The one wicket that could have made the difference to Delhi's campaign eluded the home team at the Ferozeshah Kotla here on Saturday.
Credit to Rohit Dahiya the bowler who shone with the bat. He ensured Gujarat went home with a draw that kept the team on the top of its group with nine points from three matches, including one from here, in the Ranji Trophy superleague. Delhi has seven.
Dahiya batted 109 balls and left Delhi frustrated. Nine men surrounded him as Delhi tried to stifle the Gujarat tailenders but Dahiya, Siddharth Trivedi and Jayesh Makla batted with distinction to secure a hard-earned draw with six mandatory overs left as bad light ended play.
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Delhi had a first-innings lead of 366 runs and Gujarat ended the contest at 289 for nine. Delhi left-arm spinner Vikas Mishra finished with four wickets and bowled his heart out but Gujarat had a sound foundation in night-watchman Salil Yadav defying the attack in a 45-ball essay that really set the tone.
Parthiv Patel and Bhavin Thakkar offered resistance in the afternoon after Priyank Panchal, 60 overnight, was fifth out for a brilliant 134 off 265 balls with 20 fours, to leave Delhi a disappointed lot.
Delhi assistant coach Sanjeev Sharma, however, observed, “It is not a bad result. We are satisfied because the boys tried their best in the post lunch session and were denied by bad light. Credit to Dahiya for the way he applied himself.”
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Delhi now travels to Saurashtra for the match starting on November 24 while Gujarat takes on Bengal.
The scores: Gujarat — 1{+s}{+t} innings: 71.
Delhi — 1st innings: 437.
Gujarat — 2nd innings: Jay Desai b Mishra 49, Priyank Panchal lbw b Mishra 134, Niraj Patel c Sangwan b Manhas 0, Salil Yadav lbw b Mishra 5, Parthiv Patel lbw b Suyal 26, Bhavin Thakkar lbw b Narwal 17, Prathmesh Parmar 0, Rohit Dahiya (not out) 2, Siddharth Trivedi c Sangwan b Suyal 18, Jayesh Makla c A. Jain b Mishra 4; Extras (b-15, lb-2, nb-16, w-1): 34, Total (for nine wkts in 129 overs): 289.
Fall of wickets: 1-96, 2-113, 3-154, 4-217, 5-244, 6-246, 7-260, 8-285, 9-289.
Delhi bowling: Sumit Narwal 22-8-50-1, Pawan Suyal 23-9-69-2, Vikas Mishra 37-18-51-4, Pradeep Sangwan 22-3-57-1, Yogesh Nagar 2-0-9-0, Mithun Manhas 15-5-26-1, Virat Kohli 6-5-5-0, Aditya Jain 2-1-5-0.