Skipper Chintan Gaja bowled a probing line to grab four wickets as Gujarat restricted Saurashtra to a lowly 216 to gain upper-hand on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy quarter-final, in Rajkot on Saturday.
At stumps, Gujarat were 21 for no loss with both openers -- veteran Priyank Panchal (11 batting) and young turk Arya Desai (10 batting) -- safely negotiating the five over towards the fag end of the day.
Gaja, who bowls at a friendly pace between 118 to 122 kmph, consistently pitched it up to claim 4 for 48 in 21 overs as all Saurashtra batters, save opener Chirag Jani (69 off 148 balls), struggled against the visiting team, whose decision to bowl first was vindicated.
Cheteshwar Pujara (26 off 38 balls) hit a few crispy and a couple of streaky boundaries during a 50-run stand with Jani but had to head back to pavilion while trying to over-attack.
It was left-arm spinner Siddharth Desai (2/35 in 7 overs), who induced the out of favour Test stalwart to come down the track with a flighted delivery.
Pujara wanted to play his customary whip through the mid-wicket but closed the bat face to present a simple leading edge catch to short cover which was gleefully accepted.
While Jani, who hit 11 fours and a six off Desai, looked comfortable but once he was dismissed by Gaja with a delivery that rose a tad extra from good length in the post-lunch session, things fell apart for Saurashtra.
Arpit Vasavada (39 not out off 79 balls) did try his bit to fight it out but lost out on partners at the other end.
The second session belonged to left-arm seamer Jaymeet Patel, who complemented his skipper well by quickly removing Prerak Mankad (0) and Samar Gajjar (4) with bounce and movement to completely dismantle Saurashtra.
The session between lunch to tea saw Saurashtra scoring only 36 runs and losing four wickets in the process from which they could never recover.
Gaja picked up a couple in the final session as the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy champions Gujarat now look to bat the home team out of the contest.
Brief Scores:
Saurashtra 1st Innings: 216 in 72.1 overs (Chirag Jani 69, Arpit Vasavada 39 not out, Cheteshwar Pujara 26, Chintan Gaja 4/48) vs Gujarat 1st Innings: 21/0 in 5 overs (Priyank Panchal 11 batting).
Kerala pacer Nidheesh takes fifer to reduce J&K to 228 for 8
Medium pacer MD Nidheesh scalped five wickets to help Kerala limit Jammu and Kashmir to 228 for eight on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal match in Pune on Saturday.
Nidheesh (5/56) spelt trouble for Jammu and Kashmir batters from the start, picking up wickets at regular intervals after Kerala opted to field.
He accounted for the wickets of openers Shubham Khajuria, Yawer Hassan, Vivrant Sharma, wicket-keeper Kanhaiya Wadhwan and Lone Nasir Muzaffar.
He was ably supported by Basil Thampi (1/31), left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate (1/32) and Nedumankuzhy Basil (1/59), who accounted for one wicket each.
For Jammu and Kashmir, Wadhawan top-scored with 48 off 80 balls, while Muzaffar made 44. Sahil Lotra (35) and Hassan (24) also got the starts but failed to convert them into big scores, spelling trouble for their side.
At stumps, Yudhvir Singh (17 not out) and Auqib Nabi (5 no out) were at the crease as Jammu and Kashmir piled up the runs in 86 overs.
Sent in to bat, Jammu and Kashmir did not have a good start as Nidheesh sent Khajuria packing in seventh over before accounting for Sharma and Hassan to reduce their opponents to 48 for three in 21.2 overs.
It became worse when skipper Paras Dogra (14) was cleaned up Thampi in the 30th over.
Thereafter, Wadhawan and Lotra tried to steady the ship with a 55-run partnership for the fifth wicket before the former perished.
There was another crucial partnership, this time a 51-run stand for the sixth wicket between Lotra and Muzaffar to help Jammu and Kashmir's cause.
Brief Scores: Jammu and Kashmir: 228 for 8 in 86 overs (Kanhaiya Wadhawan 48, Lone Nasir Muzaffar 44, Sahil Lotra 35; Nidheesh MD 5/56).
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