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.

Day 1 Report