Rajasthan made a strong start in reply to Tamil Nadu's first innings total of 318 by reaching 89 without loss on the second day of their Group B Ranji Trophy cricket match, here today.
Rajasthan openers, Siddarth Saraf (43) and Vineet Saxena (41) were at the crease when stumps were drawn for the day.
Resuming at their overnight score of 231 for five, Tamil Nadu could do little as Rajasthan bowlers came on top.
With the strip helping spinners right from the beginning today, Aristh Singhvi and Ramesh Powar were in operation for most part of the innings today.
Singhvi was more effective and claimed three wickets including that of Ramaswamy Prasanna (73), who looked set for a century. Singhvi lured Prasanna, the batsman went for a big hit but landed an easy catch to Saxena at mid off region. Prasanna made 73 from 178 balls with 10 hits to the fence.
Pankaj Singh, who ruled the roost yesterday by claiming four valuable wickets, and Aniket Choudhary shared about 20 overs between them today.
Pankaj completed his five-wicket haul by dismissing overnight batsman Vijay Shankar, who scored 60 runs off 150 balls with eight boundaries and put on a 141-run stand with Prasanna for the sixth wicket.
Once, these two batsmen made their exit, only Malolan Rangarajan, wagged his willow to make 39 useful runs and was the last man out.
Captain Balajaoi, Rahil S Shah and Aushik Srinivas failed to cross double digits.
For Rajasthan, Pankaj Singh (5/54), Singhvi (3/83) and Ramesh Powar (2/95) were the wicket takers.
