Riding on two big wickets from pacer Navdeep Saini, Delhi came closer to a win in the first game of Ranji Trophy. Assam were three down with a score of 60 at the end of the day and were trailing by a margin of 117 runs. The only way now for visitors to avoid defeat is by either playing the whole day tomorrow or at least batting till the tea session so as the game ends in a draw.
Earlier in the day, Delhi added a total of 166 runs to their overnight’s score. Gautam Gambhir could only add one run to his yesterday’s total and was bowled by Abu Nechim, who scalped seven wickets in the innings. Delhi batting though showed the real courage.
Debutant Anuj Rawat followed the footsteps of Rishab Pant and became the second consecutive batsman for Delhi to score a half-century on Ranji Trophy debut. His innings of 71 consisted of seven fours and one six. All-rounder Manan Sharma too showed his prowess with the bat and contributed 69 runs in Delhi’s total.
Delhi finished with a score of 435 runs, gaining a lead of 187 runs. For the second consecutive day, Assam fielders were on the field, toying for the major part of the day.
The home side holds an advantage in the game and would look to start the season with a win before they take on Railways in the next contest at Karnail Singh Stadium in New Delhi.
Group A –
Assam 258 and 60/3 vs Delhi 435 (Gautam Gambhir 137; Abu Nechim 7-68) at Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi
Railways 182 and 161 defeat Uttar Pradesh 250 and 72 21 runs at Ekana International Cricket Stadium in Uttar Pradesh
Maharashtra vs Hyderabad (Day three washed out due to rain)
Group B –
Saurashtra 278 defeat Haryana 107 and 140 an innings and 31 runs at Chaudhary Bansi Lal Stadium in Haryana
Jammu and Kashmir 432/6 (Ahmad Omar Banday 102, Parvez Rasool 97; Tanveer-ul-Haq 2-41) vs Rajasthan 330 at Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur
Kerala 259 and 34/1 beat Jharkhand 202 and 89 by nine wickets Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram
Group C –
Tamil Nadu 176 and 112/2 (Abhinav Mukund 54*; Yarra Prithviraj 1-25) trail by 21 runs vs Andhra Pradesh 309 MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai
Tripura 6/0 vs Odisha at Vikas Cricket Ground, Cuttack
Baroda 302 (Yusuf Pathan 111; Ishwar Pandey 2/44) and 41/1 vs Madhya Pradesh 551/8 at Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore
Group D –
Bengal 552/9. And 77/0 (Abhishek Raman 40*, Abhimanyu Easwaran 31*) lead Services 359 by 270 runs at Palam A stadium in New Delhi
Goa 223/4 (Sumiran Amonkar 79; Abhimanyu Chauhan 1-14) vs Chhattisgarh 458 at Goa Cricket Association Academy Ground in Porvorim
Punjab 484/6 (Abhishek Gupta 129*, Abhishek Sharma 81*; Gurvinder Singh 5/118) vs Himachal Pradesh 729/8 at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala