Vadodara: Saurashtra opener Kishan Parmar’s unbeaten 141 enabled them to give a better account of themselves reaching 234 for 5 in the second innings but Delhi still enjoyed the upperhand in a group B Ranji Trophy encounter, here on Thursday.
Effectively, Saurashtra are only 89 runs ahead with five wickets in hand and two days of play left. While chances of an outright victory for Delhi look bright but a chase of 150 plus would mean that bonus point can be difficult.
Earlier, Pradeep Sangwan’s second rearguard action of the season ensured a healthy 145-run lead for Delhi as they finished their first innings at 237. Sangwan had earlier scored a 100 against Assam.
Sangwan scored 75 off 100 balls with six boundaries and four sixes to help Delhi get a lead of close to 150 runs. The stand of 47 for the with Pulkit Narang (7) also proved to be useful in the final context of the innings. Pacer Kushang Patel grabbed 5 for 72 in 17.3 overs.
When Saurashtra came into bat, Snell Patel (4) and Divyaraj Chauhan (0) were out quickly but a 94-run stand between Parmar and Sheldon Jackson (40) steadied the ship.
Soon Jackson, Jaydev Shah (1) and Prerak Mankad (6) were out in quick succession to reduce Saurashtra to 130 for 5.
But Parmar and Arpit Vasavada (25) added 104 runs for the sixth wicket to guide Saurashtra to a 89-run lead so far.
Brief scores:
Saurashtra 92 and 234/5 (Kishan Parmar 141 batting, Navdeep Saini 2/52)
Delhi 1st innings 237 (Pradeep Sangwan 75, Rishabh Pant 40, Kushang Patel 5/72).
TM Ul-Haq scripts Rajasthan’s comeback against Vidarbha
Greater Noida: Left-arm paceman TM Ul-Haq returned career-best figures of six for 21 as Rajasthan bundled out Vidarbha for 116 to take a crucial 24-run first innings lead in their Ranji Trophy Group B match, here on Thursday.
Vidarbha started the second day at 14 for none, hoping to cross the Rajasthan first innings total of 140 but ended up conceding a narrow lead as TM Ul-haq routed their middle and lower batting order.
It was Aniket Choudhary, who provided the breakthrough with the wicket of rival captain Faiz Fazal (17) and Vidarbha could never settle the innings.
Paceman Pankaj Singh (3/52) removed Ganesh Satish (4) and Siddesh Wath, who was top scorer for Vidarbha with his 50-run knock. Opener Sanjay Ramaswamy was the next best 25-run knock.
TM Ul-Haq just wiped out the remaining batsmen to record his best-ever figures in first class cricket.
Rajasthan 10 for no loss in their second innings with openers Amitkumar Gautam (5) and Manender Singh (4) at the crease as they negotiated 11 overs without being separated.
Brief Scores:
Rajasthan 140 and 10 for none in 11 overs.
Vidarbha 1st innings: 116 all out in 41.3 overs. (S Wath 50, R Sanjay 25; TM Ul Haq 6/21, P Singh 3/52).