Stand-in captain Ambati Rayudu led from the front with an impressive half-century as Baroda ended the first day's play at a comfortable 252 for three against Delhi in a third round Ranji Trophy Group B encounter here today.
Put into bat, Baroda rode on Rayudu's undefeated 83 and his partnership of 143 runs for the unbroken fourth wicket stand with Abhimanyu Chauhan, who is giving him company on 82.
Rayudu scored his runs off 146 balls with 13 hits to the fence while Chauhan continued his good form having scored a century against Vidarbha in the last game.
The 25-year-old Chauhan played for more than four and half hours facing 196 balls and hitting 13 boundaries in the process.
With another flat deck offered by the DDCA, it was a question of Baroda batsmen able to bide their time out there in the middle and Rayudu-Chauhan combination did exactly that.
They didn't hit any flashy shots but also punished the loose deliveries.
The wicket wasn't easy for strokemaking but the flurry of boundaries that Rayudu hit off left-arm spinner Manan Sharma was pleasing to the eye.
Delhi captain Shikhar Dhawan elected to field and Baroda's left-handed openers Aditya Waghmode and debutant Saurabh Wakaskar saw off the initial spells from Ashish Nehra and Parvinder Awana.
The pitch had nothing for the bowlers as both Awana and Nehra were seen bending their backs trying to extract a bit of bounce from the 22-yard strip. There were times when Awana's bouncers were collected by glovesman Punit Bisht on second bounce, increasing the agony of home team skipper Dhawan.