Vineet Saxena holds the fort for Rajasthan

Holding the fort at one end, Rajasthan opener Vineet Saxena with an unbeaten century helped his team to end the first day at 287 for 7 against Vidarbha in their Central Zone Ranji Trophy match at the Vidarbha Cricket Association ground in Nagpur on Thursday.

Opting to bat, Rajasthan started on the wrong foot losing Nikhil Doru (1) off the first ball of the 8th over of the day. Doru was caught by Khare off Atram. Then AS Jain (37) joined Saxena and took the score to 63. Jain could not hang around for long and fell for a catch to RS Jadhav off Atram. RJ Kanwat (32) also did not last long and with the total reading 75, he fell to Piprode.

The Rajasthan skipper Gagan Khoda (32) then forged a 61 run fourth wicket stand with Saxena. In the meantime, Saxena reached his half century in a sedate manner off 153 balls. Khoda then departed after offering a return catch to Khare. PK Krishnakumar (36) then joined Saxena and helped the score along to 201 before he was runout in the 63rd over. Saxena with the help of Sanjeev Sharma put on 47 runs for the seventh wicket. Saxena then reached a well deserved century after a 371 minute stay at the crease.

Rajasthan went into stumps with Saxena unbeaten on 103 along with RB Jhalani (14) giving him ample company late in the day.