Jaipur: Debutant Deepak Choudhary struck a fighting half-century to help Rajasthan reach a respectable total of 168 against Puducherry on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group D match at Siechem Stadium, Puducherry on Thursday.The 28-year-old came to bat when Rajasthan were tottering at 107 for 7 and smashed 64 off just 71 balls to salvage some pride. The No. 8 batter hammered nine boundaries and a couple of sixes during his knock.Deepak Hooda scored 36, while opener Ramnivas Golada contributed 31 but other top order batters including captain Mahipal Lomror (1) failed miserably.Off-spinner Karan Kannan (5/37) and left-arm spinner Sagar Udeshi (3/54) shared eight wickets as Rajasthan were dismissed in just 61.1 overs after opting to bat first.In reply, the hosts reached 77/2 in 28 overs. Medium-pacer Deepak Choudhary also provided a breakthrough by sending back Puducherry opener Ajay Rohera in his second over.Another debutant Mohit Changra, left-arm spinner, trapped R Jashwanth Shreeram in front of the wickets to open his wicket-taking account in the First-Class cricket.At stumps on Day 1, Neyan Kangayan (41) and Ragavan (20) were batting at the crease. The hosts are just 91 runs behind with eight wickets in hand.Brief ScoresRajasthan 168 in 61.1 overs (Deepak Choudhary 64, Deepak Hooda 36, Ramniwas Golada 31, Salman Khan 13; Karan Kannan 5-37, Sagar Udeshi 3-54) vs Puducherry 77/2 in 28 overs (Neyan Kangayan 41*, R Jashwanth Shreeram 15, Ragavan 20*; Deepak Choudhary 1-14, Mohit Changra 1-15).
