Ravindra Jadeja's excellent all-round effort - five wickets and 38 runs - outshone Rishabh Pant's minuscule 10-ball 1 as Saurashtra gained good foothold over a shoddy Delhi after Day 1 of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group D match in Rajkot on Thursday.
Batting first, Delhi were shut out for 188 with captain Ayush Badoni (60, 78b, 5x4, 2x6) and Yash Dhull (44, 76b, 8x4) leading their batting effort.
However, they failed to convert their knocks into something more substantial as India left-arm spinner Jadeja ran roughshod over his clueless opponents with figures of 5 for 66.
Fellow left-arm spinner Dharmendra Jadeja supported his senior with a three-wicket haul.
In reply, Saurashtra reached 163 for five with opener Harvik Desai making a 93 off 120 balls with eight fours.
The hosts now need 26 more runs to gain a vital first innings lead on a pitch that is increasingly assisting spinners.
Utkarsh stars with fifer
Off-spinner Utkarsh Singh (5/50) was the wrecker-in-chief as Jharkhand bowled out Chattisgarh for 230 to get an early move on in the match.
Opener Anuj Tiwari carried his bat through for a 99 (225b, 9x4, 2x6) for Chattisgarh, but Utakarsh's regular strikes never allowed the visitors to have momentum at any stage of their first innings.
Jharkhand reached 11 without any damage in the last six overs of the day.
Brief scores: At Rajkot: Delhi: 188 all out in 49.4 overs (Ayush Badoni 60, Yash Dhull 44; Ravindra Jadeja 5/66, D Jadeja 3/63) vs Saurashtra: 163/5 in 38.5 overs (Harvik Desai 93, Ravindra Jadeja 38; Shivam Sharma 2/36).
At Jamshedpur: Chattisgarh: 230 all out in 80.3 overs (Anuj Sharma 99 not out, Asutosh Singh 43; Utkarsh Singh 5/50) vs Jharkhand: 11/0 in 6 overs.
At Salem: Tamil Nadu: 301 all out in 89.1 overs (Andre Siddharth 106, N Jagadeesan 63, Baba Indrajith 49, Mohamed Ali 40; Vishu Kashyap 5/79).
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