Priyanshu Moliya's unbeaten 321 puts Baroda in command against Jammu and Kashmir

Priyanshu Moliya's unbeaten 321 carried Baroda to 616 and left defending champions Jammu & Kashmir facing a long third day in Vadodara

Baroda, who won the toss and batted at the Reliance Stadium, were bowled out for 616 in 169 overs in their Elite Group A match, a total built around the maiden first-class triple century of their 21-year-old batter.

Moliya finished 321 not out from 492 balls, an innings of 36 fours and a single six that began on the opening day and ended only when the last Baroda wicket fell around him.

Jammu & Kashmir, who closed the second evening on 6 without loss, lost four wickets on the third day and were 87 for 4 after 35 overs, still 529 runs adrift.

A triple hundred two days in the making

Moliya resumed the second morning on 113 not out, with Baroda 259 for 6 and the innings apparently close to its end.

He batted through the day instead, adding 208 more runs and taking his side past 600. Baroda's last four wickets were worth 357 runs.

It is the highest score of his first-class career and his first triple hundred in the format.

Baroda occupied the crease for 169 overs in all, a little under two full days of the match.

Pithiya turns a good total into a vast one

Mahesh Pithiya made 102 from 214 balls with six fours and two sixes, and gave Moliya the long partnership the innings had been waiting for.

It was the second hundred of the Baroda innings, and the one that turned a competitive first-innings score into a total Jammu & Kashmir could only hope to survive.

By the time Baroda were dismissed, their opponents had been in the field for the better part of two days.

A long day for the Jammu & Kashmir attack

Sahil Lotra was the most successful of the bowlers with 4-160 from 39 overs, figures that say as much about the length of the innings as about the bowling.

Umar Nazir Mir was the most economical of those who bowled a meaningful spell, taking two wickets for 28.

Baroda scored at better than three and a half an over across the innings, so there was no stretch of the second day in which the fielding side could simply dry the game up.

Champions under pressure in round three

Jammu & Kashmir arrived in Vadodara as the reigning Ranji Trophy holders, and this is the third round of their title defence.

Openers Shubham Khajuria and Qamran Iqbal saw out four overs on the second evening, but the third day brought four wickets and no sign of the long innings the deficit demands.

They need to reach 417 to make Baroda bat again, and 330 of those runs were still required with six wickets standing.

With two days left and more than 500 runs between the sides, the visitors are batting to save the match rather than to win it.

The batter who made 556 as a 14-year-old

Moliya first drew attention in 2018 when, aged 14, he made 556 not out for the Mohinder Lala Amarnath Cricket Academy in the Shri DK Gaekwad Under-14 tournament in Vadodara.

That innings, reported at the time as containing 98 fours, passed the 546 Prithvi Shaw had made in junior cricket in Mumbai.

Eight years on, the senior equivalent has arrived at a ground in the same city.

Scorecard: Baroda 616 all out in 169 overs (Priyanshu Moliya 321 not out, Mahesh Pithiya 102; Sahil Lotra 4-160) v Jammu & Kashmir 87 for 4 in 35 overs, Ranji Trophy Elite Group A, Reliance Stadium, Vadodara.

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