West Bengal speedsters Ranadeb Bose (5 for 55) and Sanjib Sanyal (3 for 51) tore through the Gujarat batting as the ghost of debacles on home ground returned to haunt Gujarat on the first day of Elite group 'B' Ranji Trophy match in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Electing to field on a grassy wicket, Deb and Sanyal got to their task right away, sending four batsmen to the pavillion when Gujarat had just managed to reach the double figure mark of 10 runs in 14 overs.
It was middle-order batsman Bhavik Thakar's tenacious 87, which saved the day for the hosts, who faced the threat of being bundled out within 100 when they were panting at 91 for eight at one stage.
Gujarat batsmen had themselves to blame as they went for rash shots. Opener Nilesh Modi (1), in-form Akash Christian (6), Niraj Patel (0) and skipper Mukund Parmar (2) fell prey to seamers, who extracted good bounce on an early wintry morning.
Thakar, who came in when his team was tottering at 45 for five, displayed some gritty batting in only third match of his career. Remaining unbeaten on 87 with six boundaries and two sixes, he also stiched the highest partnership of 51 runs for ninth wicket with Lalit Patel (24).
35-year-old skipper Mukund Parmar played his 67th Ranji match, the highest by a Gujarat player till date. He bettered the record of former captain and left arm spinner Ashok Joshi, who played 66 matches.
In reply, vistors were off to a confident start and at the close of play were 35 without loss.
Gujarat Ist innings:
N Modi b Sanyal 1
A Christian c Roy b Sanyal 6
N Patel c Roy b Bose 0
A Sood c Lahiri b Bose 15
M Parmar lbw Sanyal 2
B Thakar not out 87
T Patel c Roy b Bose 14
S Bhatt c Roy b Bose 6
H Majmudar lbw Bose 0
L Patel LBW Lahiri 24
S Yadav c Roy b Shukla 18
Extras (3-b, 1-lb, 2-nb) 6
Total (all out in 78 overs) 179
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-8, 3-8, 4-10, 5-45, 6-77, 7-91, 8-91, 9-142.
Bowling: Bose: 26-7-55-5, Sanyal 18-7-51-3, Shukla 5-2-10-0, Chatterjee 18-7-33-0, Lahiri 11-1-26-1.
West Bengal Ist innings:
Arindam Das batting 17
N Haldipur batting 18
Total (in 10 overs) 35
Bowling: L Patel 5-1-20-0, H Majmudar 3-1-5-0, S Bhatt 2-0-10-0.