Rajasthan seamer Deepak Chahar was on a roll as he ripped apart the Himachal Pradesh batting order in the second innings on day two of the Ranji Trophy second round match on Saturday. (More Cricket News)
The 32-year-old India player bagged five wickets for 30 runs, as Himachal were shot out for 98 in reply to Rajasthan's first-innings total of 334.
Rajasthan resumed the day at the overnight score of 304/7, with Mahipal Lomror and Arafat Khan at the crease.
Lomror was just 11 runs away from his seventh First-Class hundred at the start of the day but was unlucky to be dismissed on 99 by pacer Rishi Dhawan with Rajasthan at 323 for 9.
Eventually, Rajasthan were bowled out for 334, with Khaleel Ahmed (0) being the last man to fall to spinner Mayank Dagar, who finished with figures of 5/85.
Himachal had an inauspicious start to their first innings, losing the top-four batters in single digits -- Shubham Arora (6), Prashant Chopra (4), Ankit Kalsi (6) and Ekant Sen (0) -- with the scoreboard reading 19/4.
At 51/7, skipper Dhawan managed to stitch a 40-run stand with Arpit Guleria (17) before the latter fell to Aniket Choudhary.
Dhawan and Co were eventually out for 98, with the captain remaining unbeaten on 40. Abhinandan Bhardwaj (10) was the only other player to score in double figures.
Himachal made a solid start after the follow-on with openers Arora and Chopra sewing a 103-run partnership.
Manav Suthar got the vital breakthrough for Rajasthan, getting rid of Arora for 59. Chopra fell to the same bowler 37 runs later, missing his half-century by a run.
The duo of Kalsi and Sen then managed to hold things together for the rest of the day and stayed unbeaten on 30 and 4 respectively at stumps.
The hosts finished the day at 147 for 2. They still trail Rajasthan by 89 runs.
Brief scores:
In Dharamsala - Rajasthan 1st innings: 334 (Mahipal Lomror 99; Mayank Dagar 5/85) lead Himachal Pradesh 1st innings: 98 (Rishi Dhawan 40 not out; Deepak Chahar 5/30) and 2nd innings: 147 for 2 (Shubham Arora 59; Manav Suthar 2/40) by 89 runs.
In Ahmedabad - Gujarat 1st innings: 367 (Chintan Gaja 92, Arzan Nagwaswalla 82 not out; Satyanarayana Raju 3/53) lead Andhra 1st innings: 137 for 5 (KS Bharat 78; Nagwaswalla 1/22) by 230 runs.
In Dehradun - Uttarakhand 1st innings: 325 (Avneesh Sudha 89, Aditya Tare 69; Tanay Thyagarajan 4/85) lead Hyderabad 1st innings: 244 for 5 (Kodimela Himateja 78, Rahul Radesh 82 batting; Devendra Singh Bora 2/51) by 81 runs.
In Puducherry - Vidarbha 1st innings: 283 (Yash Rathod 118, Harsh Dubey 76; Gaurav Yadav 4/65) lead Puducherry 1st innings: 45 for 1 (Akash Kargave 23 batting; Dubey 1/15) by 238 runs.
