Raj beats Himachal by nine wickets; records first win of season

Dharamsala, Dec 27 (UNI) A superb century by V Saxena (101) helped Rajasthan easily overhaul the target of 185 runs in their second innings as they defeated Himachal by nine wickets on the penultimate day of their four-day Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match here today.

Rajasthan, who recorded their first win of the season today, are now seventh in the points table with nine points from their seven matches. They are placed just above Himachal, who are at the bottom with just five points.

Earlier, a rampaging S Mathur tore through the Himachal batting line-up as the hosts were bowled out for a mere 122 runs in their second innings.

Resuming their second innings on the overnight score of 19 for no loss, Himachal lost wickets at regular intervals as their batsmen failed to negotiate the Rajasthan bowling.

It was a disappointing batting display by the hosts with as many as seven of their batsmen failing to reach double figures.

Opener Sandeep Sharma was the highest run-getter among the Himachal batsmen. His knock of 43 was studded with eight hits to the fence.

Rajasthan, needing 185 to win, easily achieved the target as Saxena and R Bishnoi (63, 101 balls, 9x4, 1x6) put up 162 for the first wicket after S Vijay (14, 20 balls, 3x4) was dismissed with just 23 runs on the board.

Scoreboard : Himachal Pradesh (1st innings) : 280 all out Rajasthan (1st innings) : 218 all out Himachal Pradesh (2nd innings) M Gupta b Mathur 29 Sandeep Sharma c Jhalani b S Gehlot 43 Mukesh Sharma lbw b Mathur 0 P Dogra b Mathur 0 M Bisla c Jhalani b S Gehlot 4 H Dogra lbw b Aslam 5 A Mannu c Jhalani b Mathur 26 Sarandeep Singh c&b Mathur 3 V Bhatia c Jhalani b Mathur 9 A Thakur not out 1 V Malik b Mathur 0 Extras (nb 2) 2 Total (in 47 overs) 122 all out Fall of wickets : 1/56, 2/64, 3/64, 4/77, 5/82, 6/84, 7/87, 8/109, 9/122, 10/122 Bowling : S Mathur 19-6-49-7, S Gehlot 13-3-44-2, M Aslam 15-7-29-1 Rajasthan (2nd innings) (target: 185 runs) V Saxena not out 101 S Vijay lbw b Thakur 14 R Bishnoi not out 63 Extras (lb 1, nb 6) 7 Total (in 41.5 overs) 185 for 1 Fall of wickets : 1/23 Bowling : A Thakur 14-3-51-1, V Malik 10-2-38-0, V Bhatia 8-0-54-0, Sarandeep Singh 8-0-28-0, Mukesh Sharma 1-0-1-0, Sandeep Sharma 0.5-0-12-0 UNI