Baroda hold all the aces

Baroda held all the aces at stumps on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Super League match against Bihar at the IPCL sports complex ground in Baroda on Sunday. The home team scored 499 in their first innings, shot out Bihar for 119, enforced the follow on and had taken three second innings wickets for 74 at close.

It was totally Baroda's day. Resuming at 360 for six, they did well to get to almost 500. HR Jadhav was chiefly responsible for this. On six overnight, Jadhav, when the innings ended, was unlucky to be left high and dry on 98. He faced 134 balls and hit 13 fours and a six. With VN Buch (39) he added 83 runs for the ninth wicket off 21.2 overs and then with last man IK Pathan (4) he increased the score by 46 runs off just 5.2 overs. The wickets were shared by the seamers Dhiraj Kumar (6 for 167) and M Diwakar (4 for 125).

Bihar's first innings was a fair disaster. They lost wickets at regular intervals and only a defiant 31 by wicketkeeper MS Dhoni and a rollicking 34 by No 10 batsman Dhiraj Kumar, who faced 38 balls and hit six fours, saw Bihar reach three figures. Z Khan was the wrecker-in-chief taking five wickets for 43 off 9.5 overs but he received able support from his new ball partner RB Patel (2 for 38) and IK Pathan (3 for 31).

Following on 380 runs behind, Bihar lost two wickets for six runs, but opener N Ranjan (38 not out) and skipper Sunil Kumar (26) added 48 runs for the third wicket. However, Bihar still face an uphill task.