Haryana humbled defending champions Saurashtra in their own backyard by four wickets in a low-scoring Ranji Trophy game in Rajkot on Sunday. Resuming day three at 148 for six, Saurashtra stretched their second innings to 220 all out with the help of skipper Jaydev Unadkat (23) and Parth Bhut (47), setting a 166-run target for Haryana. Haryana did experience some anxious moments before getting home in the final session, having lost three quick wickets. Ashok Menaria (58 not out) anchored the chase with Rahul Tewatia (10 not out) staying with him at the other end.
Saurashtra let the game slip away from them on the opening day when they were bundled out for 145 with Jayant Yadav taking a five-wicket haul.
Haryana had made 200 in their first innings with Saurashtra doing well to dismiss the opposition after the visitors made a strong start.
The game was dominated by spinners including Jayant and Nishant Sindhu from Haryana. From the hosts’ side, veteran Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Parth Bhut and Yuvrajsinh Jadeja were the main wicket takers.
Cheteshwar Pujara made 49 and 43 in his two innings.
It was the first defeat of the season for Saurashtra who had got three points against Jharkhand in their opening game of the season.
For Haryana, it was a timely result as they had to share a point each with Rajasthan in their opening game in which only 42 overs could be bowled due to bad light.
Bhargav Bhatt takes six wickets as Baroda thrash Puducherry
Exploiting helpful conditions, veteran left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt returned a six-wicket haul to lead Baroda to a comprehensive 98-run win over Puducherry in their Ranji Trophy Group D match
The 33-year-old bowler, who had taken a fifer in the first innings, totalled 11 wickets for the match, his fourth 10-wicket haul in first-class cricket.
Baroda, led by Vishnu Solanki, after setting Puducherry 218-run target for victory, dismissed the opponents for 119 in 35.1 overs on day 3 of the tournament, with Bhatt (6/46) doing the maximum damage.
He was assisted by young leg-spinner Mahesh Pithiya, who made full use of the conditions to grab four second-innings wickets as the two slow bowlers made merry taking all 10 wickets.
The day started with the match evenly poised. Baroda were tottering at 128 for 7. Their innings folded soon for 154 with Kinit Patel (28) emerging the highest scorer.
However, the 218 Baroda scored on day 1 and the way their slow bowlers dismissed Puducherry for 155 to take a handy 63-run first-innings lead, gave them enough cushion to defend the 218-run target.
Bhatt, after his fine 5/49 in his first innings, came back to demolish Puducherry in the second essay. The left-right combination of Bhatt and Pithiya did not allow the Puducherry batters to settle down even as the deteriorating day 3 pitch did its job.
Gaurav Yadav was the only Puducherry batter to get past 30 with Bhatt returning a superb economy rate of 2.55 in his 18 overs.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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