Rajasthan, Pondicherry play out draw in their Ranji Trophy opener

JAIPUR: The match which apparently could go either way, resulted in a draw. If from Rajasthan no batsman accelerated the innings, from Pondicherry the bowlers were late to trigger a collapse on the final day of their Ranji Trophy 2024-25 opener at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Monday.
The hosts, with a first innings lead of 43 runs, finished with three points while the visitors had to contend with a single point.
Chasing a tricky 239 on the last day, Rajasthan opener Abhijeet Tomar (87 off 149 balls) and wicketkeeper batsman Kunal Singh Rathore (59 off 126 balls), who was promoted to the third spot, slowly but steadily took the team closer to the target. But that was not enough to win the game and the match ended when Rajasthan were 19 runs short of the target.
Resuming at the overnight score of 207/6, Pondicherry finished at 281 all out with a major chunk of runs coming from Aman Khan’s (55 from 116 balls) bat.
Rajasthan’s left-hand batsman Mahipal Lomror who looked off-colour with the bat, was effective with the ball and played his part in folding Pondicherry’s second innings. He recorded figures of 4.5-0-15-3.
Coming out to bat for the second time, Rajasthan's Tomar and Rathore collaced 138 runs in 236 balls before Rathore stepped out and missed the ball completely and was stumped off left-arm spinner Sagar Udeshi.
At that point of the match, Rajasthan were 178/2 in 50.3 overs, requiring 61 more but Pondicherry had triggered a collapse. In the subsequent over, off-spinner Fabid Ahmed with his double strike, cleaning up a well-settled Tomar and Mahipal Lomror (3 off 4 balls), pushed the hosts on the back foot.
Nervousness was palpable on both sides. But after Rajasthan skipper Deepak Hooda (17 off 21 balls) was run-out, surviving the remaining overs of the day became a task. By the 60th over, the hosts were 220/7 and the match ended because of bad light.
Effectiveness of spinners made Pondicherry sense victory, but given the situation, they were left to rue the poor visibility that stopped the game.
Tomar, Rathore played well: Pondicherry captain Arun Kartik applauded Tomar and Rathore’s effort, but also rued the lost opportunity of winning the match. “When we came out to bat, we thought 220-230 was a winning total. But the way Rajasthan opener and No. 3 batter batted, they did a tremendous job. On the last day it’s never easy. When that second wicket fell, the next five wickets fell in no time. They both played a great game.”
He then added, “I wanted to bowl the spinners but the light was not conducive and the match had to end.”