Three half centuries helped Jharkhand Red post 254 runs in the first innings of the Senior Challenger Trophy (Under-23) tie against Jharkhand Blue at Tata Digwadih Stadium in Dhanbad on Tuesday.

The opening day encounter saw the in-form Red batsmen Arnav Sinha (62), skipper Vishal Singh (54) and Amit Kumar (51) scored useful runs to help their team score 254 in 82 overs. Rohit Singh chipped in with 31.

Arnav played cautious cricket while Vishal displayed lot of responsibility to help his team stitch up a somewhat respectable total. Amit, too, played a supportive but effective role.

The Blue outfit could not launch their innings as rains stopped play. Raju Pandey and Nikku Kumar claimed three and two wickets, respectively, for the Blue outfit.

Whoever wins the outing in Dhanbad will clinch the Senior Challenger Trophy.

The Red have so far garnered 12 points from two matches while their Blue rivals have nine (from as many matches) to boast.

So, the match in Bokaro has been reduced to academic interest.

In the other match at BSL Stadium in Bokaro, Jharkhand Yellow were 120 for 6 (in 38 overs) against Jharkhand Green when rain forced the opening day's play to get abandoned.

Opting to bat first, the Yellow warriors played sedate cricket against some accurate bowling by their opponents. Mohammad Anwar emerged the top scorer with 34 while Kumar Suraj managed 33 against his name. Akhil Pant (21) and Amit Singh Sikriwal (12) were at the crease when rains brought a premature end to the day's proceedings.

Pratik Ranjan and Diwakar Jha bowled well to bag two wickets each for the Green team.