The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Manhas, Dahiya stem the rot

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Friday, Dec 24, 2004

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Sport - Cricket

Manhas, Dahiya stem the rot

By Our Sports Reporter

KOLKATA, DEC. 23. A fine unbeaten 133-run partnership between Mithun Manhas (79) and Vijay Dahiya (68) helped Delhi reach the comfort zone on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match against Bengal at the Eden Gardens here on Thursday.

Capping a frivolous start that saw Delhi's first innings totter at 51 for three at one stage, the two middle order batsmen shouldered the fightback to resurrect Delhi to 184 for three at the end of the day.

Delhi is still 56 runs short of Bengal's first innings total of 240. Delhi seamer Amit Bhandari required just 2.5 overs to wrap up the tail, which could add only 11 runs to the overnight score of 229 for seven. Bengal's Subhomoy Das, whose innings was unfinished as he retired on 47 with a back problem yesterday, returned to bat after Shib Shankar Paul was dismissed off Bhandari's second delivery of the day.

Das could not do much as his colleagues at the other end — Ritam Kundu and Ranadeb Bose — soon followed Paul to the pavilion. Bhandari topped the Delhi bowling chart with a five-wicket haul, which was his first in Ranji Trophy this season.

Top order collapse

Delhi batting's top order failed to capitalise on the advantage given by the bowlers. Paul and Bose bowled with pace and accuracy. Delhi's two national team openers — Akash Chopra and Gautam Gambhir — and the junior prospect Shikhar Dhawan cut a sorry figure falling to the Bengal seamers. Chopra was caught stranded in front of the wicket by Paul, while Dhawan departed in similar fashion playing across a Bose delivery. Gambhir, who put up some resistance in his patient 29, ended up edging Bose to Laxmi Ratan Shukla in the slips.

Three of the batting stalwarts dismissed cheaply, and Bengal's modest total suddenly looked huge. Dahiya joined Manhas at this crucial juncture to start the patient re-building process. The two batted 187 minutes and faced 271 balls, first wearing off the host's pace attack and then stroked on freely.

Dahiya's 68 was a chanceless effort, while Manhas was comparatively a bit restless and survived two chances.

The scores:

Bengal — 1st innings: A. Das b Lal 35, D. Dasgupta c Dhawan b Lal 5, R. Krishnan b Bhandari 13, R. Gavaskar lbw b Jadeja 68, S. Das (not out) 50, L.R. Shukla b Bhandari 33, M. Tiwari (run out) 8, R. Kundu c Dahiya b Bhandari 20, M. Lodhgar lbw b Lal 1, S.S. Paul lbw b Bhandari 0, R. Bose b Bhandari 0; Extras (lb-3, nb-4): 7. Total (in 76.3 overs) 240.

Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-50, 3-76, 4-161, 5-208, 6-223, 7-228, 8-229, 9-238.

Delhi bowling: Bhandari 20.2-3-55-5, Lal 19-4-55-3, Negi 16-0-61-0, Jadeja 9-2-21-1, Sanghvi 12-3-26-0, Bhatia 4-0-14-0, Manhas 2-0-5-0.

Delhi — 1st innings: A. Chopra lbw b Paul 3, G. Gambhir c Shukla b Bose 29, S. Dhawan lbw b Bose 1, M. Manhas (batting) 79, V. Dahiya (batting) 68; Extras (lb-3, nb-1): 4. Total (for 3 wkts. in 66 overs) 184.

Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-13, 3-51.

Bengal bowling: Paul 19-4-60-1, Bose 14-4-23-2, Shukla 11-1-37-0, Lodhgar 11-3-23-0, Kundu 10-2-33-0, Gavaskar 1-0-5-0.

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