Ranji comeback fizzles for Rohit, Pant, and Gill; but Jadeja steals the show

The highprofile return of Indias stars in Ranji Trophy ended up as a damp squib with the likes of Rohit Sharma Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill falling cheaply on Thursday unable to click in the face of some hostile bowling on the opening day of their respective matches across different venuesVeteran allrounder Ravindra Jadeja was the only one who stood out among the battery of Indian stars as he took a fivewicket haul for Saurashtra to dismiss Pants Delhi for 188 on a Rajkot turnerHowever it was a forgettable outing for the rest as they made the slow walk back to the hut following early dismissalsFollowing a dismal run in Australia Rohit returned to Ranji Trophy for defending champions Mumbai after a decade hoping to get some runs under his belt ahead of next months Champions TrophyBut it was not to be at least in Mumbais first innings against Jammu and Kashmir at the BKC ground hereGoing for his trademark pull off Umar Nazir Rohit 3 got a leading edge which was caught by JampK skipper Paras Dogra at midoffHis India opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal 4 too fell cheaply for MumbaiThe southpaw was pinned in front of the wicket by Auqib Nabi who made the most of the fresh wicket to move the new ball dangerously off the surfaceNamed in the squad for the Champions Trophy Shreyas Iyer 11 was caught at mid on off pacer Yudhvir SinghWhile the turnout to watch the India cricketing stars at the stadium was low those in nearby buildings who were watching the action from their office floors returned to work soon after the 37yearold Rohit was dismissedAnticipating fan interest the Mumbai Cricket Association had made temporary seating arrangements for about 500 people at the BKC The turnout however was not too high and some empty chairs could be seenMumbai were eventually bowled out for a paltry 120 in 332 overs The team left out their inform teenage opener Ayush Mhatre to accommodate the starsThe 17yearold Mhatre has struck two hundreds and a half century this season including a 93ball 148 in their previous game against Saurashtra which Mumbai won by five wickets earlier this monthThis is the only Ranji game that Rohit Jaiswal and Iyer are expected to play given that the ODI series against England is due to start early next month and they would be joining the Indian ranks for itPant fizzles Jadeja shinesIn Rajkot Pant showed up for Delhi in a firstclass game for the first time since the 20172018 season and his stay in the middle did not last longThe flamboyant lefthander was dismissed for 1 off 10 balls by veteran Saurashtra leftarm spinner Dharmendrasingh Jadeja He attempted a sweep only to be caught at deep square legIndia allrounder Jadeja took no time to be in thick of things as he accounted for five of Delhis batters in his first Ranji game since 2023No fireworks from Gill eitherIn Bengaluru Punjab captain Shubman Gill 4 was caught behind in the game against KarnatakaThe team was skittled out for a mere 55 with the pace duo of Abhilash Shetty and Vasuki Koushik sharing seven wickets between them to destroy the visitorsGill fell to Shetty in the fourth over of the inningsThe India stars made themselves available for Ranji Trophy after the BCCI made the contracted players participation in domestic cricket mandatory following the 13 series loss in Australia that opened a debate on the players conduct and commitment to redball cricketThe Board had to issue a 10point disciplinary diktat urging all cricketers to spare time for domestic cricket