File image of Ankit Kalsi.© Instagram
Ankit Kalsi (205 not out) hit his maiden first class double century after Parshant Chopra (171) missed out on the milestone as Himachal Pradesh posted mammoth 663 for three declared against Uttarakhand in their Ranji Trophy Group B contest here on Saturday. Beginning the day two at 300 for one, the hosts scored at a brisk pace with Chopra and southpaw Kalsi batting together almost for the entire first session in which they added 124 runs for the loss of former.
Chopra was bowled by left-arm spinner Mayank Mishra. The opener hit 19 boundaries in his 383-ball knock.
Kalsi, who had begun the day at 57, kept charging from the other end and competed his 11th first class hundred. His domination of the Uttarakahand bowlers continued unabated as his strike rate kept getting better with runs flowing from his bat.
He faced 270 balls in his unbeaten knock that was laced with 20 shots to the fence.
It was not just Kalsi and Chopra who tormented the bowlers but Ekant Sen hit a blistering 101 off just 124 balls to add to the misery of the visitors.
All top-four batters hit centuries while Mayank Dagar made 56 off 32 balls, hitting nine fours and two sixes.
In response, Uttarakhand ended the day at 50 for one, losing skipper Ravikumar Samrath (21). Avneesh Sudha (24) and Vaibhav Bhatt (1) were at the crease when stumps were drawn for the day.
Brief Scores: Himachal Pradesh 1st innings: 663/3 dec in 164 overs (Ankit Kalsi 205 not out, Prashant Chopra 171; Yuvraj Chaudhary 1/52); Uttarakhand 1st innings: 50 for 1 in 12 overs. (Avneesh Sudha 24 batting; Vaibhav Arora 1/21).
Other Group B matches: *In Secunderabad: Gujarat 1st innings: 343 all out; Hyderabad: 222/7 in 75 overs. (Kodimela Himateja 58 batting, Rahul Singh 56; Rinkesh Vaghela 2/35).
*In Jaipur: Puducherry 1st innings: 248 all out; Rajasthan 1st innings: 234 for 6 in 74 overs (Deepak Hooda 105 batting; Yash Kothari 33; Fabid Ahmed 2/37).
*In Nagpur: Vidarbha: 118 and 192/1 in 52 overs. (Atharva Taide 115 not out, Aman Mokhade 53; T Vijay 1/55); Andhra 1st innings: 167 all out. PTI AT AT DDV
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