Former India player Sanjeev Sharma's deadly seam bowling sent Bengal crashing to 118 all out against Rajasthan in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group B cricket match in Jaipur on Saturday.
Sharma scalped six for 18 as Rajasthan took a commanding first innings lead of 135 on the second day at the Manasarovar Stadium.
At close, the hosts were 32 for the loss of Gagan Khoda (16) in their second essay, with Vineet Saxena on nine and Rohit Jhalani on four at the crease.
Earlier, resuming their first innings at 205 for six, Rajasthan managed to cross the 250 mark with the help of an unbeaten 40 by Anshu Jain.
S S Paul was the most successful bowler for Bengal, returning with six for 68.
Sharma cut through the Bengal batting line-up with only Sanjee Sanyal (31) and Saurashish Lahiri (22) offering a semblance of resistance.
Amitava Chakravarthy (24) and Deep Dasgupta (4) put on 30 runs for the opening wicket, but things went haywire after their partnership was broken.
Sharma was well supported by another medium pacer Sumit Mathur who took three for 47 while debutant Shamsher Singh chipped in with one wicket.
Scoreboard:
Rajasthan 1st innings:
V Saxena c Das b Paul 0
G Khoda LBW b Paul 86
R Jhalani c Das b Shukla 9
N Doru LBW b Lahiri 46
P Krishnakumar c Sanyal b Paul 4
A Jain not out 40
R Kanwat c Bose b Paul 8
S Sharma c Das Paul 22
Shamsher Singh run out 3
S Mathur c Das b Paul 0
Md Aslam c Lahiri b Sanyal 18
Extras: (b-3, lb-7, nb-7) 17
Total: (all out in 103.5 overs) 253
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-30, 3-142, 4-154, 5-161, 6-169, 7-216, 8-228, 9-228.
Bowling: S S Paul 32-7-68-6, Ranadeb Bose 19-5-45-0, Lakshmi Ratan Shukla 13.5-3-39-1, Utpal Chatterjee 17-6-36-0, Saurashish Lahiri 17-2-36-1, Rohan Gavaskar 4.1-0-11-0, Sanjeeb Sanyal 0.5-0-8-1.
Bengal 1st innings:
A Chakravarthy c Saxena b Singh 24
D Dasgupta c Jhalani b Sharma 4
D Gandhi c Shamsher b Mathur 2
R Gavaskar c Jhalani b Mathur 10
S Das c Jhalani b Sharma 3
S Sanyal b Sharma 31
L R Shukla c Doru b Mathur 1
U Chatterjee b Sharma 7
S Lahiri LBW b Sharma 22
R Bose c Khoda b Sharma 0
S S Paul not out 7
Extras: (b-2, lb-3, nb-2) 7
Total: (all out in 53.5 overs) 118
Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-30, 3-36, 4-45, 5-45, 6-46, 7-61, 8-103, 9-103.
Bowling: Sumit Mathur 13-3-47-3, P Krishnakumar 6-0-21-0, Shamsher Singh 7-0-18-1, Sanjeev Sharma 16.5-6-18-6, Md Aslam 3-2-1-0, Rahul Kanwat 8-3-8-0.
Rajasthan 2nd innings:
V Saxena batting 9
G Khoda c Das b Sanyal 16
R Jhalani batting 4
Extras: (lb-2, nb-1) 3
Total: (for 1 wicket in 15.2 overs) 32
Fall of wicket: 1-28.
Bowling: SS Paul 7-3-15-0, Ranadeb Bose 4-1-5-0, Sanjeeb Sanyal 4-1-10-1, Sarashish Lahiri 0.2-0-0-0.
