Ranji Trophy: Vaibhav Arora takes five as Himachal trouble Odisha on day one

Himachal Pradesh pace bowler Vaibhav Arora grabbed his third five-wicket haul in first-class cricket to restrict Odisha to 191 in their Ranji Trophy Group A match, even as the other two quicks -- Rishi Dhawan and Abhinay -- too played a vital role in demolishing the visitors on Tuesday.

At stumps on day one at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium, Himachal were placed comfortably at 91/2 with dependable opener Prashant Chopra batting at 61 and the hosts exactly 100 runs away from taking the first-innings lead.

Vaibhav, the 25-year-old quick, struck in the ninth over to get rid of opener Anurag Sarangi for six runs and was on target again in the 16th over as he sent back Anshy Rath for three.

With Himachal bowlers striking at regular intervals, Odisha were in dire straits at 85/5 but a fighting half century from Shantanu Mishra (52 off 107 balls) helped them to 160 for eight before the last two wickets fell in quick succession.

Coming in to bat, Himachal opener and prolific run-getter in domestic cricket Prashant Chopra struck a fine half-century -- his 16th in first-class cricket -- and the team's capitulation against Uttarakhand earlier in the Ranji season seemed a distant dream.

Himachal were all out for 49 in the first innings of their Ranji game against Uttarakhand in the third round of matches with the home team bowler Deepak Dhapola returning career-best figures of 8/35 in just 8.3 overs.

The five-wicket loss in that game at Dehradun (Dec 27-30) was the direct result of openers Raghav Dhawan and Prashant Chopra's failure to score big.

But since then, the team has atoned for its batting lapses, which was quite visible in the fourth-round match against Baroda that ended in a draw after Himachal put up a 500-plus total in the first innings. Chopra and skipper Ankit Kalsi had scored fine centuries in that game.

On Tuesday, Chopra was again consolidating the innings, scoring his 61 off 89 deliveries. But the biggest disappointment of the day was skipper Kalsi who departed for a duck.

Earlier, Odisha being restricted to a sub-200 score was owing to the efforts of the three Himachal quicks. While Vaibhav Arora was the wrecker-in-chief, Kanwar Abhinay and Rishi Dhawan too had two wickets apiece as they helped the hosts take the honours on the opening day.

Brief scores: At Nadaun: Odisha 191 in 50 overs (Shantanu Mishra 52, Prayash Singh 39; Vaibhav Arora 5/51, Rishi Dhawan 2/44, Kanwar Abhinay 2/39) vs Himachal Pradesh 91/2 in 31 overs (Prashant Chopra 61 batting).

At Kalyani: Baroda 222/7 in 81 overs (Jyotsnil Singh 85, Priyanshu Moliya 50; Mukesh Kumar 3/50, Akash Deep 4/67) vs Bengal.

At Rohtak: Nagaland 83/5 in 37 overs (Shrikant Mundhe 30 batting; Harshal Patel Patel 2/23) vs Haryana.

At Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh 29/3 in 21 overs (Deepak Dhapola 2/10) vs Uttarakhand. PTI AM AM AH AH