Unhappy domestic returns for big guns

ROHIT Sharma. Shubman Gill. Yashasvi Jaiswal. Ravindra Jadeja. Rishabh Pant. Shreyas Iyer... it's fair to say that the latest round of the Ranji Trophy had enough stars for a new constellation. Alas, it didn't matter that much as most of them were dismissed cheaply on a bowling day across the country.

- EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @Chennai

At the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai, Sharma became the first Indian captain to play in the country's premier red-ball competition in well over a decade. But the familiar sight of the 37-year-old trudging back to the pavilion after playing a nothing shot was round the corner. Against Jammu & Kashmir at the Sharad Pawar Academy, he was picked off by Auqib Nabi whose length delivery on a fifth stump line just moved away a touch. The Indian captain wanted a piece of it so he tried to play that very white-ball, pick-up boundary shot over the infield on the leg-side. The ball took the leading edge and was pouched in the covers.