Baroda notch up massive victory

Taking advantage of a fine first-innings batting effort, Baroda won their Ranji Trophy league match against Saurashtra at Rajkot by an innings and 184 runs inside three days.

Skipper Tushar Arothe's century was superseded by a patient 164 from Nayan Mongia. Batting for 453 minutes and 281 balls, Mongia struck 15 fours in his knock and was the ninth wicket to fall, with the score on exactly 500. He received good support from the lower order, with Ajit Bhoite making 51 and Rakesh Patel a quickfire 41.

In the face of a total of 509, Saurashtra's batting wilted in their first innings. Zaheer Khan, bowling to catch the national selectors' eye again, returned figures of 20-11-25-5. Saurashtra could only make 115 in their first innings, with the top score being skipper Shitanshu Kotak's 28 off 141 balls.

Following on, Saurashtra did only marginally better in their second essay, making 210. Opener Sujith Somasunder top-scored with 57, but none of the other batsmen could even get to 50. Bhoite took 4-31 in the second innings, and Baroda went on to collect eight points by virtue of their comprehensive outright win.