Dense fog forced a two-hour delay to the start of the final day's play, as the Delhi-Tamil Nadu Ranji Trophy Elite match ended in a tame draw at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground here on Sunday.
Delhi's second innings ended at 311, leaving Tamil Nadu with a target of 218 in 49 overs. The visiting team lost its openers by the 11th over without really forcing the pace.
Dinesh Karthik helped himself to a half-century and young B. Aparajith scored a career-best unbeaten 44 but Tamil Nadu never appeared in serious pursuit of an outright victory.
Eventually, soon after the fall of Dinesh Karthik, play was called off after 35 overs.
Three points for TN
By virtue of its first innings lead, Tamil Nadu gained three points while Delhi earned one. After three matches, Tamil Nadu's aggregate stands at eight while Delhi totters at four.
In the next round of matches, starting on November 29, Delhi hosts Baroda while Tamil Nadu enjoys a break.
The delayed start effectively ended any realistic hope of a sporting declaration from Delhi. Resuming at 233 for five, the host added 78 runs in 23.4 overs. Before L. Balaji claimed the last three wickets, Puneet Bisht reached a well-made 53, including a six and eight boundaries.
With opener Abhinav Mukund, needing a root-canal treatment after being hit on the jaw by a rising delivery in the first innings and wisely staying indoors, Tamil Nadu opened with M. Vijay and K.B. Arun Karthik. The cautious start, which produced a few maiden overs, was understandable since it denied Delhi an exciting result.
With Arun Karthik falling to a brilliant diving catch by Shikhar Dhawan for a 43-ball 17, and Vijay getting run out in the following over, Tamil Nadu went to tea at 46 for two in 14 overs.
On resumption, Dinesh Karthik hit a six and nine boundaries before Delhi skipper Mithun Manhas opted to have more fielders in the outfield. At the other end, Aparajith used the opportunity to get some runs and confidence. He had nine hits to the fence.
The scores:
Delhi — 1st innings: 212.
Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: 306.
Delhi — 2nd innings: Unmukt Chand c Vasudeva Das b Yomahesh 41, Shikhar Dhawan c Prasanna b Kaushik 17, Milind Kumar lbw b Balaji 58, Mithun Manhas c Dinesh Karthik b Yomahesh 0, Yogesh Nagar c Vasudeva Das b Aushik Srinivas 56, Pawan Negi c Dinesh Karthik b Kaushik 24, Puneet Bisht c Dinesh Karthik b Kaushik 53, Pradeep Sangwan (not out) 27, Ashish Nehra c Arun Karthik b Balaji 8, Vikas Mishra c Prasanna b Balaji 0, Parvinder Awana lbw b Balaji 4; Extras (b-3, lb-10, nb-7, w-3): 23; Total (in 95.4 overs): 311.
Fall of wickets: 1-68, 2-70, 3-70, 4-174, 5-193, 6-265, 7-274, 8-289, 9-293.
Tamil Nadu bowling: L. Balaji 22.4-8-65-4, J. Kaushik 22-6-60-3, Yomahesh 18-4-48-2, R. Aushik Srinivas 23-4-84-1, B. Aparajith 7-0-34-0, R. Prasanna 3-0-7-0.
Tamil Nadu — 2nd innings: K.B. Arun Karthik c Dhawan b Awana 17, M. Vijay (run out) 10, B. Aparajith (not out) 44, D. Karthik b Awana 52, K. Shri Vasudeva Das (not out) 0; Extras (lb-5, w-1): 6; Total (for three wkts. in 35 overs): 129.
Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-35, 3-129.
Delhi bowling: A. Nehra 7-2-23-0, P. Awana 11-2-32-2, V. Mishra 10-2-40-0, P. Sangwan 5-2-11-0, P. Negi 2-0-18-0.
Other scores: Elite Group A:
At Mohali: Saurashtra 542 bt Punjab 278 and 120 in 44.5 overs (Amitoze Singh 41 n.o., Sandip Maniar four for 47, Siddarth Trivedi three for 34 incl. hat-trick). Points: Saurashtra 6, Punjab 0.
At Sambalpur: Orissa 482 drew with Uttar Pradesh 590 for four in 194.5 overs (Tanmay Srivastava 115, Mohammad Kaif 88, Prashant Gupta 49, Parvinder Singh 202 n.o., Arish Alam 118 n.o.). Points: UP 3, Orissa 1.
At Delhi: Rajasthan 521 for eight decl. and 21 for four in 14 overs drew with Railways 525 for eight decl. in 161 overs (Shivakant Shukla 87, Sanjay Bangar 79, Yere Goud 70, Mahesh Rawat 145, M. Suresh 61 n.o., Vivek Yadav six for 135). Points: Railways 3, Rajasthan 1.
Elite Group B:
At Vadodara: Haryana 390 and 195 in 60.4 overs (Sunny Singh 46, Abhimanyu Khod 71, Irfan Pathan five for 37, Swapnil Singh four for 32) drew with Baroda 214 and 228 for seven in 85 overs (Ambati Rayudu 83 n.o.). Points: Haryana 3, Baroda 1.
At Kolkata: Bengal 496 and 114 for one in 21 overs (Parthasarathi Bhattacharjee 51 n.o., Sourav Ganguly 42) drew with Madhya Pradesh 533 in 169.5 overs (Naman Ojha 127, Jalaj Saxena 46, Mohnish Mishra 132, S. Abbas Ali 47, Shami Ahmed five for 116). Points: MP 3, Bengal 1.
Plate Group A:
At Vijayawada: Andhra 265 and 342 in 121.1 overs (G. Shankara Rao 148, B. Sumanth 77, Vishal Bhatia five for 76) drew with Himachal Pradesh 341 and 91 for no loss in 18 overs (Abhinav Bali 54 n.o.). Points: HP 3, Andhra 1.
At Delhi: Vidarbha 508 for six decl. drew with Services 240 in 92.4 overs (Jasvir Singh 74, Soumyaranjan Swain 70, Shrikant Wagh four for 56) and 194 for seven in 76 overs (Yashpal Singh 124 n.o.). Points: Vidarbha 3, Services 1.
Plate Group B:
At Guwahati: Assam 227 and 169 in 73.4 overs (A. Lalith Mohan five for 42, Ibrahim Khaleel seven catches) lost to Hyderabad 474 for six decl. Points: Hyderabad 6, Assam 0.
At Jammu: Goa 281 and 376 for nine decl. in 100 overs (Sher Yadav 118, Reagan Pinto 64, Rahul Keni 63 n.o.) bt Jammu and Kashmir 260 and 220 in 62.4 overs (Adil Rishi 40, Parvez Rassol 44, Ram Dayal 54 n.o.). Points: Goa 5, J&K 0.
At Nasik: Maharashtra 460 and 106 for one in 21 overs (Harshad Khadiwale 56 n.o.) bt Jharkhand 283 and 282 in 90.1 overs (Manish Vardhan 88, Samad Fallah four for 71). Points: Maharashtra 5, Jharkhand 0.
