Bullied in their backyard

Gambhir (54) saving grace as Delhi crumble to 202 against strong Karnataka attack.

Needing a win in their last game to be in with a shot of making the knockout stage of the Ranji Trophy,Delhi had a disappointing first day to be bowled out for 202. At stumps Karnataka were 2/0.

Delhi had made four changes going into the match. Unmukt Chand was dropped for perhaps the first time since the U-19 World Cup,making way for offie Manoj Chauhan. Left-arm spinners Varun Sood and Manan Sharma,along with batsman Milind Kumar,also made the cut at the expense of pacers Navdeep Saini,Parvinder Awana and middle-order bat Vaibhav Rawal respectively.

While Delhis choices indicated that the Ferozeshah Kotla wicket was expected to turn,this wasnt the case on Day One. Shotmaking,however,was indeed difficult on a pitch that was on the slower side.

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The hosts needed to get off to a good start and Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag opening for the first time this season initially seemed to provide it. Sehwag appeared in vintage form,forcing rival skipper R Vinay Kumar off the attack after hitting him for five fours in three overs.

Delhi had raced to 51 when Sehwag was surprised by a sharp short ball from Ronit More to pop a catch back to the bowler. Sehwags dismissal for a 31-ball-32,saw the scoring rate plummet and the resultant pressure began to force errors.

Milind Kumar (2) chopped the ball on to his stumps while trying to cut RV Kumar and when Mithun Manhas (12) was bowled by the same bowler in the 20th over,Delhi were in trouble at 84/3.

Manan Sharma joined Gautam Gambhir at the crease and they went to lunch without further loss. However,soon after the resumption of play,Sharma,on 23,padded up to a delivery from leggie Shreyas Gopal that went straight on.

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Gambhir,meanwhile,reached a fifty that was full of grit but eventually succumbed to an old habit. In an attempt to guide a wide delivery from HS Sharath to third man,Gambhir fell for a 111-ball 54,after finding Mayank Aggarwal who took the catch on second attempt at slip.

With half the side gone for 139,Rajat Bhatia and keeper Rahul Yadav had a big job at hand.

Delhis task got even more difficult when the score read 145/7 after the veteran Bhatia became the second batsman to chop on. Rahul Yadav had a stroke of luck when he was castled off a no ball on 6 but he couldnt make his chance count and fell to Gopal for 21.

There would be little spine showed by the tail.

Sumit Narwal hit two big sixes off Gopal,to boost the total but fell soon after to RV Kumar who finished with figures of 4/40. HS Sharath who took the final wicket finished with 3/58.

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With their batting coming up trumps,Delhi will hope their bowlers make a better hand of it on Tuesday.

Brief scores: Delhi 202 all out in 67.4 overs (G Gambhir 54,V Sehwag 32; RV Kumar 4/40,HS Sharath 3/58) vs Karnataka 2/0 in 1 over