Gujarat, batting cautiously, scored 209 for five wickets off 90 overs at stumpson the first day of their West Zone Ranji Trophy match against Baroda at theSardar Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad on Friday

Partab Ramchand29-Dec-2000Gujarat, batting cautiously, scored 209 for five wickets off 90 overs at stumpson the first day of their West Zone Ranji Trophy match against Baroda at theSardar Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad on Friday.Opting to bat, Gujarat lost Vivek Gandhi for a duck in the second over. Theother opener Nilesh Modi (43) and Niraj Patel (40) steadied the innings byadding 80 runs for the second wicket off 39.5 overs. Modi symbolised the Gujaratapproach by taking 201 minutes to compile his runs. He faced 111 balls and hitfive fours. Patel too took his time to get his runs (156 minutes). He faced 133balls and hit only three boundaries. After the fall of both these batsmen,Mukund Parmar (54) and Kirat Damani (37 not out) continued the recovery processby adding 68 runs off 23 overs for the fourth wicket. Parmar batted in a ratheraggressive manner, his runs being scored off just 97 balls with eleven hits tothe fence. But Damani was more circumspect taking 174 minutes over his unbeaten37. He faced 117 balls and hit two fours. Among the bowlers, medium pacersZaheer Khan (2 for 47) and Rakesh Patel (3 for 57) were the pick and deservedlyshared the wickets.