Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Rajat Patidar's knock of 121 helped defending champions Madhya Pradesh recover from a poor start to finish at 234 for six at stumps on day one of their Ranji Trophy Group D match against Vidarbha here on Tuesday.
Sent into bat by Vidarbha captain Faiz Fazal, MP were in a spot of bother losing the two openers and Shubham Sharma within the first 10 overs.
While Yash Dubey (2) was trapped LBW by Yash R Thakur, fellow opener Himanshu Mantri (7) fell in a similar manner to medium-pacer Lalit Yadav. Shubham Sharma (1) lasted only four balls to leave the home team in trouble.
Patidar, one of the star performers in MP's Ranji Trophy triumph last season, rose to the occasion. In the company of skipper Aditya Shrivastava (34), he put on 74 runs to revive the innings.
The 202-ball partnership made sure that MP got back into the game. A century stand between Patidar, who was cautious to start with, and Saransh Jain (45 batting) ensured that Madhya Pradesh were on track to post a good total.
Vidarbha got a huge breakthrough in the 89th over when Patidar fell LBW to Lalit Yadav (2/37) after a splendid rearguard effort.
Meanwhile in Valsad, Punjab rode on a ton by Nehal Wadhera to finish day one at 276 for seven against Gujarat while Mohammad Saif's unbeaten 161 powered Railways to 322 for 8 against Jammu & Kashmir at Surat.
Brief scores:
Group D: At Valsad: Punjab 276 for 7 in 90 overs (Nehal Wadhera 120 batting (234 balls, 16X4, 1X6), Prabhsimran Singh 43, Anmol Malhotra 41, Chintan Gaja 3/59) vs Gujarat.
At Indore: Madhya Pradesh 234 for 6 in 90 overs (Rajat Patidar 121, Saransh Jain 45 batting, Aditya Shrivastava 34) vs Vidarbha.
At Surat: Railways 322 for 8 in 85 overs (Mohammad Saif 161 batting (216 balls, 23X4), Vivek Singh 32, Abid Mushtaq 3/76) vs J&K.
At Agartala: Chandigarh 313 for 2 in 86 overs (Manan Vohra 124 batting (215 balls, 16X4), Kunal Mahajan 103 batting (142 balls, 14X4, 1X6).
