Debutant Nitish Rana announced his arrival with an eye-catching half-century and proved a major contributor in the 107-run ongoing third-wicket stand with skipper Gautam Gambhir as Delhi stayed in control against Vidarbha on the second day of the Ranji Trophy match here on Friday.
On a listless Ferozeshah Kotla pitch, Delhi reached 132 for two in reply to Vidarbha’s 298 in the first innings. After Ishant Sharma finished with six for 36 — his fourth five-wicket haul in 15 Ranji matches spread over nine years — to end Vidarbha’s late rearguard action, the Gambhir-Rana stand lifted Delhi from 25 for two and kept alive hopes of gaining the first innings lead.
After opener Unmukt Chand was run out and Pradeep Sangwan, surprisingly promoted to No. 3, departed, Rana proved that tons of runs in the age-group competition in the past couple of years had readied him for bigger challenges.
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The confidence gained from being part of the star-studded Mumbai Indians dressing room showed as he collared the Vidarbha attack with ease. In phases, the youngster even eclipsed his skipper in stroke-play.
Gambhir, on 15 when Rana walked in, reached his 19th half-century in his 88th innings in the National championship. The two left-handers played some delightful strokes, with Rana hitting eight boundaries to Gambhir’s six. Delhi needs another 167 runs for the first innings lead and unless Vidarbha manages to make serious inroads early on Saturday, the script looks quite predictable.
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Earlier, Vidarbha’s eighth-wicket stand of 57 between Shrikant Wagh and Akshay Wakhare dashed Delhi’s hopes of polishing off the tail in a hurry.
Eventually, it was Ishant who provided the breakthrough by inducing an edge from Wakhare to wicketkeeper Mohit Ahlawat.
The lanky speedster’s effort of 8-4-10-3 on this day once again proved his utility for the team even in not-so-helpful conditions.
The scores:
Vidarbha — 1st innings: Wasim Jaffer run out 0, Ganesh Satish c Rawal b Ishant 5, Faiz Fazal c Ahlawat b Ishant 56, S. Badrinath lbw b Sangwan 44, Shalabh Srivastava c Narwal b Sangwan 27, Aditya Shanware c Ahlawat b Ishant 41, Jitesh Sharma lbw b Ishant 37, Shrikant Wagh c Ahlawat b Sangwan 32, Akshay Wakhare c Ahlawat b Ishant 29, Swapnil Bandiwar lbw b Ishant 0, Ravi Thakur (not out) 4; Extras (b-6, lb-12, penalty-5): 23; Total (in 117 overs): 298.
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-16, 3-105, 4-124, 5-152, 6-221, 7-232, 8-289, 9-289.
Delhi bowling: Ishant Sharma 23-10-36-6, Sumit Narwal 24-7-35-0, Sarang Rawat 19-2-66-0, Pradeep Sangwan 23-3-53-3, Manan Sharma 23-3-71-0, Nitish Rana 1-0-4-0, Milind Kumar 4-0-10-0.
Delhi — 1st innings: Ukmukt Chand run out 1, Gautam Gambhir (batting) 62, Pradeep Sangwan c Jitesh Sharma b Bandiwar 8, Nitish Rana (batting) 57; Extras (lb-3, w-1): 4; Total (for two wkts. in 61 overs): 132.
Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-25.
Vidarbha bowling: Wagh 12-5-15-0, Bandiwar 11-3-22-1, Thakur 13-5-23-0, Wakhare 20-6-47-0, Fazal 5-0-22-0.