Ranji Trophy: Baroda take first-innings lead against Odisha | Cricket News

Baroda took a huge 161-run lead against Odisha at stumps on the second day of their Group A Ranji Trophy encounter in Vadodara on Sunday.
Coming into the game on the back of two successive wins, the Baroda batters dominated the proceedings as they reached 354 for 6 in 107 overs in their third-round game.
For the hosts, opener Shivalik Sharma continued from where he had left off on the opening day and played a well-controlled innings to put Baroda in control early on. Sadly, he missed a well-deserved century as he was dismissed for 96 off 209.
Initially Shivalik got good support from Shashwat Rawat (34 off 81 balls), and later on with Vishnu Solanki, the duo added 121 runs. With 10 fours and two sixes he didn’t give the Odisha bowlers any respite and looked well set for a big one. However, Odisha captain Govinda Poddar was able to send him back to the pavilion when he caught him off his own bowling in the 74th over.
However, Baroda continued to pile up the runs even after that as later in the day Solanki and skipper Krunal Pandya got together to stitch a partnership of 82 runs off 127 balls.
The duo made quick runs and Solanki was in sight of the magical three-figure score. But just like Shivalik, he too failed to get there and was dismissed for 98 off 190 balls. This time it was Harshit Rathod, who had him trapped LBW.
But Odisha’s plight did not end there as captain Pandya continued the rampage with NA Rathva for company. The pair added another 50 runs with the skipper himself making 40 off 28 balls. Towards the end of the day, Odisha were able to get the wicket of Rathva but by then it was too late.
Baroda will now hope to add some more runs as quickly as possible on the third day and then have a go at the Odisha batters in the hope of making it three wins in a row. And with Pandya batting at 88, it surely won’t be too difficult.
As for the visitors, they will be quite disappointed with their performance so far. Not only the batters, even the bowlers have been quite ordinary. Besides Poddar (4/96) only Rathod (1/34) and Sumit Sharma (1/51) got a wicket each. With still two days to go, they will now have to get their act together if they are to earn any point from this game.
Brief scores (In Vadodara): Odisha 193. Baroda 354/6 in 107 overs (Shivalik Sharma 96, Vishnu Solanki 98, Krunal Pandya 88 batting; Govinda Poddar 4/96). Match to continue.