Ranji Trophy: Debutant Deepesh’s short-ball burst restricts Rajasthan to 363

Debutant pacer Deepesh produced a short-ball burst that helped Tamil Nadu bowl out Rajasthan for 363 in the Elite Group-D Ranji Trophy match at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Monday. The hosts were dismissed in the first session on the second day.

The 18-year-old went wicketless for 18.5 overs before taking three wickets in his next eight deliveries, finishing with figures of three for 89. His strike helped precipitate a collapse from 347 for five to 354 for nine in 29 balls, and Rajasthan’s innings closed at 363 in 115.3 overs with nine extras (b-2, lb-2, w-5).

Mahipal Lomror top-scored with 66 off 105 balls (11x4); after pulling Deepesh for four to deep square leg he was caught by substitute Ajith Ram at deep backward square leg for that score. Kukna Ajay Singh (1) hooked a short ball to Nidhish Rajagopal at fine leg and Manav Suthar (17) edged to the keeper as Deepesh completed his maiden first-class wicket and was congratulated by teammates.

Rajasthan’s other major contributions came from Karan Lamba (113), Rohan Rajbhar (95) and Sumit Godara (49); Kartik Sharma 1, Chetan Sharma 0, Akash Singh (not out) 11 and Hemant Kumar 0 completed the card. Extras numbered 9 and the fall of wickets read: 1-1, 2-105, 3-230, 4-231, 5-303, 6-347, 7-349, 8-350, 9-354, 10-363.

Tamil Nadu’s bowling support came from Saravana Kumar, who finished with 26-7-68-3, Washington with 23-6-58-2, Sonu Yadav 22-4-52-1, Sai Kishore 12.3-0-57-1 and Nidhish 9-2-35-0, alongside Deepesh’s 23-4-89-3.

In reply, Tamil Nadu lost Sai Sudharsan for 3 after he played on to debutant Chetan Sharma, but N. Jagadeesan (55, 99b, 5x4, 1x6) and Pradosh Ranjan Paul (58, 101b, 5x4) added 104 for the second wicket. Jagadeesan attacked left-arm spinner Manav Suthar while Pradosh struck a straight drive off Hemant Kumar; Pradosh reached his fifty off 70 balls and Jagadeesan off 93. Jagadeesan then holed out to long-off to Ajay Singh and Pradosh was bowled, and debutant Rohan Rajbhar took B. Indrajith’s wicket (26) with off-spin in the final over of the day.

Tamil Nadu closed the day at 167 for four in 50 overs (extras b-1, lb-2, nb-1: 4), with Andre Siddarth 21 and Sonu Yadav 0 at the crease and the fall of wickets 1-11, 2-115, 3-121, 4-167. The match will resume with Tamil Nadu continuing their first innings.