Naman Ojha's seventh first-class century, second in succession, placed Madhya Pradesh comfortably against Haryana on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Elite group match at the Bansi Lal Stadium here on Tuesday.
Electing to bat, MP finished the day at 278 for three after Ojha smashed 160 and dominated two century stands — 102 with fellow-opener Zafar Ali and another 101 for the third wicket with skipper Devendra Bundela.
Ojha, who scored a match-winning 107 against Delhi last week, hit five sixes and 22 boundaries off 226 deliveries. MP denied the Haryana bowlers a breakthrough in the first session before Ojha toyed with the attack. Leg-spinner Yuzuvendra Chahal, who was hit on the fingers in his second over, and medium pacer Jitender Billa were happy to keep the run-rate down but lacked the bite to trouble the batsmen.
The scores: Madhya Pradesh — 1st innings: Zafar Ali c Dewan b Patel 38, Naman Ojha b Hooda 160, Mohnish Mishra b Patel 14, Devendra Bundela (batting) 25, Udit Birla (not out) 29, Extras (b-4, lb-4, nb-3, w-1): 12; Total (for three wickets in 90 overs): 278.
Fall of wickets: 1-102, 2-138, 3-239.
Haryana bowling: Ashish Hooda 17-2-78-1, Harshal Patel 19-5-41-2, Jitender Billa 16-5-27-0, Sachin Rana 9-4-34-0, Amit Mishra 19.4-55-0, Yuzuvendra Chahal 8.2-2-28-0, Rahul Dewan 1-0-7-0.
