A five-wicket haul by pace-bowling stalwart Chirag Jani and a half-century by opener Harvik Desai helped defending champions Saurashtra take the honours on day considered one of their Ranji Trophy Group A primary-round match towards Jharkhand in Rajkot on Friday. Saurashtra, who had overwhelmed Bengal within the Ranji remaining final season, confirmed their class quickly after the star-studded facet, led by India participant Jaydev Unadkat, gained the toss and elected to bowl, with 34-year-old Jani operating by way of the highest and decrease order as Jharkhand have been dismissed for a paltry 142 in 49 overs.

At stumps, Saurashtra have been strongly positioned at 108 for 1, trailing by simply 34 runs.

Jharkhand’s solely notable contributions with the bat got here from wicketkeeper Kumar Kushagra (29) and Shahbaz Nadeem (27).

Jani returned with figures of 11-6-22-5, his maiden five-wicket haul in first-class cricket.

Saurashtra batters then utilised the house situations to full impact with younger Harvik Desai scoring 54 not out and sharing an unbeaten 81-run partnership with Sheldon Jackson (37 not out).

With the likes of India top-order batter Cheteshwar Pujara and stalwart Arpit Vasavada nonetheless to come back, Jharkhand bowlers could have their job lower out on Saturday.

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