The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Baroda foils Delhi's designs

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Wednesday, Dec 13, 2006
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Baroda foils Delhi's designs

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Delhi was left to rue the two dropped catches of centurion Connor Williams after Baroda batted out the final day to force a draw in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group league match at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground here on Tuesday.

Trailing by 249 runs on the first innings, Baroda resumed the day at 35 for no loss and reached 253 for seven when the play was called off in fading light after six mandatory overs.

Williams used his experience and the escapes allowed by the host to score a timely 106 that came off 275 deliveries spread over 400 minutes. During the course of his match-saving innings, Williams was dropped on 41 by Rajat Bhatia at gully off pacer Ishant Sharma. The medium pacer suffered again when Shikhar Dhawan floored a chance at slip when Williams was on 53.

If these two lapses in the first session were not enough, Delhi let Ajit Bhoite enjoy a lease of life on 10, with debutant wicketkeeper Puneet Bisht failing to complete the catch off medium pacer Kunaal Lall. Bhoite went on to make 33 but more importantly, occupied the crease for two hours and 99 minutes.

Three wickets, including that of skipper Jacob Martin, in the first session did raise Delhi's hopes but a 90-run stand between Williams and Bhoite kept Baroda alive. This stand lasted nearly 31 overs and frustrated the Delhi camp no end.

In the final session, young wicketkeeper Pinal Shah held the Baroda innings together in the company of an unsure late-order and wiped out Delhi's lead before truce was called.

The first innings lead worth two points raised Delhi's tally to six from three home matches. In the next round, beginning on December 17, Delhi will host an upbeat Karnataka, which has scored back-to-back victories to reach eight points. Baroda, with nine points, will return home to face Andhra, which also raised its tally to eight points after scoring over Saurashtra.

The scores:

Baroda — 1st innings: 244.

Delhi — 1st innings: 493.

Baroda — 2nd innings: Rishikesh Parab b Ishant 32, Connor Williams c Bisht b Nehra 106, Rakesh Solanki c Bhatia b Lall 6, Jacob Martin c Dhawan b Nehra 7, Ajit Bhoite lbw b Bhatia 33, Pinal Shah (not out) 30, Ketan Panchal c Dhawan b Ishant 6, Yusuf Pathan lbw b Lall 2, Rajesh Pawar (not out) 0, Extras (b-10, nb-18, w-3) 31, Total (for seven wickets in 99 overs) 253.

Fall of wickets: 1-77, 2-92, 3-108, 4-198, 5-224, 6-235, 7-249.

Delhi bowling: Ashish Nehra 30-7-73-2, Ishant Sharma 28-7-69-2, Kunaal Lall 20-5-50-2, Yogesh Sachdeva 5-0-31-0, Mithun Manhas 12-4-18-0, Rajat Bhatia 4-3-2-1.

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