Dheeraj Jadhav scored an unbeaten 127

Mumbai: Sachin Tendulkar roared back to form ahead of the upcoming Test series against England with a strokeful 137, while Ajinkya Rahane remained unbeaten on 105 to help Mumbai pile up 344 for four against Railways on the opening day of their four-day Ranji Trophy match on Friday.

Tendulkar, in Mumbai colours after three years, came in at No. 5 and batted fluently after starting cautiously against a largely inexperienced Railways attack to reach his hundred off 103 balls with 14 fours and three sixes.

In all, the senior India batsman, whose last hundred in any form of the game was his unprecedented and much-feted 100th international century at Dhaka on March 16, struck 21 fours and three sixes during his 136-ball knock before edging medium pacer Anureet Singh to the slip cordon, three overs before stumps. Rahane, who fully utilised the life given to him on seven by Murali Kartik, faced 203 balls and struck 13 fours during his unconquered knock.

In other matches, Gujarat captain Parthiv Patel hit a brilliant 162 as Gujarat ended the first day at 327 for five.

Parthiv’s knock came off 205 balls and was laced with as many as 26 boundaries.

Summarised Scores

GROUP A

In Indore: Gujarat 327/5 in 90 overs (P. Patel 162; A. Rajan 2/67) vs Madhya Pradesh.

In Mohali: Hyderabad 244/7 in 90 overs (A. Reddy 63, A. Singh 3/33, M. Gony 3/51) vs Punjab.

In Mumbai: Mumbai 344/4 in 90 overs (S. Tendulkar 137, A. Rahane 105 batting, A. Singh 2/53) vs Railways.

GROUP B

In Cuttack: Tamil Nadu 66/2 in 31 overs vs Odisha.

In Rohtak: Haryana 55 in 37.1 overs (P. Tehlan 18; U. Yadav 5/18, S. Singh 4/11). Vidarbha 78/2 in 37 overs (Faiz Fazal 33).

In Vadodara: Baroda 308/4 (A. Waghmode 121 batting, I. Pathan 105 batting) vs Karnataka.

GROUP C

In Anantapur: Services 73/5 in 28 overs (S. Swain 21; D. Shivkumar 2/15) vs Andhra.

In Dharamsala: Kerala 196/8 in 73.4 overs (S. Samson batting 100, R. Dhawan 3/56, V. Malik 2/43) vs Himachal Pradesh.

In Guwahati: Assam 220/5 in 90 overs (D. Jadhav 127 batting; T. Chanda 5/50) vs Tripura.

In Jammu: Jammu & Kashmir 195 in 56.5 overs (H.Singh 49; S.Rao 3/50). Jharkhand 81/1 (R. Nemat 42 batting).

All matches to continue

(Agencies)