Ranji Trophy: All-round Axar Patel helps Gujarat bag bonus point against Baroda

Valsad: A strong all-round show by Axar Patel helped Gujarat thrash Baroda by an innings and 46 runs to bag a bonus point in the Group B Ranji Trophy cricket encounter here on Tuesday.

After a gutsy 81 in Gujarat's only batting outing, Axar bagged three and four wickets respectively in the first and second Baroda innings to lead the rout. Satrting the day on 81 for four while following-on, Baroda crashed to 207 all out with Axar and off-spinner Rujul Bhatt bagging four wickets apiece.

Skipper Ambati Rayudu (43) and Hardik Pandya (43) fought hard but the rest of teh batting just fell apart. The Parthiv Patel-led side had gained the upper hand from the very start after the hosts rode on opener Priyank Kirit Panchal's 128 to post 505 in their only outing.

Fifties from Manpreet Maneja (55), Rush Kalaria (68), Bhatt (61) and Axar also contributed handsomely in the team's mammoth showing.  The Ambati Rayudu-led Baroda could not match up to the tall score even as they fell twice.

All-rounder Irfan Pathan did made his presence felt with a gutsy 58 in the first innings and also a six-wicket haul in the Gujarat innings. Gujarat are placed fourth in the points table led by Mumbai. They have 16 points from five games with two wins and a loss.

Baroda on the other hand are languishing at the last-but-one place in the nine-team table with three losses and a single win in six matches.

Brief Scores:

Gujarat 505

Baroda 252 and 207 all out in 73.4 overs (Ambati Rayudu 43, Hardik Pandya 43; Axar Patel 4-71, Rujul Bhatt 4-48).