Ranji Trophy 2014: Ton-up Vineet Saxena consolidates Rajasthan against Saurashtra; Punjab dent Vidarbha’s progress

Resuming the day at the overnight score of four for no loss, Rajasthan lost Sidharth Saraf (24) to old warhorse Sidharth Trivedi when the total was 70 but Saxena and Robin Bisht (83) put in a solid second partnership of 149 runs to propel the hosts towards big score.

Saxena, one of the most consistent scorers in domestic cricket in the past few years, played solid as ever to race to his 14th first-class hundred.

He scored 118 runs off 241 balls and hit 14 boundaries in his impressive innings before he was found plumb in front by Chirag Jani in the last session of the day.

Bisht, who is closing in on his second successive ton, has faced 177 balls so far and punished the visiting bowlers with nine shots to the fence. Giving him company at the crease was 24-year-old Ashok Menaria (25).

Since a result would be highly improbable, first innings lead will become crucial under the circumstances.

Kaul brings Punjab back in game with five-for show

Paceman Siddarth Kaul returned a five-for in Punjab’s terrific comeback against Vidarbha as an intense fight was on for the first innings lead at the end of day two in the Ranji Trophy Group B cricket match, in Nagpur on Monday.

Defending a modest first innings total of 195, Punjab reduced Vidarbha to 149 for six, with 24-year-old Kaul claiming five wickets for 44 runs.

Amol Ubarhande (15) and Rajesh Dhruv (7) were at the crease when stumps were drawn for the day. The hosts trail Punjab by 46 runs.

Kaul began the rot in the fourth over of the day when he had opener Sanjay Ramaswamy (2) caught behind. The other opener Faiz Fazal (2) was also caught behind off Sandeep Sharma three balls later.

Kaul struck again when he trapped Ganesh Satish (18) but seasoned S Badrinath (62) joined hands with S Shrivastava (29) for a 79-run stand for the fourth wicket.

Kaul brought relief for Punjab when he had Shrivastava caught by Gurkeerat Singh and went on to claim two more batsmen.

He had R Jangid (10) caught behind and also removed set batsman Badrinath, who faced 177 balls.

Badrinath hit three fours and twi sixes in his patient knock.