Rishabh Pant, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill among other Test stars fail on Ranji Trophy return

The second phase of Ranji Trophy season got underway today with India's Test stars including Rohit Sharma making the much-awaited return to domestic cricket. However, the joy of their favourite players playing was shortlived for the fans as none of India's Test stars managed to spend time in the middle. Rohit could muster only three runs for Mumbai while his opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal was also dismissed for four runs.

Rishabh Pant, playing for Delhi against Saurashtra, also managed to score just one run before getting out while Punjab's Shubman Gill also scored just four runs much to the fans' disappointment. Notably, all four players, barring Jaiswal to some extent, struggled for runs during India's tour of Australia.

For the first time in so many years, the Indian players playing at the international level



have featured in domestic cricket, especially after BCCI's latest directive. The board has asked all the cricketers to turn up for their respective states if they are fit and have no assignments at the international level. Virat Kohli and KL Rahul have given this round a miss due to minor injuries but they are expected to play in the next round starting January 30.

Even though the batters have failed to impress, Ravindra Jadeja has done well on the bowling front. He has picked up two wickets against Delhi in 12 overs conceding 45 runs. Among other players, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer and Shivam Dube are the other Indian stars to fail on the opening day of the match against Jammu and Kashmir. Looking at Mumbai's line-up, not many had given a chance to their opponents but J&K bowlers have done well to reduce them to 110/7 at lunch on Day 1.