The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Gujarat has Delhi in a spot of bother

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Gujarat has Delhi in a spot of bother

Special Correspondent

VALSAD: Gujarat, a promoted side and is trying to carve an identity among the elite in the Ranji Trophy. When it came to grabbing opportunities and wearing down the opponent in the four-day format, the Plate champion proved it was right up there with the others.

Delhi wore the struggler tag for the second day in a row in the Group ‘A’ fourth round action, still 151 runs behind Gujarat’s first innings score of 350.

Aakash Chopra, Shikhar Dhawan, Mithun Manhas and Puneet Bisht have gone and the home team’s first innings total now appears a blip on the horizon for the visitor.

Gaurav Chhabra (63, 128b, 11x4), on Ranji debut, waged a lone battle like a seasoned campaigner. His footwork was confident against the spinners and he was quick to pick up the line against swing. The Gujarat bowlers now have a grip on the game.

Early blow

Delhi suffered an early blow when Dhawan was caught behind in the third over. Captain Chopra then joined opener Bisht and both negotiated the Gujarat fast bowlers patiently, prompting off-spinner Parmar’s entry into the attack.

However, a brilliant catch by Bhavik Thakker ended Bisht’s adventurous stint. Chopra hung his bat out to left-arm paceman Makda and the ball flew to Parthiv’s gloves.

Manhas perished to slip catch by Sunny Patel, exposing the Delhi middle-order where Chhabra and Mayank Tehlan added 43 runs for the fifth wicket.

Parthiv applied pressure by setting an attacking field for Parmar and the ploy worked as Tehlan nicked one which Panchal scooped up at silly point; the umpire consulted his colleague before upholding the appeal.

Earlier, Thakker lashed his third six before becoming the last Gujarat player to be dismissed. His knock of 151 — he added 30 to his overnight score — contained 13 fours and three sixes.

The scores:

Gujarat — 1st innings: P. Panchal lbw b Awana 13, N. Modi c Bisht b Narwal 1, N. Patel c Bisht b Narwal 4, P. Patel c Dhawan b Sangwan 55, B. Thakker c Manhas b Sangwan 151, S. Patel c Manhas b Nagar 28, T. Patel lbw b Nanda 15, M. Parmar c Bisht b Sangwan 29, A. Makda c Chopra b Awana 20, S. Trivedi c Tehlan b Awana 2, I. Choudhary (not out) 1; Extras (b-14, lb-5, w-1, nb-11): 31; Total (in 101.1 overs): 350.

Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-14, 3-28, 4-120, 5-183, 6-219, 7-280, 8-315, 9-321.

Delhi bowling: Sangwan 20.1-0-72-3, Narwal 22-5-53-2, Awana 20-3-71-3, Nagar 11-0-51-1, Nanda 25-2-78-1, Manhas 3-0-6-0.

Delhi — 1st innings: P. Bisht c Thakker b Parmar 28, S. Dhawan c Parthiv b Trivedi 0, A. Chopra c Parthiv b Makda 19, M. Manhas c Sunny b Choudhary 11, G. Chhabra lbw b Makda 63, M. Tehlan c Panchal b Parmar 17, Y. Nagar (batting) 40, S. Narwal (batting) 16. Extras (b-4, lb-1): 5; Total (for six wkts. in 76 overs): 199.

Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-38, 3-59, 4-63, 5-106, 6-162

Gujarat bowling: Trivedi 15-7-29-1, Makda 16-7-28-2, Choudhary 12-4-44-1, Parmar 23-7-64-2, T. Patel 10-2-29-0.

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