Gujarat put Rest Of India on the mat in Irani Cup

Mumbai, Jan 21 (IANS) Gujarat's Chintan Gaja and Hardik Patel shared six wickets between them to reduce the Rest of India (ROI) side to 206/9 after the second day's play at the ongoing Irani Cup ended at the Brabourne Stadium here on Saturday.

Tailenders Pankaj Singh (7 not out) and Mohammed Siraj (8 not out) were at the crease when the stumps were drawn for the day.

Barring skipper Cheteshwar Pujara (86) and Maharashtra opener Akhil Herwadkar (48), the ROI batting failed drastically in their pursuit of overhauling Gujarat's first innings score of 358.

Medium pacer Gaja and left-arm spinner Hardik Pacer took three wickets each to trigger the opposition's collapse, which saw five of their batsmen, including regular India wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha (0), back with single digit scores.

Opening the batting with Herwadkar, Tamil Nadu's Abhinav Mukund (8) only managed to put 21 runs on the board before Gaja got him caught by Samit Gohel.

Herwadkar and Pujara then stabilised the innings with a 68-run second wicket stand to take ROI to 89 before Patel dismissed the Maharashtra batsman.

Karnataka's Karun Nair (28) then joined Pujara for a 47-run third wicket stand before Gaja packed back the right-hander to initiate the batting collapse.

Thereafter, Manoj Tiwary (12), Saha, Kuldeep Yadav (5), Shahbaaz Nadeem (0) and Siddharth Kaul (0) went back one after the other, leaving the side in a precarious position.

Medium pacer Ishwar Chaudhary managed to get the prized scalp of Pujara, who consumed 156 deliveries and hit 11 boundaries to further dent the ROI team's prospects.

Medium pacer Mohit Thadani also contributed with two wickets to leave the ROI in trouble.

Earlier, resuming from their overnight score of 300/8, the maiden Ranji Champions added another 58 runs to their first innings total with Chirag Gandhi taking his maiden first class century past the 150-run mark.

Gandhi, who consumed 202 balls for his 169 with 22 fours and two sixes, became medium pacer Kaul's fifth victim of the innings.

For the ROI side, Kaul returned with figures of 5/86 while Rajasthan pacer Pankaj Singh picked 4/104.

Brief Scores: Gujarat first innings: 358 (Chirag Gandhi 169, Siddharth Kaul 5/86, Pankaj Singh 4/104) vs Rest of India first innings 206/9 (Cheteshwar Pujara 86, Akhil Herwadkar 48, Chintan Gaja 3/46, Hardik Patel 3/73).