INDORE: Skipper Priyank Panchal remained not out on 71 after seamer Chintan Gaja's excellent 6/49 helped Gujarat cut short reigning champions Madhya Pradesh's first innings at 312 in their Ranji Trophy Group D match on Wednesday.
Gujarat were 159 for four at stumps on the second day, with Manan Hingrajia giving Panchal company on 43 at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium.
Resuming their innings at a solid 232 for three with overnight centurion Himanshu Mantri going strong on 115, Gujarat suffered the day's first blow for the addition of just seven runs, as Gaja trapped rival skipper Aditya Shrivastava (15) in front of the wicket.
The next man in the middle, Harsh Gawli (19) too perished after getting a start, with Gaja being the successful bowler again.
Gaja was on a hat-trick when he had Saransh Jain caught by Saurav Chauhan for a first-ball duck, leaving MP in a spot of bother at 281 for six, a far cry from the position they were in when they ended the proceedings on the opening day.
The lower-order batters failed to make worthwhile contributions, leading to the conclusion of MP's first innings even as Mantri waged a lone battle to make 159 off 349 balls.
Mantri's innings was studded with 20 boundaries and a four. This was Mantri's, who also doubles up as the team's wicketkeeper, second century in first-class cricket.
Medium pacer Shen Patel was the second most successful bowler for Gujarat, returning figures of 3/89 in 22.4 overs.
Gujarat trailed MP by 153 runs at the close of play.
Brief scores:At Indore: Madhya Pradesh 312 all out 115.4 overs (Himanshu Mantri 159, Shubham Sharma 72; Chintan Gaja 6/49) vs Gujarat 159/4 in 55 overs (Priyank Panchal 71 batting, Manan Hingrajia 43 batting).At Mohali: Jammu and Kashmir 176/6 in 44 overs (Abdul Samad 46, Vivrant Sharma 41, Fazil Rashid batting 46; Siddarth Kaul 3/58) vs Punjab.At Chandigarh: Vidarbha 11/0 in 4 overs vs Chandigarh.At Surat: Tripura 96 and 70/1 in 14 overs (Bishal Ghosh 42) vs Railways 337 all out in 109.1 overs (Shivam Chaudhary 70, Pratham Singh 79, Yuvraj Singh 74; Deepak Khatri 4/46).
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