Ranji Trophy: Jharkhand dismissed for paltry 188

KOLKATA: Out to end the season on a high note in Saurabh Tiwary's last match as a professional cricketer, Jharkhand were on the backfoot on Day 1 of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match against Rajasthan in Jamshedpur on Friday.
Electing to bat first at Keenan Stadium in their last game of the season, the hosts were bowled out for 188 before Rajasthan put up 79 for two in 29 overs at stumps.Sumit Godara (37 batting) and Salman Khan (20 batting) were at the crease. Trailing Jharkhand's first innings score by 109 runs with eight wickets in hand, the visitors are well on course to take the crucial first-innings lead early on Day 2.
Earlier, coming on to bat Jharkhand lost wickets at regular intervals to go down in 58.3 overs early in the last session of the day as none of the batters could convert their starts. Utkarsh Singh was the top scorer with a painstaking 111-ball knock of 43 runs with just four boundaries in it.
Former Jharkhand skipper Tiwary, given the honour to lead the side in his swansong match, was close second with a characteristic innings of 63-ball 42 runs with three fours and one six. The duo joined hands after the fall of fourth wicket for only 34 runs on board in 13.2 overs and took Jharkhand to 100 for four in 33 overs at lunch.
However, Tiwary was caught by Ramnivas Golada off right-arm medium pacer Zubair Ali's bowling in the third over post lunch to trigger a middle-order collapse which saw Utkarsh and allrounder Anukul Roy also returning to pavilion in quick succession and the home side was down to 119 for seven in 43rd over. Tiwary-Utkarsh's fifth-wicket stand fetched 72 runs.
Kumar Kushagra (37 off 50 balls), the young wicketkeeper-batter bought by Delhi Capitals in last IPL auction, and veteran Shahbaz Nadeem (26 off 56 balls) then stitched together 60 runs for the eighth wicket. But they fell short of taking Jharkhand to 200 as Mahipal Lomror's late spark finished the tail in no time. The left-arm spinning allrounder took three for eight runs in 2.3 overs and returned Nadeem and Saurabh Sekhar in the last two balls of the innings.
Aaron to quit red-ball cricket: Jharkhand star and former India pacer Varun Aaron has decided to quit playing red-ball cricket. According to reports, the ongoing Ranji Trophy match in Jamshedpur will be his last first-class game as a professional.
"I have been playing red-ball cricket since 2008. Since I bowled fast, I picked up a number of injuries. I understand now that my body won't allow me to continue bowling fast in red-ball cricket, so I have decided to quit," Varun was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. "This might be my last game in front of my family and the people of Jamshedpur, because we don't often play white-ball games here (Keenan Stadium). I started my career here, so this is quite emotional for me," he added.
Brief scores: Jharkhand 188 in 58.3 overs (Utkarsh Singh 43, S Tiwary 42; K Ahmed 3/40, M Lomror 3/8). Rajasthan 79 for 2 in 29 overs (S Godara batting 37; V Aaron 1/20). Match to continue