Mohit’s five-for shuts out Raina & Co for 227

Haryana pacers bowled with discipline to bowl out hosts and Group B leaders Uttar Pradesh for 227 on Day One of their Ranji Trophy Group B match. At stumps, Haryana was at 32 for one in 9 overs. Perhaps aware of the fact that they didn't have much to lose from this match, having gained just 7 points from their first five outings, the batsmen went for aggressive shots despite losing an early wicket in the form of Abhimanyu Khod (3).

After winning the vital toss, Haryana pacers Mohit Sharma, Joginder Sharma and Harshal Patel got to work immediately, probing away in good areas. The damage they inflicted on UP could be gauged from the fact that the trio took eight wickets during the day with Mohit finishing with figures of 19-7-47-5 and Harshal with 16-3-42-2. Mohit dismissed openers Tanmay Srivastava (11) and Mukul Dagar (38) early, after which Joginder struck to remove Mohammad Kaif (11), who was caught behind, leaving the UP middle order under a lot of pressure.

At lunch, UP were 68 for three in 30 overs with skipper Suresh Raina on 7 and Parvinder Singh on 1. Raina (49) and Parvinder (32) came back to add 72 for the fourth wicket. After the fall of Raina's wicket in the 51st over, Arish Alam scored a smooth fifty for the team. Mohit, who has excelled with the ball this season, explained: "I did not go with any special plans against UP as such. I just stuck to the right line and length. Bowling well against established players has boosted my confidence." UP team's batting coach Rizwan Shamshad said, "Some of the players, like Parvinder, Mukul and Eklavya got out playing rash shots. They should have shown more maturity since the wicket was OK. A team like UP should have crossed the 300 mark."

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