It took a dramatic post-tea collapse by Tamil Nadu to help Delhi enforce the follow-on in their Ranji Trophy league match at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground here on Monday.
Resuming at 31 for one, Tamil Nadu suffered three setbacks in the opening session but recovered to 187 for four at tea with Dinesh Karthik and R. Prasanna looking good to build on their half centuries.
However, six wickets fell in the space of 39 runs spread over 20.3 overs as Tamil Nadu folded for 226.
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Parvinder Awana, who sent back the openers, struck twice with the second new ball to finish with four for 53. Pawan Suyal, who scalped B. Aparajith off the day’s first ball, picked up two more wickets.
Considering the flat nature of the pitch and Tamil Nadu’s batting might, it was tough to understand the lack of application of its top-order batsmen.
The dismissals of B. Aparajith, Arun Karthik and S. Badrinath in the first session virtually ensured the first innings lead to Delhi and the pressure never eased on the visiting team.
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Karthik and Prasanna, who went on to complete their half centuries, managed to keep Delhi wicketless for 161 minutes.
When the final session commenced, Prasanna fell to Rajat Bhatia, with Mohit Sharma completing the catch at second slip.
Before long, Karthik departed in his attempt to hit left-arm spinner Vikas Mishra for a straight six.
A beaten Karthik could not recover his ground before the ball rebounded off wicketkeeper Punit Bisht’s shoulder and dislodged one of the bails.
Once the new ball was taken after 80 overs, the last four wickets fell for just 18 runs off 7.4 overs.
The scores: Delhi — 1st innings: 555 for four decl.
Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: Abhinav Mukund c Dhawan b Awana 0, Arun Karthik lbw b Awana 8, B. Aparajith c Dhawan b Suyal 25, S. Badrinath c Bisht b Narwal 19, Dinesh Karthik st. Bisht b Mishra 75, R. Prasanna c Mohit b Bhatia 58, Yomahesh c Bisht b Suyal 23, M. Rangarajan lbw b Awana 4, L. Balaji b Awana 4, J. Kaushik (not out) 0, A. Srinivas c Bisht b Suyal 4, Extras (lb-6) 6; Total (in 87.4 overs) 226.
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-31, 3-45, 4-79, 5-187, 6-198, 7-208, 8-220, 9-222.
Delhi bowling: Parvinder Awana 19.5-5-53-4, Pavan Suyal 21.4-6-76-3, Mishra 14-4-39-1, Mithun Manhas 2-0-4-0, Sumit Narwal 17-7-35-1, Rajat Bhatia 14-6-13-1.
Tamil Nadu — 2nd innings: Arun Karthik (batting) 0, Abhinav Mukund (batting) 2, Total (for no loss in two overs) 2.
Delhi bowling: Awana 1-1-0-0, Mishra 1-0-2-0.