The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Manhas and Bhatia keep Delhi in the hunt

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Manhas and Bhatia keep Delhi in the hunt

Special Correspondent

— Photo: S. Subramanium

CRACKING SHOT: Manhas was in good nick during his unbeaten knock.

NEW DELHI: Mithun Manhas and Rajat Bhatia kept Delhi in the hunt for the all-important first innings lead after Mumbai’s batting collapsed sensationally to the hard-working pair of seamers Sumit Narhwal and Parwinder Awana.

On an eventful second day of its Ranji Trophy Super League match at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground here on Monday, Delhi was 176 for four in reply to Mumbai’s 330. Mumbai had resumed the day at 279 for two.

Delhi bounced back by claiming eight Mumbai wickets for 35 runs. However, the loss of four wickets for 79 runs handed the initiative back to Mumbai before Manhas and Bhatia restored the balance by putting on 97 runs for the unfinished fifth-wicket.

Wise decision

Delhi’s decision to take the new ball in the third over of the morning proved wise. Narhwal and Awana came up with a disciplined effort, made the most of the moisture in the air and struck at regular intervals.

In fact, the last six Mumbai wickets fell for just 14 runs, with leg-spinner Chetnya Nanda picking up the last two in the space of three deliveries.

The Delhi dressing room could not rejoice for long. In the third over, opener Shikhar Dhawan had his off-stump uprooted when he offered no shot to an in-swinger from Ajit Agarkar. After lunch, Aakash Chopra fell to medium pacer Dhaval Kulkarni. Mayank Tehlan was trapped by Usman Malvi and Agarkar castled Aditya Jain to put Mumbai back in control. However, Manhas and Bhatia used their experience to deny Mumbai further success.

The scores: Mumbai — 1st innings: Sahil Kukreja c Bisht b Awana 10, Wasim Jaffer c Chopra b Narhwal 29, Ajinkya Rahane c Bisht b Narhwal 160, Amol Muzumdar lbw b Sangwan 83, Hiken Shah b Narhwal 21, Sairaj Bahutule c Bisht b Awana 3, Ramesh Powar b Narhwal 0, Ajit Agarkar c Chopra b Awana 5, Vinayak Samant lbw b Nanda 0, Usman Malvi lbw b Nanda 2, Dhaval Kulkarni (not out) 1; Extras: (b-6, lb-1, nb-5, w-4) 16; Total: (in 110.3 overs) 330.

Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-72, 3-295, 4-295, 5-316, 6-317, 7-323, 8-327, 9-329.

Delhi bowling: Pradeep Sangwan 21-4-75-1, Sumit Narhwal 25-11-43-4, Parvinder Awana 20-3-77-3, Rajat Bhatia 14-3-48-0, Chetnya Nanda 21.3-0-55-2, Aditya Jain 5-0-10-0, Mithun Manhas 4-0-15-0.

Delhi — 1st innings: Aakash Chopra c Samant b Kulkarni 16, Shikhar Dhawan b Agarkar 1, Mayank Tehlan lbw b Malvi 21, Mithun Manhas (batting) 72, Aditya Jain b Agarkar 8, Rajat Bhatia (batting) 45; Extras: (b-4, lb-5, nb-3, w-1) 13: Total (for four wickets in 51 overs) 176.

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-36, 3-56, 4-79.

Mumbai bowling: Agarkar 13-1-46-2, Kulkarni 15-4-49-1, Malvi 10-4-19-1, Bahutule 8-0-30-0, Powar 5-1-23-0.

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