Delhi changes roles from the hunter to the hunted

December 09, 2016 11:18 pm | Updated 11:18 pm IST - VADODARA:

Delhi moved from the hunter to the hunted against Saurashtra in the space of three days in the Ranji Trophy Group B league. The bowlers were mauled in the morning by Jaydev Unadkat and its reputed batsmen could not deliver later in the day.

Needing 276 for victory, the former Ranji champion recovered to reach 109 for four at stumps on day three.

Shikhar Dhawan, Gautam Gambhir, Unmukt Chand and Nitish Rana were back in the dressing room, leaving the in-form Rishab Pant and the dependable Milind Kumar plotting the chase.

Dhawan fell cheaply for the second time and his captain followed suit, leg-before to Shaurya Sanandia for the second time in three days.

Saurashtra made up for its first innings batting nightmare with a robust 420 in the second essay with Kishan Parmar coming up with a personal best of 149 in just his second First Class game to wipe out the first innings deficit of 145. Parmar and Arpit Vasavda (resuming on 25) kept faith in risk-free batting to counter the fast bowlers.

Delhi was hurt for the second time on the third day. It was the turn of its fast bowlers to feel the weight of Unadkat’s bat when the left-hander smashed seven sixes and five fours in a rapid-fire 80 off 81 balls.

The Saurashtra number nine kept ducking when peppered with bouncers and in between he came up with the big shots to neutralise the hostile intentions of the frustrated bowlers.

Unadkat plundered 14 runs in a Manan Sharma over, leaving Delhi feeling the heat as the lead crossed 150.

Two blows from short-pitched balls fired up Unadkat to throw his bat around and the Delhi bowling turned aggressive as the target crossed 200.

Unadkat smashed three sixes off Navdeep, puncturing the bowler’s mood and Delhi’s morale. Gambhir tried different bowling options, before Sangwan removed Unadkat.

Vasavda was unlucky to fall 11 runs short of century, and was the steadying hand in the partnerships with Parmar and Unadkat.

The scores:

Saurashtra — 1st innings: 92.

Delhi — 1st innings: 237.

Saurashtra — 2nd innings: Kishan Parmar b Saini 149, Snell Patel c Milind b Saini 4, Divyaraj Chauhan c Pant b Saini 0, Sheldon Jackson b Rana 40, Jaydev Shah c Gambhir b Rana 1, Prerak Mankad run out 6, Arpit Vasavda c Milind b Manan 89, Kamlesh Makwana c Dhawan b Narwal 4, Jaydev Unadkat lbw b Sangwan 80, Shaurya Sanandia (not out) 3, Koushang Patel lbw b Narang 17; Extras (b-5, lb-8, nb-5, w-9): 27; Total (in 127.4 overs): 420.

Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-15, 3-109, 4-119, 5-130, 6-255, 7-261, 8-396, 9-400.

Delhi bowling: Sumit Narwal 30-10-73-1, Navdeep Saini 29-4-122-3, Pradeep Sangwan 27-3-68-1, Pulkit Narang 11.4-3-32-1, Manan Sharma 17-1-66-1, Nitish Rana 10-3-33-2, Milind Kumar 3-0-13-0.

Delhi — 2nd innings: Shikhar Dhawan c Snell b Koushang 16, Gautam Gambhir lbw b Sanandia 34, Unmukt Chand c Makwana b Sanandia 11, Nitish Rana c Snell b Sanandia 10, Rishab Pant (batting) 19, Milind Kumar (batting) 8; Extras (b-1, lb-8, nb-1, w-1): 11; Total (for four wkts. in 30 overs): 109.

Fall of wickets: 1-36, 2-59, 3-78, 4-79.

Saurashtra bowling: Koushang Patel 10-2-45-1, Shaurya Sanandia 11-2-39-3, Jaydev Unadkat 7-1-13-0, Prerak Mankad 2-1-3-0.

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