PUNE, Feb 5: The `batsman friendly' Nehru Stadium turned out a nightmare for the batsmen, as perhaps - for the first time since long, 13 wickets were accounted on the opening day of the Super League Ranji Trophy tie between Maharashtra and Delhi, today.Maharashtra's debutant Sachin Nair, was the killer on the rampage, claiming five wickets which had Delhi fold-up for a mere 156, two minutes before tea. At close, the host's tottered at 93, with three of their top-order batsmen back in the dressing room. Abhijit Kale, who looked shaky in the beginning, was on 46 and Satyen Lande, who faced some fiery bowling by the visitors, was yet to open his account after occupying 34 minutes at the crease.Sachin, the left-arm seamer, seemed destined to make it his day. In the first over claimed Devendra Sharma leg-before. The other opener Ashu Dani fell soon later, when he snicked into keeper Sanjay Kondhalkar's gloves negotiating a straight-forward defencive stroke, in his third over. Thus, the debutant ended with an impressive first spell (6-3-24-2), which included 11 runs conceded in his opening over.Picking up from where he left off, Sachin added Virendra Schwag to his list after an eight over second stint which cost 23 runs, leaving Delhi at 106 for five. His 15th over of the day, in the post lunch session, proved most fruitfull wherein he struck with his fourth and fifth delivery to wipe off the visitors tail and put himself in line for a hat-trick, when the visitors begin their second essay.``He did bowl well and hats off to the youngster,'' said the despondent Delhi coach Rakesh Shukla. ``We are surely missing the service of Ajay Sharma and Vijay Dahiya,'' he added, referring to skipper Ajay who kept everyone guessing and finally failed to turn up, along with their manager Surendra Khanna.Nothing seemed going Delhi's way as they began the day with second in-command Vijay Dahiya `ruled out' owing to an injured middle finger, leaving Nikhil Chopra to stand in. ``It was a good decision,'' informed Shukla, after the hosts' skipper Surendre Bhave opted to field, after winning the toss. ``After the early loss of three wickets we failed to recover,'' he went on to explain, about his teams second lowest score of the season. Earlier, they were shot-out for 148 against Jammu and Kashmir, but nevertheless did well to end up outright winners.Delhi's middle-order batsman Akash Malhotra waged a lone battle. His 215 minute stay at the wicket yeilded 60 runs off 134 balls which had four boundaries.However, his departure was rather foolish. A reckless shot, in a bid to hammer spinner Umesh Gotkhindkar, saw him missed totally leaving the keeper to swipe off the bails. Incidentally, this is his second best score this season after his 62 against Punjab in the league phase. The host's reply was no bed of roses. They too found the going tough with the ball swinging dangerously on either side of the wicket. Opener Surendra Bhave was deceived by one such `express' delivery. Fishing outside the off-stump he edged seamer Amit Bhandari into the waiting hands of Akash Malhotra at first-slip in the fourth over.Amit struck once again, in the 12th over, this time Hemant Kinikar, who failed to learn from the fate of his skipper - edging into keeper' Devendra Sharma's gloves. And just when all seemed well for the host's, left-arm spinner Rahul Sanghvi had Shantanu Sugvekar hole out to Akash Malhotra at cover-point and the score reading 71 However, in the 34 minutes left for the day, Abhijit Kale and Satyen Lande dug in to prevent any further damage.ScoreDelhi 1st innings: Devendra Sharma lbw S Nair (6m, 4b) 1; Ashu Dani c S Kondhalkar b S Nair (27m, 15b 2x4) 11; Pankaj Joshi lbw M Kulkarni (37m, 29b) 4; Akash Malhotra st S Kondhalkar b U Gotkhindikar (215m, 134b 6x4) 60; Mithun Manhas cA Kale b M Kulkarni (92m, 66b, 4x4) 26; Virendra Sehwag c S Kondhalkar b S Nair (51m, 31b, 3x4) 12; Nikhil Chopra b U Gotkhindikar (35m, 23b, 1x4) 7; Rahul Sanghvi lbw A Agashe (9m, 7b) 2; Ashish Nehra c S Bhave b S Nair (35m, 32b) 12; Amit Bhandari not out (26m, 10b 1x4) 5; Robin Singh (Jr) b S Nair (1m, 1b) 0.Extras: (bs2, lb9, nb5) 16.Total all out in 57.5 overs 270 mts 156Fall of wickets: 1/1, 2/16, 3/22, 4/77, 5/106,6/128, 7/131, 8/135, 9/156, 10: Milind Kulkarni 15-3-27-2, Sachin Nair 14.5-3-48-5 (1 nb), Ashutosh Agashe 8-2-19-1 (1 nb); Umesh Gotkhindikar 12-3-30-2, Siddharth Godbole 8-2-21-0 (3 nb).Maharashtra 1st innings: Hemant Kinikar c D Sharma B A Bhandari (31m, 60b 2x4) 15; Surendra Bhave c A Malhotra b A Bhandari (12b, 18m, 2x4) 9; Abhijit Kale batting (119m, 87b, 7x4) 46; Shantanu Sugwekar c A Malhotra b R Sanghvi (40m, 35b, 2x4) 17; Satyen Lande batting (34m, 29b) 0.Extras: (b4, nb 2) 6Total for 3 wickets in 32 overs) 93.Fall of wickets: 1/12, 2/47, 3: Robin Singh (Jr) 10-3-28-0, Amit Bhandari 10-0-43-2 (1nb), Akash Malhotra 3-0-6-0 (1 nb), Rahul Sanghvi 6-1-10-1, Nikhil Chopra 3-1-2-0.
