Humiliation for Delhi, bonus for Bengal

Humiliating, embarrassing, shameful… These are words that will describe the proceedings on Day 3 at the Jamia grounds. More than 122 years after Englishmen burnt The Ashes, it’s time for Delhiites to do a re-take. Losing to Bengal by 10 wickets inside three days, giving them a bonus point with unarguably the worst ever performance deserves no less; and lack of performances has come twice in succession. Strangely, when Delhi batsmen played on the wicket, it was turning and jumping. When the home side bowled, it looked just perfect. A quick analysis of Delhi’s last two matches shows the problem as core incompetence. The cure is widely available; find bowlers who can take 20 wickets in a match, get batsmen who can score, though it comes at a price — asking the under-performing senior pros to vacate their place.

It wasn’t the cold wind that blew away Saturday morning’s optimism of a tight finish; it was the Delhi batsmen showing complete lack of application against a bowler who kept things simple. “I just kept bowling on one spot I identified and that was it,” revealed Sourashish Lahiri. The Bengal off-spinner took five wickets as Delhi, who started the day at 22/0, were 78/3 before collapsing to 131 — leaving Bengal to make 69.

Brief scores: Delhi 148 and 131 (S Dhawan 44, P Chawla 17; S Lahiri 5/57) vs Bengal 211 and 69/0.