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Delhi takes the lead

Special Correspondent

Manhas shows the way with a gritty 97

INDORE: Some resolute batting from the middle-order gave Delhi a handy lead of 72 runs over Baroda on the second day of the Ranji Trophy semifinal at the Usha Raje Stadium here on Sunday.

Unbeaten overnight Mithun Manhas showed the way with a gritty 97 as Delhi reached 271 in its first innings. Left-arm medium pacer Sankalp Vohra took the last four wickets with the second new ball to restrict Delhi’s lead. Thereafter, Baroda’s experienced openers Connor Williams and Satyajit Parab played out four overs and knocked off eight runs. With three days to go, it is anybody’s game. With batting expected to become increasingly difficult on a track where the cracks are opening up and bounce becoming unpredictable, Baroda has reasons to be hopeful. It has to bat better in the second innings in order to put Delhi under pressure in the fourth innings. On the other hand, Delhi will be keen to keep the target to the minimum by restricting Baroda for the second time in three days. Resuming at 49 for three in reply to Baroda’s 199, Delhi rode on the shoulders of Manhas and Aditya Jain for the better part of the first session. The duo not only denied Baroda an early breakthrough but also went on to raise 131 runs for the fourth-wicket. However, as things turned out, Aditya missed his half-century before Manhas fell short of a well-deserved century.

Aditya, after hitting eight boundaries in his 48, paid the penalty for running out of patience. He played to point, took off for a non-existent run and then slipped as he tried to beat the throw to the striker’s end.

Manhas, having struck a six and 11 boundaries, tried to reach the three-figure mark in style but left the ground expressing disgust over his choice of stroke. Left-arm spinner Rajesh Pawar, of whose first over Manhas took 12 runs, had the last laugh. After frustrating the former Delhi captain by consistently bowling in line of the leg-stump, Pawar had Manhas caught at long-on when the batsman came down the pitch in search of a six.

Although Delhi took the lead with five wickets in hand, it never looked like enlarging it to decisive proportions. With Delhi just four runs ahead, Puneet Bisht fell leg-before after adding 40 runs with Bhatia for the sixth wicket. With Sumeet Narwal, who is playing his first game for Delhi after serving Haryana, Bhatia put on another 34 runs before his intended cut off Vohra landed straight into the hands of second slip. In fact, Bhatia, Bisht and Narwal failed to build on good starts. Having conceded the lead, Baroda now has no choice but to make a match of it by setting a formidable target.

The scores:

Baroda — 1st innings: 199

Delhi — 1st innings: A. Chopra c Shah b Veragi 3, G. Gambhir lbw b Sunit 2, S. Dhawan c Williams b Sunit 0, M. Manhas c Pathan b Pawar 97, A. Jain (run out) 48, R. Bhatia c Pathan b Vohra 38, P. Bisht lbw b Pawar 24, S. Narwal c Pathan b Vohra 34, C. Nanda (not out) 5, A. Bhandari c Pawar b Vohra 0, P. Awana c Pathan b Vohra 12, Extras (b-2, lb-5, nb-1): 8, Total (in 102.3 overs): 271.

Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-5, 3-5, 4-136, 5-163, 6-203, 7-237, 8-253, 9-253.

Baroda bowling: Sunit 19-6-60-2, Salim 24-5-69-1, Vohra 21.3-7-39-4, Pawar 27-8-68-2, Yusuf 11-4-28-0.

Baroda — 2nd innings: Satyajit Parab (batting) 8, Connor Williams (batting) 0, Total (for no loss in four overs): 8.

Delhi bowling: Amit Bhandari 1-1-0-0, Sumit Narwal 2-2-0-0, Parwinder Awana 1-0-8-0.

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