Half centuries by Sagar Joshi (58) and captain Jaydev Shah (51 retired hurt), and a breezy 35 by Bensen Songankar, enabled Saurashtra score 250 for 6 and take control of the Ranji Trophy Plate group final against Rajasthan on day 2 at the Madhavrao Scindia grounds in Rajkot on Friday.
Saurashtra also benefited by a couple of dropped catches and sloppy fielding by the Rajasthan players.
Shah had to return to the pavilion retired hurt in the 74th over when a Pankaj Singh's delivery hit him on the neck. He was rushed to hospital for an MRI scan. However, he is likely to returna and bat on Saturday.
Before being hit, Shah played a swashbuckling innings of 51, laced with ten hits to the ropes, off just 58 balls.
Resuming at the overnight score of 36 for no loss, in reply to Rajasthan's first innings of 201 all out, Kanaiya Vaghela and Sagar Jogiyani put on 85 runs for the first wicket before the former was caught by wicketkeeper D Yagnik off medium pacer Sailendra Ghelot. He scored 34, inclusive of five fours.
Prashant Joshi, who joined Sagar Jogiyani, was out for a duck off medium pacer Afroz Khan.
Sagar Jogiyani scored 58, inclusive of nine fours, before falling to Afroz Khan. He got an outside edge and wicketkeeper Yagnik took the catch.
Medium Pacer Afroz Khan took three wickets for 46 runs, while Sailendra Ghelot, R Kanwat and Gagan Khoda accounted for one each.
At stumps, Bensen Songankar and Kamlesh Makwana were batting on 35 and 8 respectively.
Brief scores:
Rajasthan (lst innings): 201 all out
Saurashtra (lst innings): 250 for 6 (K Vaghela 34, S Jogiyani 58, Jaydev Shah retired hurt 51, N Rathod 31, A Khan 3 for 46).
