*Tushar Arothe turns out a captain's knock

Skipper Tushar Arothe hit a fine century to give Baroda the upper hand in their Ranji Trophy league match against Saurashtra at Rajkot on Thursday.

Baroda started their first innings well, putting on 70 runs for the first wicket. Nayan Mongia, batting at number three, hit an unbeaten 74, made off 149 balls with seven fours. He held the fort as a mini-collapse occurred with him at the other end.

Arothe's presence stabilised the innings, and the pair took Baroda through to the close of play. At stumps, Baroda were 283/4, with Arothe not out on 105 off 202 balls. Mongia and Arothe had added 149 runs for the fifth wicket.

*Gujarat bat out a slow first day

Gujarat, batting first in their Ranji Trophy league match against Maharashtra at Ahmedabad, played out a slow first day to end on 182/3.

Winning the toss, Gujarat opted to take first strike on what appeared to be a typical Ahmedabad wicket. The first three wickets fell for 47 runs, but opener ND Modi and TN Varsani then came together to put on an unbroken 135 runs for the fourth wicket.

At stumps, Modi was on 83, made off 259 balls. Varsani was even slower, making 59 off 223 balls. Ninety-one overs were consumed to make the 182 runs scored during the day. For Maharashtra, eight bowlers were used, the best of whom was R Khirid, with figures of 14-5-28-2.

© CricInfo