Khadkikar pegs back Haryana

Kashinath Khadkikar bagged a five wicket haul to restrict Haryana to 242 all out off 88.2 overs on the first day of the MA Chidambaram Trophy match played at the Maharaja Aggarsain Stadium in Rohtak on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Haryana skipper Ajay Ratra won the toss and decided to parade the batting skills of the Cooch Behar champions. Little did he realise that his decision would backfire on the first ball of the innings. Left arm medium pacer Steve Lazarus castled the explosive Manvinder Bisla with the first ball of the match.

Bisla's early dismissal made the batsmen adopt a defensive approach early on, as they scored the first fifty off 22.1 overs. The other opener Bhuvanesh Sharma departed after a steady innings of fifteen off 55 balls. Sumeet Sharma followed suit giving Khadkikar his second wicket of the morning.

One drop Ishan Ganda and skipper Ajay Ratra then set down to consolidate and build up the tottering innings. The prolific duo added 105 runs off 197 balls for the fourth wicket. Ratra played second fiddle as Ganda dominated the partnership with his innings of 76 laced with twelve boundaries. The skipper played 98 balls for his 44 with three sedate hits to the fence. Ganda mistimed a Khadkikar delivery and holed out to Deepak Joon. Two runs later, Ratra joined him in the pavilion having his bails cleaned out by Naman Oza.

The dismissal of the two brought out a semi collapse in the batting order. It was only resurrecated by a 51 run partnership between Sidharth Singh and Amit Mishra for the ninth wicket off 104 balls. Singh returned unbeaten on 42 off 76 balls with eight hits to the fence.

Kashinath Khadkikar bagged five for 74, he was well supported by Kiran Adhav, two for 39.