Menaria, Bhatia hit fifties as Rajasthan reach 258/5 on day 1

Ashok Menaria (84) and Rajat Bhatia (59) hit half-century each as Rajasthan reached 258 for five against Maharashtra on the first day of their Ranji Trophy Group A cricket match here today.
Menaria and Bhatia put on 86 runs together for the fourth wicket to take the home team past 200-run mark.
Menaria's knock came off 125 balls and was studded with 12 hits to the fence, while Bhatia took 132 deliveries for his innings that included four boundaries and a six.
Put in to bat, Rajasthan opener S T Suwalka (32) gave the team a good start and one-down batsman Vaibhav Deshpande (37) also chipped in with crucial runs.

At stumps, Puneet Yadav was unbeaten on 18.
For Maharashtra, Samad Fallah claimed two for 58, while Shrikant Mundhe and Chirag Khurana took wicket apiece.
Brief scores:
Rajasthan 1st innings: 258 for five in 88.3 overs (Ashok Menaria 84, Rajat Bhatia 59; Samad Fallah 2/58) vs Maharashtra.