The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Delhi calls the shots

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 10, 2004

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Delhi calls the shots

AHMEDABAD, NOV. 9. A sparkling century by Delhi opener Gautam Gambhir and good knocks by three other batsmen helped Delhi pile up 430 for the loss of eight wickets and declare its first innings on third day's play against Gujarat in a Ranji Trophy Elite Group `A' match at the Motera cricket ground here on Tuesday.

Continuing his innings from yesterday, Mithun Manhas added only four more to his tally to before he retired due to a back strain. Rajat Bhatia however shrugged aside the loss of Manhas and scored a swift 44 with four impressive hits to the boundary.

The remaining batsmen, including Delhi captain Ajay Jadeja, however did not last long and lost their wickets at quick intervals including two, that of Ashish Nehra and Amit Bhandari, who were out in successive balls.

The Gujarat bowlers did not get much out of the pitch and this was evident in the high number of runs that were given away by all the bowlers led by Timil Patel, who gave away 121 runs in the 30 overs he bowled.

Gujarat's second innings began on a disastrous note with India seamer Ashish Nehra getting the better of opener Nilesh Modi in the first over itself for a duck.

Nehra got his second wicket of the day by claiming Akash Christian for just 15 runs with the Gujarat scorecard showing a dismal 34 for two. Nehra however conceeded 57 runs in 14 overs and also bowled seven no-balls and a wide.

The Gujarat innings seemed to come onto a stable boat with Niraj Patel and captain Mukund Parmar putting up a brave fight and chipping in with a valuable 37 and 51 runs respectively.

Axed Indian wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel, who made his Ranji debut also found some form with the bat and played a determined innings to score 30 runs before being out to Sarandeep Singh.

At the end of the days' play, Kirit Damani remained not out (43) along with Bhavik Thakker on the crease (17) with Gujarat notching up 205 for five.

Delhi, which fell short by 10 overs in their required over rate, needs to accommodate it on the final day tomorrow.

The scores:

Gujarat — 1st innings: 214

Delhi — 1st innings: A. Chopra c N. Modi b Patel 11, G. Gambhir c Parthiv b H. Modi 151, A. Sharma c Parthiv b Patel 73, M. Manhas (retd. hurt) 70, V. Dahya lbw Hitesh 43, R. Bhatia (not out) 44, A. Jadeja b H. Modi 3, Sarandeep Singh c N. Modi b Patel 11, A. Nehra c H. Modi b S. Trivedi 15, A. Bhandari lbw S. Trivedi 0 Rahul Sanghvi (not out) 5, Extras (w-2, nb-2) 4, Total (for eight wkts.) 430.

Fall of wickets: 1-38, 2-237, 3-237, 4-346, 5-359, 6-397, 7-419, 8-419.

Gujarat bowling: Trivedi 23-4-105-2, Majmudar 27-6-82-3, Patel 30-4-121-3, Patel 8-2-27-0, Damani 21.3-3-53-0, Patel 12-1-35-0, Parmar 3-0-7-0.

Gujarat — 2nd innings: N. Modi c Dahiya b Nehra 0, A. Christian c Dahiya b Nehra 15, N. Patel lbw R. Sanghvi 37, M. Parmar lbw Sarandeep 51, P. Patel c Gambhir b Sarandeep 30, K. Damani (batting) 43, B. Thaker (batting) 17, Extras (lb-1, nb-10, w-1) 12, Total (for five wkts.) 205.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-34, 3-96, 4-122, 5-174.

Delhi bowling: Nehra 14-2-57-2, Bhandari 13-2-34-0, Sarandeep 14-1-47-2, Sharma 6-1-23-0, Sanghvi 14-2-43-1. — PTI

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport