A dogged century by number nine batsman S Rana helped Haryana post a respectable 260 against Baroda on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group 'B' cricket league match in Sirsa on Friday.

Rana struck a 142-ball 121, which was filled with 13 fours and a six, to lift the hosts from the doldrums of 105 for 8, adding 101 runs for the 10th wicket with last-man G Vashisht.

- Ranji Trophy 2005-06: Complete coverage

Vashisht remained unbeaten on 26, from 102 balls, inclusive of three fours.

Rana then returned to strike a crucial blow by removing Baroda opening batsman I Sindhi for one.

At stumps on day one, the visitors were six for one with Connor Williams (1) and P Shah (4) at the crease.

Earlier, Zaheer Khan [ Images ] (3-45) and Rakesh Patel (3-64) ploughed through the Haryana top order.

The hosts were four down for 28 in the 14th over before Shafiq Khan (23) and P Sahu (34) led a brief recovery.

Romesh Pawar provided the breakthrough by breaching the defence of Khan.

After Yusuf Pathan [ Images ] accounted for Joginder Sharma, Patel and Khan returned to scalp two more wickets.

Rana then came to the rescue of the hosts.

Scorecard:

Haryana (1st innings):
Chetan Sharma c Martin b Khan 11
B Bist c YK Pathan b Khan 3
Sunny Singh c Powar b Patel 0
S Verma c Shah b Patel 4
Shafiq Khan b Pawar 23
P Sahu run out (Sindhi) 34
Joginder Sharma c Pawar b YK Pathan 3
M Rawat lbw b Patel 8
S Rana c Sindhi b Khan 121
A Mishra c Sindhi b Pawar 12
G Vashisht not out 26
Extras: (b 4, lb 5, nb 6) 15
Total: (all out, 84.3 overs, 360 mins) 260

Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-16, 3-16, 4-28, 5-57, 6-60, 7-80, 8-105, 9-159, 10-260.

Bowling: Khan 18.3-7-45-3 (1nb), Patel 23-2-64-3 (5nb), YK Pathan 22-2-84-1, Pawar 21-5-58-2

Baroda (1st innings):
I Sindhi b Rana 1
CC Williams not out 1
P Shah not out 4
Extras: 0
Total: (1 wicket, 3 overs) 6

To bat: RB Patel, RK Solanki, KR Powar, AP Bhoite, RV Pawar, YK Pathan, JJ Martin, Z Khan.

Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Sindhi, 1.1 ov).

Bowling: Joginder Sharma 2-0-6-0, Rana 1-1-0-1