Delhi’s miserable season just got worse as premier speedster Ishant Sharma twisted his ankle after another woeful outing with the bat against defending champions Vidarbha in a Ranji Trophy group A encounter on Monday.
On a helpful track, former India U-19 seamer Aditya Thakare”s career-best 7 for 55 restricted Delhi to 163 in reply to visitors’ first innings score of 179.
By the time, play was called off due to bad light, Vidarbha were 35 for no loss as the track got easier for batting.
Vidarbha now have an overall lead of 51 but more importantly, the pitch has eased out. With a bowler short and the wily artist Wasim Jaffer longing for an easy second innings pitch, Delhi at the moment is looking down the barrel.
And it didn’t help Delhi’s cause that Ishant’s 15th delivery saw him sustain a freak injury while appealing for a leg-before against rival skipper Fazal beaten by a fuller delivery. The senior speedster twisted his ankle while back pedalling and was seen writhing in pain.
The first two sessions belonged to Vidarbha as Delhi's youngsters inept tchnique against incisive swing bowling was exposed again.
IPL specialist Nitish Rana became Thakare's fifth victim of the innings giving a catch to skipper Fazal.
Only keeper Anuj Rawat (37 off 101 balls) showed some stomach for fight adding 36 for the ninth wicket with Simarjeet Singh (23) even as Umesh Yadav (2/45) removed all-rounder Lalit Yadav (7) and Kunar Bidhuri (19).
Yadav's double ton floors Mumbai
Mumbai : Batsman-wicketkeeper Upendra Yadav’s maiden double ton propelled Uttar Pradesh to a mammoth 625/8 declared on the second day of their Elite Group B Ranji Trophy game against Mumbai on Monday.
Twenty three-year-old Yadav was the cynosure of all eyes at Wankhede Stadium as he took a listless Mumbai attack to the cleaners first in the company of Saurabh Kumar (44 off 47 balls; 8x4) and then with skipper Ankit Rajpoot (32 off 63 balls; 5x4) and Yash Dayal (41 not out).
Yadav (203 not out off 239 balls) conjured 72 runs for the seventh wicket with Saurabh to take the game away from Mumbai, and then forged a 119-run eight-wicket stand with Rajpoot, as Uttar Pradesh took complete control.
Adding to Mumbai’s woes, Yadav and Dayal put up an unbroken 131-run stand for the ninth wicket.
Yadav, who registered the highest score by a number 7 batsman against Mumbai, smashed 27 fours and one six in his 239 balls unbeaten knock.
Tiwary triple ton to put Bengal on top
Kalyani (WB) : Senior batsman Manoj Tiwary cracked his maiden first class triple century to put Bengal in the driver's seat against Hyderabad in their Ranji Trophy Group A clash here on Monday.
The 34-year-old, who has played 12 ODIs and 3 T20 Internationals, was at his sublime best, smashing 30 fours and five sixes, en route to his unbeaten 303 from 414 balls at a strike rate of 73.19. His marathon knock lasted 10 hours and 30 minutes.
His final 50 came off just 37 balls as he got to the landmark in the fourth ball of the final session of the second day, gliding part-timer Buddhi Rahul through covers boundary. Bengal immediately declared their first innings at 635 for seven.
Tiwary, who last played for India in 2015, also became the only second batsman from Bengal to hit a triple ton — after Devang Gandhi’s 323 versus Assam at Guwahati in 1998-99 season. His previous best was 267 as Bengal skipper against Madhya Pradesh in a drawn encounter in Kolkata in 2011-12 season.
After Tiwary’s sensational innings, it was time for Bengal pace duo of Akash Deep (3/46) and Mukesh Kumar (2/29) to wreak havoc as they reduced Hyderabad to 83 for five in the final session. Hyderabad still trail Bengal by 552 runs with two days left.
