Although there were a few quality hundreds, the opening day of the second round of the Ranji Trophy 2019-20 saw the bowlers dominating the proceedings.

Here’s how the action unfolded on the first day:

Tamil Nadu entered the match without the services of Dinesh Karthik, skipper Vijay Shankar, Murali Vijay and Washington Sundar. But they still managed to bowl out Himachal Pradesh for 158 with R Ashwin leading their charge, scalping five wickets.

Sagar Trivdedi and R Vinay Kumar, meanwhile, shared the spoils, scalping five and four wickets respectively as Pondicherry bowled out Sikkim for 65. K B Arun Karthik and Paras Dogra then consolidated Pondicherry’s position with unbeaten hundreds as the Rohit Damodaran-led side ended the first day at 262/2.

Harshal Patel, who enjoyed a fine run of form in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, picked seven wickets, conceding just 29 runs as Haryana bundled out Tripura for 63 in the Group C match in Rohtak. Haryana ended the day at 131/2, leading Tripura by 68 runs.

In Kolkata, Imliwati Lemtur ran through Manipur’s batting line-up as Nagaland started on a bright note on the opening day of the Round two of the Ranji Trophy. The left-arm spinner picked up 7 wickets before fifties from Rongsen Jonathan and Shrikant Mundhe helped Nagaland secure a first-innings lead.

Sanju Samson and Faiz Fazal meanwhile, scored hundreds for Kerala and Vidarbha respectively. While the former scored 110, Bengal managed to keep Kerala in check, scalping seven wickets for 237 before stumps on day one. Defending champions Vidarbha ended the opening day on the score of 288/4 against Rajasthan.

Aryan Juyal also scored a century on the first day against Karnataka. However, the Karun Nair-led side managed to strike late in the day, restricting Uttar Pradesh to 232/5 at stumps.

In Patiala, Punjab bowled out Hyderabad for 242 as Gurkeerat Mann and Mayank Markande shared seven wickets between themselves.

In the Jharkhand versus Assam game in Ranchi, the left-arm spin bowling duo of Shahbaz Nadeem and Anukul Roy scalped three and four wickets respectively, while Ashish Kumar picked up three wickets as Jharkhand, who had sealed a sensational come-from-behind win in the first match, bowled out Assam for 162.

Basant Mohanty, meanwhile, was the pick of the bowlers, scalping six wickets, as Odisha ended the first day at 43/0 after bowling out Services for 271 at the DRIEMS Ground in Cuttack.

As many as 12 wickets fell on the opening day of the Andhra versus Delhi match in Ongole. Batting first, Delhi were all out for 215 as the right-arm medium pacer K V Sasikanth picked up a five-wicket haul. However, Andhra too lost two wickets before stumps.

Bowlers continued to make merry during the Chhattisgarh-Uttarakhand game in Raipur as well. After Uttarakhand were bowled out for 120, Chhattisgarh too lost five wickets and were trailing by 11 runs at stumps.

In the Group B clash in Indore, bowlers led Baroda’s charge as they bowled out Madhya Pradesh for 125 as Anureet Singh, Lukman Meriwala and Soyeb Sopariya scalped three wickets each. Baroda were 86/3 at stumps.

Jammu and Kashmir, meanwhile, made a solid recovery and scored 209 after being reduced to 79/6 against Maharashtra. The Shubham Singh Pundir-led side then scalped three wickets before the end of the day’s play.

In Puducherry at the Siechem Stadium, wicketkeeper Rahul Dalal scored an unbeaten 178 as Arunachal Pradesh ended the first day at 342/8 against Mizoram. Dwaraka Ravi Teja, meanwhile, scored a fighting 81 to take Meghalaya to 203. Goa were 42/3 before stumps.

Ankit Kaushik scored an unbeaten hundred while Bipul Sharma remained not out on 63 as Chandigarh made a fightback and ended the day at 274/5 after being reduced to 118/5 against Bihar. Saurashtra, meanwhile, reduced Railways to 202/9 as skipper Jaydev Unadkat scalped four wickets.