Gujarat bat cautiously on opening day

Gujarat, batting cautiously, scored 209 for five wickets off 90 overs at stumps on the first day of their West Zone Ranji Trophy match against Baroda at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad on Friday.

Opting to bat, Gujarat lost Vivek Gandhi for a duck in the second over. The other opener Nilesh Modi (43) and Niraj Patel (40) steadied the innings by adding 80 runs for the second wicket off 39.5 overs. Modi symbolised the Gujarat approach by taking 201 minutes to compile his runs. He faced 111 balls and hit five fours. Patel too took his time to get his runs (156 minutes). He faced 133 balls and hit only three boundaries. After the fall of both these batsmen, Mukund Parmar (54) and Kirat Damani (37 not out) continued the recovery process by adding 68 runs off 23 overs for the fourth wicket. Parmar batted in a rather aggressive manner, his runs being scored off just 97 balls with eleven hits to the fence. But Damani was more circumspect taking 174 minutes over his unbeaten 37. He faced 117 balls and hit two fours. Among the bowlers, medium pacers Zaheer Khan (2 for 47) and Rakesh Patel (3 for 57) were the pick and deservedly shared the wickets.