Raj seamers skittle Jharkhand for 92

Jaipur: On conditions ideal for fast bowlers, Rajasthan seamers led by Aniket Choudhary, made life miserable for Jharkhand and folded them for a meagre 92 on the opening day of a Group C clash of the Ranji Trophy at the SMS Stadium on Tuesday. Left-arm bowlers Choudhary and Tanveer Ul-Haq shared eight wickets between them, recording figures of 14-5-16-4 and 17-3-42-4 respectively. Right-arm seamer Rituraj Singh took two scalps.
At stumps, leading by nine runs, Ashok Menaria’s side was 101/4. Ashish Kumar was central to Jharkhand’s plan as the seamer took a four-wicket haul to help the team fightback in the last session of the play. He registered digits of 12-4-26-4.
Early morning dew and presence of slight wind and haze throughout the day made it tough for the batters to survive and none of them showed the required resilience needed to win the situation. The hosts chose to bowl first and reduced Jharkhand to 60/5 at tea. The visitors had fought well for the first one hour, but failed to persist as they looked vulnerable against swing and seam.
Debutant Aryaman Sen (38 off 124 balls), who opened the innings for Jharkhand along with Kumar Deobrat (15 off 43 balls), had the longest stay at the crease that lasted for 44 overs. He edged it to the wicketkeeper to give Singh his second wicket. Jharkhand’s first innings quickly wrapped up three overs after that as Tanveer mopped up the tail.
When Rajasthan came out to bat, the strip was still not conducive to bat, but opener Yash Kothari found his way past Jharkhand bowlers and struck 52 off 84 balls.