Ranji quarters: Gohel's double ton swells Gujarat's lead against Odisha

Jaipur, Dec 26 (CRICKETNMORE) Riding on opener Samit Gohel's unbeaten 261, Gujarat ended the penultimate day of their Ranji Trophy cricket quarter-final tie against Odisha at 514/8, to take a mammoth 578-run lead at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here on Monday.

At stumps, Gohel was batting on 261 from 555 deliveries with tail-ender Hardik Patel giving him company on an undefeated individual score of 11.

Resuming at the overnight score of 246/3 with Gohel unbeaten on 110 and Manpreet Juneja on 6, the Gujarat duo added another 31 runs before being separated by pacer Suryakant Pradhan, who trapped Juneja (24) in front.

The fall of Juneja, brought in skipper Parthiv Patel (40), who added 78 runs for the fifth wicket with Gohel to take Gujarat to 355.

The India keeper-batsman, who was in great form with the willow in the recently concluded Test rubber against England, consumed 75 balls for his knock, laced with three hits to the fence.

Thereafter, Gohel guided the lower order batsmen -- Chirag Gandhi (6), Rush Kalaria (11) and Mehul Patel (16) -- to chip in with small partnerships and take the side to 453/8.

Despite having a massive lead, Gujarat continued to bat through the day as the 26-year-old Gohel brought up his career's maiden first class double ton and then continued to go past the 250-run mark with 33 hits to the fence.

Odisha, playing their first quarter-final in 15 years, toiled hard for the wickets with left-arm spinner Dhiraj Singh finishing with figures of 5/139 while Pradhan, Basant Mohanty and Govinda Poddar chipping in with one wicket apiece.

Brief Scores: Gujarat 263, 514/8 (Samit Gohel 261 not out, Priyank Panchal 81, Parthiv Patel 40, Dhiraj Singh 5/139) vs Odisha 199.