A determined rearguard action by skipper-cum-coach Ajay Jadeja kept Rajasthan's hopes of avoiding an innings defeat alive on the third day of their four-day Ranji Trophy Group B Elite Division match against Mumbai on Thursday.
At stumps, Jadeja was unbeaten on 49 in Rajasthan's second innings total of 259 for 7, with Mohd Aslam (4) for company, after the visitors conceded a big lead of 328 to the hosts in the first innings.
Rajasthan were 69 runs short of making the 36-time champions, who scored 483 in their first innings, bat for the second time in the match.
Their hopes of avoiding a humiliating loss rest mainly on the former India star, who batted fluently after coming to the crease at the fall of the fifth wicket at 178.
Rajasthan started their second innings, after claiming the remaining two Mumbai first innings wickets within half an hour in the morning, shakily, first innings hero Vikram Solanki falling for a duck with 9 on the board.
But the Mumbai fielders grassed two straight-forward chances off the other opener, Gagan Khoda (65), and one-down batsman Rahul Kanwat (60) soon after the dismissal of Solanki.
The twin reprieves, both off Ajit Agarkar, allowed the visitors to recover to 120 before the home team fought back and looked well-poised to surge to an innings victory only for their celebrations to be put on hold by Jadeja.
Earlier, Mumbai added 19 runs after resuming at 464 for eight. Vinayak Samant fell at his overnight score of 41 and Nilesh Kulkarni was dismissed for 19, both to Sumit Mathur, who claimed 3 for 53. Aslam ended up with 5 for 132.
Scorecard
Rajasthan (1st innings): 155
Mumbai (1st innings): (overnight 464-8):
S Kukreja lbw Mathur 30
V Mane c Pankaj Singh b Afroz Khan 20
Hiken Shah c Mathur b Aslam 26
A Muzumdar c Jadeja b Aslam 117
R Sharma c Kohda b Aslam 72
A Nair c Khoda b Afroz Khan 86
A Agarkar lbw Aslam 20
R Powar c Solanki b Aslam 28
V Samant c Jhalani b Mathur 41
N Kulkarni b Mathur 19
S Hazare not out 5
Extras: (b 1, lb 14, nb 4) 19
Total: (all out, in 137.2 overs) 483
Fall of wickets: 1-45, 2-61, 3-93, 4-327, 5-354, 6-354, 7-390, 8-431, 9-464
Bowling: Pankaj Singh 23-5-59-0, Mathur 21.2-7-53-3, Aslam 39-7-132-5, Kanwat 27-3-110-0, Afroz 16-2-73-2, Jadeja 8-1-25-0, Gehlot 3-0-16-0.
Rajasthan (2nd innings):
V Solanki c Samant b Agarkar 0
G Khoda lbw Kulkarni 65
R Kanwat c Samant b Powar 60
N Doru c Kulkarni b Nair 26
N Gehlot c Muzumdar b Powar 23
Afroz Khan c Nair b Kulkarni 18
A Jadeja batting 49
R Jhalani c Samant b Kulkarni 9
M Aslam batting 4
Extras: (lb 2, w 1, nb 2) 5
Total: (for 7 wkts, 82 overs) 259
Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-120, 3-138, 4-174, 5-178, 6-222, 7-242
Bowling: Agarkar 15-1-68-1, Hazare 5-0-25-0, Nair 9-2-26-1, Powar 30-10-80-2, Kulkarni 23-8-58-3.