The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Merry Christmas for Delhi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 26, 2004

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Sport - Cricket

Merry Christmas for Delhi

By Our Sports Reporter

KOLKATA, DEC. 25. Delhi scored its first Ranji Trophy win of the season, beating host Bengal by eight wickets on the final day of its Elite group A match here at the Eden Gardens on Saturday. Indian Test opener Gautam Gambhir was in fine nick, scoring 126 that contained 20 boundaries and a six, as he contributed the most in his side's thumping win.

The win took Delhi's tally to 12 points thereby brightening its chances of entering the semifinals. Delhi captain and former India star, Ajay Jadeja, said, "The team struck the balance on the right time."

Having to face the group leader Mumbai in the concluding match, he said, the win "came at the right juncture. We had to be content with half points despite coming close to winning on a few occasions before.

It is good that we finally made it and the semifinals now look a probability."

The balance that Jadeja talked about was evident through the day as the bowlers, especially Amit Bhandari and Kunal Lal, gave the charge closing out Bengal's second innings in the first hour of the morning.

Bad start

Bengal was rattled in the very first delivery of the day as captain Rohan Gavaskar (34) departed, mistiming a stroke off Lal to point. Laxmi Ratan Shukla, who was on 44 when play resumed, tried to push forward the scoring but could only go past his 50 before he was scalped by Bhandari.

Wickets fell in quick succession as Bengal failed to negotiate the pace and variation of the two Delhi seamers and the innings was over at 232. For Delhi, Bhandari had a 10-wicket haul.

Delhi, which had an 11-run lead in the first innings, had a target of 222 runs. Shikhar Dhawan (15), promoted as an opener in the second innings, did not make much impression before being declared leg-before to Bengal pacer Ranadeb Bose. But once Gambhir joined Akash Chopra in the middle, the India opener struck a fluent rhythm unleashing a wide array of shots.

As Chopra (62 not out) dug in at one end, Gambhir began to go after the bowling. The partnership was worth 170 runs, which came up in just 153 balls. When Gambhir finally departed Delhi needed just 34 runs.

Mithun Manhas joined Chopra, who also completed his 50, and the two saw Delhi through before tea. Delhi lost 30 per cent of the match fees while the host was deducted 15 per cent for slow over-rates in the match by the match referee Sanjay Patil.

The scores:

Bengal — 1st innings: 240

Delhi — 1st innings: 251.

Bengal — 2nd innings: A. Das lbw b Negi 20; D. Dasgupta c Gambhir b Bhandari 56; R. Krishnan c Chopra b Bhandari 34; L.R. Shukla c Dhawan b Bhandari 51; R. Gavaskar c Bhatia b Lal 34; M. Tiwari c Chopra b Lal 16; S. Das c Dahiya b Lal 12; R. Kundu c Gambhir b Bhandari 1; M. Lodhgar c Manhas b Lal 1; S.S. Paul (not out) 1; R. Bose c Jadeja b Bhandari 0; Extras (b-5, lb-1) 6; Total 232.

Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-79, 3-147, 4-190, 5-205, 6-221, 7-223, 8-227, 9-227.

Delhi bowling: Negi 11-3-42-1, Lal 19-2-72-4, Bhandari 15.4-2-61-5; Bhatia 5-1-18-0, R. Sanghvi 4-0-30-0, Jadeja 1-0-3-0.

Delhi — 2nd innings: A. Chopra (not out) 62; S. Dhawan lbw b Bose 15; G. Gambhir c A. Chatterjee (sub) b Lodhgar 126; M. Manhas (not out) 11; Extras (lb-1, nb-7) 8; Total (for two wkts., in 49.5 ovs) 222.

Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-188.

Bengal bowling: Paul 12-2-60-0, Bose 11-2-40-1, Lodhgar 16.5-2-63-1, Kundu 7-0-49-0, Tewari 3-0-9-0.

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