RAJKOT: A five-wicket haul by pace-bowling stalwart Chirag Jani and a half-century by opener Harvik Desai helped defending champions Saurashtra take the honours on day one of their Ranji Trophy Group A first-round match against Jharkhand here on Friday.
Saurashtra, who had beaten Bengal in the Ranji final last season, showed their class soon after the star-studded side, led by India player Jaydev Unadkat, won the toss and elected to bowl, with 34-year-old Jani running through the top and lower order as Jharkhand were dismissed for a paltry 142 in 49 overs.
At stumps, Saurashtra were strongly placed at 108 for 1, trailing by just 34 runs.
Jharkhand's only notable contributions with the bat came from wicketkeeper Kumar Kushagra (29) and Shahbaz Nadeem (27).
Jani returned with figures of 11-6-22-5, his maiden five-wicket haul in first-class cricket.
Saurashtra batters then utilised the home conditions to full effect with young Harvik Desai scoring 54 not out and sharing an unbeaten 81-run partnership with Sheldon Jackson (37 not out).
With the likes of India top-order batter Cheteshwar Pujara and stalwart Arpit Vasavada still to come, Jharkhand bowlers will have their task cut out on Saturday.
Brief Scores:
At Rajkot: Jharkhand 142 in 49 overs (Kumar Kushagra 29, Shahbaz Nadeem 27; Chirag Jani 5/22, Jaydev Unadkat 2/39, Aditya Jadeja 2/34) vs Saurashtra 108/1 in 29 overs (Harvik Desai 54 not out, Sheldon Jackson 37 not out).
At Solapur: Manipur 137 in 54.1 overs (Kangabam Priyojit 45, Prafullomani Singh 33; Pradeep Dadhe 4/35, Hitesh Walunj 5/33) vs Maharashtra 123/3 in 32.3 overs (Siddhesh Veer 58, Kedar Jadhav 49 not out; Bishworjit Konthoujam 2/41).
At Nagpur: Services 223/8 in 80 overs (Rajat Paliwal 84, Lovekesh Bansal 73; Umesh Yadav 2/64, Aditya Thakare 2/34, Darshan Nalkande 2/40) vs Vidarbha.
At Rohtak: No play between Rajasthan and Haryana due to bad light.
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