Delhi is set to throw a challenging target for Tamil Nadu to chase on Sunday after half-centuries from Milind Kumar and Yogesh Nagar extricated the host from a difficult position on the third day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group match at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground here on Saturday.
As things stand, Delhi is 139 runs ahead with five wickets in hand after wiping out the first innings deficit of 94. Should Delhi manage a run-a-minute 75 runs on Sunday morning, it will be interesting to see how Tamil Nadu strategizes its chase on a pitch offering inconsistent bounce.
Delhi, with just three points from two outings, will have to take its chances on Sunday if it has to brighten its prospects of a respectable finish in the group.
Tamil Nadu added 25 runs in 41 minutes after overnight not-outs, opener Abhinav Mukund was unlucky to miss his century by a run and J. Kaushik was unfortunate to be adjudged leg-before after he had played the ball.
When Delhi batted, the visiting team did not do its fortunes any good by dropping three catches before lunch. Arun Karthik and M. Vijay dropped opener Unmukt Chand on 0 and 25, in that order, off L. Balaji.
Shikhar Dhawan, too, was again dropped by Vijay when on eight. Tamil Nadu should thank its stars that the flashy Delhi openers did not last too long.
The scores:
Delhi — 1st innings: 212.
Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: A. Mukund c Bisht b Sangwan 99, M. Vijay lbw b Nehra 14, K.B. Arun Karthik b Nehra 0, Dinesh Karthik c Bisht b Sangwan 18, K. Vasudeva Das b Sangwan 0, B. Aparajith lbw b Mishra 6, R. Prasanna lbw b Manhas 59, Yomahesh b Awana 47, L. Balaji b Negi 16, J. Kaushik lbw b Mishra 20, Aushik Srinivas (not out) 3, Extras (b-9, lb-11, nb-2, w-2) 24, Total (in 102.5 overs) 306.
Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-35, 3-63, 4-78, 5-88, 6-174, 7-207, 8-269, 9-291.
Delhi bowling: A. Nehra 18-4-70-2, P. Awana 24-7-39-1, V. Mishra 27.5-11-55-2, P. Negi 2-1-5-1, P. Sangwan 21-5-79-3, Y. Nagar 1-0-4-0, M. Manhas 9-1-34-1.
Delhi — 2nd innings: Unmukt Chand c Vasudeva Das b Yomahesh 41, Shikhar Dhawan c Prasana b Kaushik 17, Milind Kumar lbw b Balaji 58, Mithun Manhas c Karthik b Yomahesh 0, Yogesh Nagar c Vasudeva Das b Aushik Srinivas 56, Pawan Negi (batting) 16, Puneet Bisht (batting) 27, Extras (b-3, lb-9, nb-5, w-1) 18, Total (for five wkts. in 72 overs) 233.
Fall of wickets: 1-68, 2-70, 3-70, 4-174, 5-193.
Tamil Nadu bowling: L. Balaji 15-6-33-1, J. Kaushik 16-4-54-1, Yomahesh 13-4-35-2, Aushik Srinivas 18-4-58-1, B. Aparajith 7-0-34-0, R. Prasanna 3-0-7-0.
Other scores:
Elite Group A:
At Mohali: Saurashtra 542 vs. Punjab 278 in 70.3 overs (Mandeep Singh 85 n.o., Amitoze Singh 64, Jaydev Unadkat six for 87) and 44 for four in 21 overs.
At Sambalpur: Orissa 482 vs. Uttar Pradesh 287 for three in 111 overs (Tanmay Srivastava 115, Mohammad Kaif 88).
At Delhi: Rajasthan 521 for eight decl. vs. Railways 274 for four in 93 overs (Shivakant Shukla 87, Sanjay Bangar 79).
Elite Group B:
At Vadodara: Haryana 390 and 187 for seven in 58 overs (Sunny Singh 46, Abhimanyu Khod 71, Swapnil Singh four for 29) vs. Baroda 214 in 65.5 overs (Aditya Waghmode 51, Rakesh Solanki 52, Amit Mishra four for 27).
At Kolkata: Bengal 496 vs. Madhya Pradesh 344 for three in 108 overs (Naman Ojha 127, Jalaj Saxena 46, Mohnish Mishra 130 batting).
Plate Group A:
At Vijayawada: Andhra 265 and 176 for four in 53 overs (G. Shankara Rao 96 batting) vs. Himachal Pradesh 341 in 111.3 overs (Paras Dogra 106, Varun Sharma 104).
At Kochi: Tripura 139 and 124 in 57.1 overs (Kaushal Acharjee 47) lost to Kerala 316 in 125.2 overs (Abhishek Hegde 40, V.A. Jagadeesh 57, Sachin Baby 55, Sony Cheruvathur 77, Udit Patel five for 75). Points: Kerala 6, Tripura 0 .
At Delhi: Vidarbha 508 for six decl. in 180 overs (Akshay Kolhar 41, Aniruddha Chore 157, Shiv Sundar Das 87, Ranjit Paradkar 54, Sairaj Bahutule 80 n.o.) vs. Services 238 for eight in 90 overs (Jasvir Singh 74, Soumyaranjan Swain 70).
Plate Group B:
At Guwahati: Assam 227 and zero for one in 4.4 overs vs. Hyderabad 474 for six decl. in 143 overs (Akshath Reddy 112, D.B. Ravi Teja 48, T. Suman 88, Syed Quadri 107 n.o.).
At Jammu: Goa 281 and 376 for nine in 100 overs (Sher Yadav 118, Reagan Pinto 64, Rahul Keni 63 batting) vs. Jammu and Kashmir 260.
At Nasik: Maharashtra 460 vs. Jharkhand 283 in 80.4 overs (Rameez Nemat 79, Saurabh Tiwary 42, Shiv Gautam 67) and 218 for six in 64 overs (Manish Vardhan 88).
