Ranji Trophy: Mehul, Ishwar help Guj bowl out Haryana for 207

Surat: Gujarat rode on fine bowling spells from medium pacers Mehul Patel and Ishwar Choudhary to bundle out Haryana for a modest 207 after the visitors elected to bat on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Elite division match at the Lalabhai Contractor Stadium on Wednesday.

The Haryana batsman failed to gather any momentum as the hosts struck at regular intervals to put the brakes on scoring. The visitors did not have an auspicious beginning to their innings as they lost opener Nitin Saini (0) in the second over of the day to Ashraf Makda in this Group B match. Rahul Dewan (27) and Sunny Singh (69) put on a vital 57-run partnership for the second wicket before Mehul struck in the 19th over to reduce the visitors to 59 for two. Prateek Pawar, who walked in following the dismissal of Dewan, looked to support a well-set Singh but, with Ishwar removing him at the score of 93, the going never seemed easy for the visitors as they failed to build on any substantial partnership thereafter. With Sunny succumbing to Mehul in the 47th over with the score at 126 for five, it looked all but over for the visitors, who toiled hard to cross the 200-run mark. The only other notable contributions came from the blade of skipper Amit Mishra (25) and Jayant Yadav (26). In response the hosts were 46 for one at the draw of stumps with Priyank Panchal unbeaten on 22 and Niraj Patel not out on 21. However, Parthiv Patel`s miserable run with the bat continued as he was dismissed on the first ball of Gujarat`s innings. Brief scores: Haryana first innings: 207 all out in 74.2 overs (Sunny Singh 69; Mehul Patel 4/59, Ishwar Chodhury 3/50) Gujarat first innings: 46 for one in 13 overs (Priyank Panchal 22 not out, Niraj Patel 21 not out; Ashish Hooda 1/21). PTI