Nikhil Gangta’s marathon 100 took Himachal Pradesh off to a solid start on the primary day of the Ranji Trophy Group D fixture against Pondicherry right here on the Siachem Stadium on Friday.
Nikhil trusted his frontfoot defence, performed with a straight bat and punched on the backfoot to elucidate solid batting situations. He reached the three-figure mark off a lofted cowl drive on his 224th ball within the final over and closed the day with a crew rating of 272/4.
But bowlers — each pacers and spinners — did extract bounce off the wicket to maintain themselves .
To utilise the early morning mist, Pondicherry opted to bowl, and struck early. Seamer Pankaj Yadav cleaned up opener Ravi Thakur (11) within the sixth over of the day.
Pankaj, together with Gaurav Yadav, operated on a good size and stored the surface edge in play within the first hour. But Prashant Chopra and captain Ankit Kalsi (22) acquired caught on the crease and waited for the poor balls to pounce.
The boundaries didn’t come typically, however bowlers straying on pads or giving an excessive amount of width helped the batters rotate the strike.
Left-arm spinner Sidak Singh then made use of the bounce on supply and troubled the batters from one finish. But it was dwelling captain Rohit Damodaran from the opposite finish who acquired his counterpart LBW to supply his crew a breakthrough.
Sidak continued to maintain the sting in play when proper handers – Prashant and Nikhil – paired up for the third wicket. He lastly struck after Lunch, trapping Prashant (61) in entrance with a straighter one.
However, the pitch eased out as day progressed, making Nikhil and Akash Vashisht’s 151-ball keep comparatively extra comfy than the others until then. With the bowlers now working on fuller lengths, Himachal batters discovered it simple to play pictures, rotate strike, in addition to defend confidently.
Gaurav struck proper after Tea to take away Akash (35) however Pondicherry bowlers couldn’t put a lot strain permitting Nikhil and Rishi Dhawan to additional add 78 runs for the fifth wicket until stumps.
The scores:
Himachal Pradesh — 1st innings: Ravi Thakur b Pankaj 11, Prashant Chopra lbw Sidak 61, Ankit Kalsi lbw b Rohit 22, Nikhil Gangta batting 100, Akash Vashisht lbw Gaurav 35, Rishi Dhawan batting 35; Extras (b-4, lb-1, w-1, nb- 2): 8; Total (for 4 wkts. in 90 overs): 272.
Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-63, 3-118, 4-194.
Pondicherry bowling: Gaurav 23-4-63-1, Pankaj 10-1-47-1, Parameeshwaran 10-2-24-0, Sidak 36-7-103-1, Rohit 11-2-30-1.
