Ranji Trophy: TN dominate Nagaland on day 1

Vimal Khumar and Pradosh Ranjan Paul struck massive hundreds as Tamil Nadu piled up 399 for two against Nagaland on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match here on Saturday.
Coming in for the ailing B Sachin, 24-year-old left-hander Vimal (189) grabbed his opportunity, hammering 28 boundaries during his 224-ball stay. Pradosh remained unbeaten on 156 off 252 balls, laced with 19 fours.
The duo added 307 runs for the second wicket before Vimal fell to Ronit More (1/33) in the 76th over, with Jonathan taking the catch.
At stumps, Pradosh was batting alongside Andre Siddharth C (30).
Debutant wicketkeeper-batter S R Athish (14) was the other wicket to fall, dismissed by Odilemba Kichu (1/69). None of the Nagaland bowlers made much impact as Tamil Nadu, who lost their season opener to Jharkhand in Coimbatore, pushed for maximum points.
Rated highly by senior pro R Ashwin, Vimal fell a few runs short of converting his maiden first-class ton into a double after a lapse in concentration.
Brief Scores: Tamil Nadu 1st innings:
399 for 2 in 90 overs (Vimal Khumar 189, Pradosh Ranjan Paul 156 not out; Ronit More 1/33) vs Nagaland.
Sikkim hold edge at stumps after Meghalaya’s positive start
Sikkim walked off the field at stumps in a fine mood after posting 310/6 on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy 2025-26 plate group match against Meghalaya at the MCA Ground in Polo here in Meghalaya.
Meghalaya after winning the toss started well, with Akash Chaudhary claiming three early wickets to leave Sikkim rattled on 24/3, with the fast bowler taking a wicket with his first ball of the day. The visitors were then reduced further to 46/4 after Ashish Thapa was bowled by Chengkam Sangma.
However, the early advantage for the bowlers waned as the first session continued.
Sikkim reached 84 without further loss by lunch time and continued on deep into the second session.
For that they had AB Raheja (51 from 96) and Gurinder Singh (129 from 170) to thank.
If the latter name sounds familiar to local cricket fans it should be – Gurinder was a former guest professional for Meghalaya in years gone by and even played in the local Shillong Cricket League as recently as this year.
Now plying his trade for Sikkim, he batted beautifully for his century, hitting 17 fours in the process.
Rajera was caught behind by Arpit Bhatewara off a Chengkam delivery but by that time Sikkim had added 66 for the fifth wicket.
Things were only to get harder for Meghalaya as Sikkim’s other guest player, Kranthi Kumar (87 not out from 161) joined Gurinder out in the middle and they put on 196 in a highly productive sixth wicket partnership before the centurion was bowled by Akash in the penultimate over of the day.
Akash finished proceedings with 4/69 and Chengkam 2/52.
They will look to wrap up the Sikkim innings as fast as possible tomorrow morning, while Kranthi will be eyeing a century.