Delhi stare at innings defeat

Eight of their batsmen get caught in Saurashtra8217;s spin web

The much vaunted batting prowess of Delhi was no where to be seen on a day when they were made to follow on by Saurashtra, after falling short by 204 runs, in reply to the mammoth 492 by the hosts on Day three of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group 8216;A8217; tie at the Madhav Rao Stadium here today.

The visitors were bundled out for 288 by the Saurshtra8217;s spin-trio of Rakesh Dhruve, Ravindra Jadeja and Sitanshu Kotak who accounted for 8 wickets out of 10. The story was no different in the second innings, and the visitors were languishing on 84 for 4 at stumps. Skipper Mitthun Manhas was batting on 4, accompanying him was Virat Kohli on 2.

Delhi started their day on 61/3 and soon folded out for 288 in 74.2 overs. The Saurashtra bowlers didn8217;t really had to work hard for their wicket, as the Delhi batsmen were in obliging mood.

The trio of Rakesh Dhruve, Ravindra Jadeja and Sitanshu Kotak never allowed Delhi batting line-up to settle down. None of the Delhi batsmen were comfortable in facing as they made full use of the rough patch in front of the leg stump.

The first victim of the morning and the turning track was skipper Manhas. He scored 35 runs studded with five fours and two huge sixes before he played a poor shot of Rakesh Dhruve to give an easy catch to Ravindra Jadeja at the short cover. Manhas added 64 runs for the fourth wicket with opener Shikhar Dhawan. Immediately in his next over, Dhruve scalped Virat Kohli who failed to judge the ball and was sent back to the pavilion after scoring four runs.

On the other end, Dhawan kept the score board moving with his powerful strokes and completed his fifty. But he too failed to capitalise on the three life-lines provided to him by the Saurashtra fielders. In a rush of blood, he stepped out to hit Rakesh Dhruve over the top but failed to connect and keeper Sagar Jogyani uprooted the bails to put an end to his two-and-a-half hour essay. Shikhar smashed 12 boundaries in his knock of 80 runs.

The score card would have presented a far more sorry figure, had it not not been the 69-run partnership for the ninth wicket between Rajat Bhatia and Ashish Nehra. Rajat scored 71, before he lofted Sitanshu Kotak straight to the hands of Prashant Joshi. Ashish Nehra played a gritty knock of 43 which included two sixes and four boundaries before he gave a catch to Jogyani of Kotak.

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Forced to follow on, Delhi opener Aakash once again failed as he was bowled by Jobanputra. Delhi8217;s experiment of sending in Puneet Bisht at number three also failed as he was caught plumb after he had scored 27 runs.

The challenge facing Delhi is quite daunting. Leave aside making a match out of the precarious situation they find themselves in, the visitors need 120 runs, only to avoid a humiliating innings defeat.

Brief Scores: Saurashtra 492 C A Pujara 139, S Kotak 95 vs Delhi 288 S Dhawan 80, R Bhatia 71, R Dhruv 4/81 and 84/4