Ranji Trophy: Jharkhand batters fail to complement Aaron's 4-for vs Rajasthan

KOLKATA: Varun Aaron and Saurabh Shekhar put up a brilliant display of pace bowling for Jharkhand at the Keenan Stadium in Jamshedpur on Saturday, but could not stop Rajasthan from taking the crucial first-innings lead.
Aaron, playing his last red-ball game for the hosts after announcing his retirement ahead of the last match of the Ranji Trophy season, made his intent of going out with flying colours clear with his four-wicket haul.Along with Shekhar's 3 for 37 and Anukul Roy's 2 for 28, the former India bowler helped restrict Rajasthan to 210 in reply to the hosts' disastrous 188 in the first innings.
However, all the bowlers' efforts look set to be going in vain as the Jharkhand batters faced a collapse even in their second essay as they were reduced to 171 for the loss of five wickets when stumps were called on Day 2. They have managed a lead of 149 runs so far and will have Saurabh Tiwary - also on his swansong for Jharkhand and batting on three - and Aditya Singh, on 34, to resume proceedings on the third day.
Earlier, Salman Khan was in good touch for Rajasthan as he hit a half-century to end the first innings as the biggest contributor with the bat with his 129-ball 52. However, he fell victim to an Aaron delivery as he sent a catch to Nazim Siddiqui. While Sumit Godara, who fell to an Utkarsh Singh ball towards the end of Day 1, was the second highest scorer with his 44, Ramnivas Golada added an important 34 runs to the visitors' total as they surpassed Jharkhand's score by 22 runs.
On the other hand, Aaron kept troubling the visiting batters as he went on to claim the other crucial wickets of Zubair Ali and Manipal Lomror, and also that of No. 9 Kukna Ajay Singh, to finish with figures of 4 for 65.
Openers Nazim Siddiqui (33) and Aryaman Sen (38) began the hosts' second innings with confidence before the latter sent a catch to keeper Samarpit Joshi off an Aniket Choudhary delivery to commence the fall. With Jharkhand soon struggling on 83 for 3, Singh held fort on one end to take the hosts to keep the contest alive as it looks headed for a result.
For Rajasthan, Choudhary has been most successful in the second innings as he ended with figures for 2 for 28 as his bowling partners Manav Suthar, Ajay Singh and Lomror have claimed one wicket each.
The remaining Jharkhand batters will now need to play out of their skin to put up a competitive lead on the board for Rajasthan and script a winning end to their Ranji Trophy campaign this season.
Brief score: Jharkhand 188 & 171/5 (N Siddiquie 33, A Sen 38, A Singh 34 batting; Choudhary 2-28). Rajasthan 210 (S Godara 44, S Khan 52, R Golada 34; Aaron 4-65, Shekhar 3-37). Match to continue.