Khan's journey, takes 9/71 against Goa in Ranji Trophy 

Aditya Sarwate | 5/62 & 4/43

Aditya Sarwate's 9-wicket haul helped Kerala earn a big win over Punjab in their first match of the season. Sarwate, who moved to Kerala from his home state Vidarbha, proved his mettle with his 21st first-class five-wicket haul in the first inning and then picked up 4 wickets in the second inning to help Kerala win by 8 wickets.

Manan Hingrajia | 181 & 25

Left-handed middle-order batter Manan Hingrajia was incredible for Gujarat against Hyderabad as they clinched a 126-run victory in Secunderabad. He came in when Gujarat was 19/2 and soon lost their captain Priyank Panchal as well. However, Hingrajia played a superb knock alongside Urvil Patel to take Gujarat's first-inning score to 343. He also took Chama Milind's important wicket in the first inning.

Ankit Kalsi | 205*

Kalsi took advantage of the batting wicket in Dharamsala and scored his 11th first-class ton of his career. He came in when his team were already cruising at 206/1 and kept punishing the below-standard Uttarakhand bowling lineup to score the double ton as Himachal Pradesh scored 663/3 in the first inning. Kalsi's unbeaten 205 from 270 balls included 20 fours.

Gurjapneet Singh | 6/22

In his debut first-class match, Tamil Nadu's Gurjapneet Singh recorded his maiden first-class five-wicket haul in the second inning to help beat Saurashtra by an inning and 70 runs. The left-arm seamer did not get any wickets in the first inning but returned with a stunning 6/22 in the second inning.

Chirag Jani, Parswaraj Rana, Cheteshwar Pujara, Arpit Vasavada, Prerak Mankad, and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja failed to Singh's swing, line and length in the second inning. The tall fast bowler had impressed Virat Kohli before the net session before the Chennai test as well.