Gujarat seamer Chintan Gaja's 8 for 40 wrecks Rajasthan
Elsewhere, Haryana were reduced to 119 for 7 on their home ground by Jammu & Kashmir while a Jadeja helped Saurashtra claim the upper hand against Kerala
ESPNcricinfo staff
17-Nov-2017
Gujarat seamer Chintan Gaja's 8 for 40 destroyed Rajasthan as they crumbled to 153 all out after opting to bat in Surat. The defending champions then went to stumps on 90 for 1, after they lost Samit Gohel (46) in what turned out to be the last delivery of the day.
In the morning, Rajasthan never really recovered after Gaja cleaned up opener Amitkumar Gautam off the third ball of the day. Thereon, the visitors went from 32 for 3 to 62 for 6, with the dismissal of Siddharth Dobal giving Gaja his second five-wicket haul. The 23-year old was playing his ninth first-class game.
Rajasthan's only partnership of substance was between Rajesh Bishnoi (43*) and Tajinder Singh (45) - 70 runs for the seventh wicket. But, things unraveled quickly once Tajinder was dismissed by Gaja.
Seven wickets between seamers Mohammed Mudhasir (4 for 34) and Ram Dayal (3 for 35) helped Jammu & Kashmir reduce Haryana to 119 for 7 in Lahli.
On a day when only 45 overs were possible before bad light stopped play, Haryana were put in and lost their top three within 11 overs, Mudhasir taking all of them out to leave the score at 23 for 3. Then they slumped to 88 for 7 until an unbroken 31-run stand between captain Amit Mishra and Harshal Patel helped them see off the day without any further casualty.
Left-arm spinner Dharmendrasinh Jadeja's 6 for 112, his eighth first-class five-for, was instrumental in Saurashtra bowling Kerala out for 225 in Thiruvananthapuram after the latter opted to bat first. Sanju Samson (68) was the only Kerala batsman to pass fifty before he was removed by left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat, who finished with two wickets.
Kerala lost openers Mohammed Azharuddeen and Jalaj Saxena early on before Samson and Rohan Prem carried out the repair job with an 82-run stand. But Jadeja had Prem lbw and Samson followed 10 overs later. Their dismissals triggered a collapse as Kerala lost their last seven wickets for 77 runs. Offspinner Vandit Jivrajani finished with two wickets as well. In reply, Saurashtra's openers Snell Patel and Robin Uthappa began solidly to finish the day on 37 for 0.