Delhi’s brittle middle-order caved in for the second time and left Pondicherry eyeing a comprehensive victory in their Ranji Trophy league match at the Arun Jaitley stadium.
Sunday saw the match take a decisive turn after Delhi managed to keep Pondicherry’s first innings lead to 96 runs and reached 70 for one.
The dramatic fall of seven Delhi wickets in the space of 54 runs in the final session handed back the advantage to Pondicherry.
As things stand, Delhi is tottering at 126 for eight — 30 runs ahead with two wickets in hand. Weather permitting, Pondicherry should be able to seal a well-deserved victory on Monday morning.
Resuming at 113 for two, Pondicherry went past Delhi’s 148 with seven wickets in hand. At that time, Delhi was staring at a big lead but 23-year-old off-spinner Hrithik Shokeen’s four-wicket haul restricted Pondicherry.
When Delhi batted a second time, it showed some signs of making a match of it at 70 for one. But the way pacer Abin Mathew bowled, and added three more wickets to finish the day at four for 30, the scales tilted in Pondicherry’s favour.
Saurabh Yadav and fellow-pacer and wrecker-in-chief of the first innings Gaurav Yadav added two wickets each to leave Delhi embarrassingly close to defeat.
The scores: Delhi —1st innings: 148.
Pondicherry —1st innings: Akash Kargave c Thareja b Ishant 28, Jay Pande lbw b Himanshu Chauhan 18, Paras Ratnaparkhe lbw b Saini 60, Paras Dogra c Rawal b Saini 31, K. B. Arun Karthick c (sub) Tishant b Hrithik Shokeen 7, Fabid Ahmed b Hrithik Ahmed 18, M. Viknesh c Rawal b Shokeen 0, Krishna c Himmat b Shokeen 44, Abin Mathew b Chauhan 4, Gaurav Yadav c Saini b Chauhan 4, Saurabh Yadav (not out) 4; Extras: (lb-19, w-5, nb-2) 26, Total (in 63.3 overs): 244.
Fall of wickets: 1-41, 2-65, 3-145, 4-166, 5-172, 6-173, 7-210, 8-226, 9-240.
Delhi bowling: Ishant 14-3-43-1, Saini 17-1-54-2, Chauhan 16.3-1-60-3, Tyagi 6-0-22-0, Shokeen 10-1-46-4.
Delhi —2nd innings: Yash Dhull lbw Mathew 23, Lakshay Thareja c Karthick b Mathew 24, Vaibhav Rawal c Kargave b Saurabh Yadav 15, Himmat Singh b Mathew 5, Ayush Badoni c Krishna b Saurabh Yadav 4,, Kshitiz Sharma c Karthick b Mathew 4, Hrithik Shokeen b Gaurav Yadav 19, Harsh Tyagi (batting) 13, Navdeep Saini c Pande b Gaurav Yadav 5, Ishant Sharma (batting) 1, Extras (b-4, lb-9) 13, Total (for eight wickets in 40 overs): 126.
Fall of wickets: 1-39, 2-70, 3-70, 4-76, 5-81, 6-84, 7-118, 8-124.
Pondicherry bowling: Gaurav Yadav 13-2-39-2, Saurabh Yadav 12-2-43-2, Mathew 14-4-30-4, Krishna 1-0-1-0.
