Day 1: Rajasthan all set to make a big total

A Kapoor hits his maiden Ranji century

On a placid batting wicket Rajasthan did everything right and due to some fine knocks by their batsmen, especially captain A Kapoor (106*), are in sight of a big total. At the close of play Rajasthan were 3 for 316 off 90 overs.

Rajasthan won the toss and elected to bat first. They made four changes to the team that played in last match against Bengal. Gagan Khoda, Anup Dave, Bhatnagar and Kaushal Devra came in place of Anshu Jain, Vinit Saxena (both playing against Srilanka U-19 at Mumbai) Mohammad Aslam and Ajay Mehra.

Khoda and Manish opened the innings and added 88 runs for the first wicket in just 93 minutes before Gagan was brilliantly taken by Sivaramakrishnan off his own bowling. Then Rahul Kanwat returned back in pavilion after scoring quickfine 33 runs. The last man to be dismissed for Rajsathan was makeshift opener Manish Singh who scored a fine 73, his second fifty in three matches.

The man who stole the limelight was however Aashish Kapoor, who scored his second first-class hundred (first in Ranji Trophy). He had earlier he scored 181 for North Zone v East Zone in the Duleep Trophy 1994-95 at Calcutta. At close of play A Kapoor and P Krishnakumar had added an unbroken partnership of 121 runs for the fourth wicket.

Day 2: Rajasthan set to wrest first innings lead

Ten wickets fell today, as all the batsmen seemed to be in a hurry. First it was the Rajasthan batsman who lost their grip on the match in the first session. The Rajasthan innings folded at 374. The added 58 runs today, for the loss of the remaining seven wickets. In reply Baroda were reduced to 73/3 off 49.3 overs at close of play.

Rajasthan debutant left arm spinner Anup Dave struck the vital blow as he bowled H Jadhav in his very first over of his Ranji Trophy career. The dismissal of Jacob Martin out in the last over of the day, left Baroda in a parlous position . Earlier Martin was dropped twice. On 15 he was dropped by A Dave off A Kapoor and then on 23 he was dropped by M Singh off DP Singh. Finally he was taken at short covers by A Kapoor off DP Singh.

Day 4: Match ends in a draw

As expected, the Baroda batsmen came back to form at right time and saved their match against Rajasthan. Rajasthan get 5 points for their 176-run first innings lead. This takes their total tally to 11 in 3 matches, while Baroda have 6 points from 2 matches.

Resuming at 85 for no loss both openers C Williams and Swaroop added 147 runs for the first wicket. Williams made 73 while Swaroop scored 71. However Jacob Martin stole the limelight as he scored his fifth century of the Ranji season. He now has 911 runs in 9 innings (3 not outs). In the previous Super League encounter with Bengal, he scored a mammoth 242.

After 8 mandatory both captains decided to call the match off. Rajasthan's debutant Anup Dave took five wickets in the Baroda first innings. Rajasthan now meets Hyderabad in Hyderabad, starting 4 March.