Bengal pacers prevailed on the opening day, restricting visitor Baroda to 222 for seven, in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match at the Bengal Cricket Academy ground in Kalyani on Tuesday. Opting to bat after winning the toss, Baroda sought to rely on its in-form batting order but found the Bengal pace battery of Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep and Ishan Porel bowling with discipline and direction to keep its batters under check.
Akash (four for 67) and Mukesh (three for 50) did most of the damage as bad light forced early Stumps with 81 overs bowled in the day. Baroda was dealt an early blow as opener Pratyush Kumar departed without opening his account with the team total at 10. Jyotsnil Singh (85) and Priyanshu Moliya (50) struck a nice partnership thereon to add 96 runs for the second wicket before Moliya fell to Akash.
The Baroda middle order failed to capitalise on the good work and folded up without making much contribution. Captain Vishnu Solanki (6), Shashwat Rawat (4) fell cheaply to see the visitor reduced to 125 for four. Jyotsnil held one end firmly and added some precious runs to the team total. He struck 13 boundaries in his patient innings of 217 balls and helped the team score reach beyond 200 before being scalped by Akash.
Mahesh Pithiya (27) and Soyeb Sopariya (5) kept their cool to remain unbeaten at the end of the day’s play.
