Raina shines with the bat

Baroda sorely missed Zaheer Khan as Uttar Pradesh, riding on twin half centuries by opener Rohit Prakash (71) and Team India member Suresh Raina (75), battered the visitors to pile up 303 for six on the first day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match at the Nehru Stadium in Ghaziabad on Thursday.

At stumps, Amir Khan (30) and Piyush Chawla (16) were in the crease.

Despite losing skipper Jyoti Yadav (4) early this morning, Uttar Pradesh was never in trouble as Rohit and Raina put up an 129-run partnership for the second wicket to bring the hosts back on track.

Rakesh Patel finally removed Rohit and Baroda got two more wickets, including Raina, in quick succession but Gyanendra Pandey (48) and Ravikant Shukla (45) arrested the slide and guided the team. Though both the batsmen were out before completing their half centuries, Uttar Pradesh was by then in a comfortable situation.

Rohit took 128 balls for his knock of 71 that included nine hits to the fence. Raina, on the other hand, needed 118 balls to score 75 that was studded with 10 boundaries.

Irfan Pathan Sr was the pick of the Baroda bowler, claiming three for 89.

Scoreboard

Uttar Pradesh 1st innings:
Rohit Prakash lbw b Patel 71
Jyoti P Yadav c Shah b Sumit Singh 4
Suresh Raina c Williams b Pathan 75
Rizwan Shamshad c Williams b Pathan 0
Gyanendra Pandey c Williams b Pathan 48
Ravikant Shukla c Powar b Pawar 45
Amir Khan not out 30
Piyush Chawla not out 16
Extras (B-4, LB-8, W-1, NB-1) 14
Total (For six wickets in 93 overs) 303

Fall of Wickets: 1/12 2/141 3/152 4/159 5/235 6/271

Bowling: Rakesh Patel 27-8-73-1 Sumit Singh 16-5-51-1 Irfan Pathan Sr 31-2-89-3 Kiran Pawar 14-2-54-1 Ajit Bhoite 5-0-24-0